THE POOREST PLACE IN THE WORLD.
Irr the opinion of Captain Spaight, one of the Government inspectors; the ' TTnion df Swineford, county Mayo, is '■without an. equal iii,. any. part of the world.,,for poverty and. wretchedness. A succession of bad seasons have left the people without clothing, bedding, or anything in the world but the miserable huts in which they live, and which generally consist of one room only, with very low walls, and very imperfectly thatched. The only covering of the family at night is in nine 'cases ' but l often an old quilt too bad to pawned or a few bags. “ I have found,” Captain Spaight adds, “ the mother and ; children sitting on the mud floor eating the snialijwet, ill-growui potatoes off the floor, with a little salt and nothing else, not a stool or a plate being in the house. • The,.male; portion of the population-are are away all summer, and this year their earnings have not beoh as ; good as psual. A large portion of the district is in-the hands of rriMdle'-bien, there being no resident landlords or gentlemen, with one or two exceptions.” 1 ’
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Bibliographic details
South Canterbury Times, Issue 2734, 24 December 1881, Page 3
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188THE POOREST PLACE IN THE WORLD. South Canterbury Times, Issue 2734, 24 December 1881, Page 3
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