Note 158 — Chapter V

The necessity for adhering to the principle of indoor relief was fully recognised by this committee, whose inquiries were for the most part limited to that point, without going into the general question of the Poor Law. Any detailed account of the committee’s proceedings does not therefore appear to be called for at this time, as no new light was thrown upon the subject by its investigations. The same may be said of the commission for “inquiring into the state of the law and practice in respect to the occupation of land in Ireland,” (of which the Earl of Devon was chairman), and whose reports are exceedingly valuable; but they do not directly bear upon our subject, and have therefore not been noticed. I have indeed endeavoured to confine attention to the Poor-law itself, and to those matters immediately connected with it, and calculated to elucidate its working, these collectively presenting a field sufficiently extensive.