4 FEBRUARY 1837, Page 12

THE INTENDED "POOR-LAW FOR IREL AND. - THE character of time

Irish Poor-law measure, which will be sub- mitted to Parliament on Thursday next, is no longer a secret. The main provisions of the Ministerial Bill, as we are credibly in- formed, will turn out to be these- . That there be no relief of the destitute except in workhouses. 2. That there be no right, or legal claim to relief, but that an absolute power of determining who shall be admitted to the work• house be vested in a Board of Guardians for each district, to be elected by the rate-payers. 3. That the law shall extend to only such parts of the country as may from time to time be selected by the Poor-law Commis- sioners of England and Wales; who shall, moreover, have a SU premu control in the administration of the law. Supposing the bill to pass without any anportaut alteration, it will not establish what is commonly meant by "a Poor-law for Ireland." It will only delegate to a Commissbn the power of legislating upon this subject. The measure may be termed experi- mental or tentative, with provisions for the most gradual and eau- [ions trial of the experiment. It is not a sham Poor-law which Ministers will propose ; but it is not a Poor-law—it is a plan for trying whether or not Ireland will bear a Poor-law.

The measure, then, carries upon its face abundant proof that those by whom it has been framed are fully sensible of the prac- tical obstacle to a real Poor-law for Ireland. That obstacle is a great excess of labouring people in proportion to employment. The new law will enable certain persons—powers of legislation being delegated to them for the purpose—to feel their way in an attempt to establish a Poor-law in spite of the ditliculty which is so obvious. But this is all!

Reserving the expression of our opinion on the whole measure until next week, when its details will he before the public, we are not inclined to quarrel with the plan of a mere experiment, and still less with the mode in which the experiment is to be tried. But, at the same time, it does appear strange, that absolutely no- thing should be suggested with a view to removing that obstacle which calls for an experiment rather than a measure. "A Poor- law for Ireland," as it will be termed, has no other present object than to ascertain the extent of the obstacle to a real Poor-law for Ireland. Is not this known already ? Why, it has been most carefully and minutely estimated by the Commissioners of In. quiry ; who, moreover, recommend specific measures for removing the difficulty—namely, Public Works for increasing the quantity of employment, and Systematic Emigration for diminishing the number of labourers.

Neither of these suggestions of the Commissioners, as we un- derstand, enters into the view of the framers of a so-called Poor-

law for Ireland. They are content that an experiment should be tried, without. any measure of aid or preparation to insure its vie- tory over that obstacle which confines them to a mere experiment; in other words, they propose to try an experiment of which the failure appears certain beforehand. But the " Poor-law for Ire- land " Bill will be open to amendments, which may pass, for this is riot a party question ! It is not probable, for the reasons which we stated last week, that any one will propose to facilitate the establishment of a real Poor-law in Ireland by means of exten- sive Public Works; but Systematic Emigration for that purpose will certainly be proposed to Parliament, and, as we are happy to Kam, with no little probability of success. This brings us to the performance of a promise which we made last week.

Mr. WARD'S pamphlet, " The First Step to a Poor-Lain for Ireland,"* comes most opportunely to point out a way by which ample funds for emigration frotn Ireland may be obtained with- out any sort of taxation at home. His suggestion is founded on

the Report of a Select Committee of the House of Commons, over which he presided last year, and which assures the House—" that it would be perfectly practicable to raise the funds necessary to t on foot a plan of Systematic Emigration upon a scale suffi- .ntly large to meet the exigencies of the Mother Country." The source to which the Committee looked for this ample Emi- gration Fund, is the sale of waste or public lands in the Colonies. The subject should be well understood by constant readers of the Spectator : yet even to those who are best acquainted with it, we would recommend Mr. WARD'S explanation of the views of the Committee as respects Colonization ; whilst his clear, business- like, and practical application of those views to the question of r. Pcor-law for Ireland, must, at this moment, prove deeply inte- lasting to all classes of politicians. At the cost of a shilling and less than half-an-hour's reading, they will learn, if we mistake nut, that upon the adoption or rejection of this proposal, it depends whether the Ministerial experiment of a Poor-law foe Ireland shall utterly fail in its objects, or gradually but thoroughly ac- complish them.

Mr. WARD has given notice, that on the 20th of the present month, be will bring this subject before the House of Commons.

Let him follow Mr. GROTE'S example as to the Ballot, and prepare a well-considered bill. He will, we have reason to know, be vigorously supported by the Independent Reformers, and in all pro- bability by the Tories, several of whom are thoroughly ac- quainted with the subject. This, we repeat, is not a party ques- tion. How the Government may treat it, remains to be seen. When better acquainted with their intentions, we shall recur to the subject.

• Published by RIDGWAY.