MR. PARNELL ON THE WORKHOUSE TEST.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XI, Issue 5, 25 May 1883, Page 23

MR. PARNELL ON THE WORKHOUSE TEST.

The following report of Mr Parnell's speech is taken from the Dublin Freeman :—: — Mr. Parnell said he was sorry to be obliged to press the Chief Secretary, more particularly with regard to the points brought forward by bis hon. friend the member for Mallow (Mr. O'Brien), and subsequently alluded to by his hon. friend the member for Sligo (Mr. Sexton). The right hon. gentleman had not attempted to answer the main points of the speech of his hon. friend. He wished to know whether the Government intended to adhere to their policy of insistence upon the workhouse test as a condition of relief? Further, he wanted to know what the Government had in their minds with respect to the permanent relief of the congested districts (hear, hear). The Chief Secretary bad tnrned these questions aside by an entirely irrelevant attack on an Irish newspaper, edited by his friend, the hon. member for Mallow. It was impossible for the Irish members to have allowed the opportunity of this vote to have passed without raising this question, because they would have no other near opportunity, and in the meantime the distress would be over, the people would be dead, the damage would be done, and he was glad they were able to state their case in the presence of the Prime Minister. The Chief Secretary in reply to a question which he (Mr. Parnell) had put, pledged himself a few days before the end of last session to give outdoor relief in Ireland, to save the people from hunger. Was he aware when he made this solemn pledge that the Lord Lieutenant was about to address a letter to the Local Government Board, of which the right hon. gentleman himself was president, insisting upon the/rigid enforcement of the workhouse test? He wished also to knw whether, before Lord Spencer issued the cold-blooded letter — as cold-blooded an epistle as ever issued from a department of State in England (Irish cheers) — the Cabinet was consulted, or whether it was written on the responsibility of Earl Bpencer alone. To satisfy some idea of the gentleman that starvation was the best means of forcing an unwilling population to emigrate, a paid officer of the Government had testified to the condition of the people in one district. Dr. James Ferguson, the medical officer of Gwvedore, in Donegal, had reported on the awful condition of the poor in his district, the general distress, .the imminent danger of fever, the sufferings of men, women, and children. That was a public document, and what it related was typical of what prevailed in other places In order to meet that state of affairs the Chief Secretary had told, them that the Irish Government intended to insist on the enforcement of the workhouse test. They knew what that meant in Ireland. It meant many deaths and famine fever (Irish cheers). That was the experience of the last famine. The English public ought to understand that the Irish labourers and peasants rather than break up their homes to go into the workhouse would endure poverty and want until death almost approached their doors. That was not exaggerated language. He was incapable of using exaggerated language aboul anything. It was simply the history of successive attempts to relieve famine in Ireland. He in London, with his hon. friend the member for Wexford(Mr. Healy), jhould be very glad if the poor starving people went into the workhouse, but he did not wonder that they refused. They had some experience' of the workhouse system in Ireland. It was a system which separated children from their parents, husbands from their wives, and exposed young girls to the risk of contamination by placing them among elderly women who were permanent inmates. It was no wonder they clung to their last meal and preferred seaweed to this. A small grant, not exceeding £160,000, to certain unions in the West of Ireland, in order to enable them to administer outdoor relief, administered under the proper checks of relieving officers, would meet the difficulty. The late Government gave outdoor relief. The member for Bradford (Mr. Forster) even gave it. Why should the present Chief Secretary alone refuse ? Was it in the hope of being able to facilitate his scheme of emigration by insisting on the workhouse test? The Government would undertake a gra^e responsibility if they ignored, the signs of the times (Irish cheeis), and left the people to their inevitable fate. The adoption of a policy Buch as that announced by the Chief -Secretary would render it impossible for any party to support the Government in any scheme of emigration — it would, in fact, compel the Irish members to offer strong opposition to any scheme of emigration bolstered up by such a horrible policy (Irish cheers). Their policy, cold-blooded and cruel in its character, was a shortsighted one. The question of the immediate relief of the distress in those districts should not be confused with the question of the perpetual amelioration of the condition of the people. These were two separate questions. r The Government must save the lives of the people, and not let them die of starvation. Mr. Whitworth. — What about the Land League Belief Fnnd 1 (Ministerial cheers.) Mr. Parnell, continuing, said he supposed the relief fund amounted to £27,000, and, by a judicious distribution of the fund, had been the means of keeping many of the people in their homes during the last few years (Irish cheers). It had not been subscribed for the purpose of charity, but with the object of stemming the tide of landlord oppression, and the fund would continue to be employed for that purpose (renewed Irish cheers). They now pleaded for the relief of wholesale distress. He held the Government responsible Ui they did nothing to aid the people now so distressed. He thought i were entitled to an answer from the right hon. gentleman as to thole points. Did be still maintain the workhouse test as a condition ot outdoor relief 1 Was he aware when he pledged the House to give outdoor relief that Earl Spencer had written the letter to the Local Government Board to which he (Mr. Parnell) had drawn attention ? Was the Cabinet at that time aware of Earl Spencer's policy with regard to outdoor relief 1 Up to that time outdoor relief had always been given in times of pressure like the present. They asked that the immediate wants of the people should be attended to, and that they should be saved from starvation and pestilence. When the Government had done that, then the Irish representatives would con-

aider any proposal of the Government for the permanent amelioration of the condition of the people of those districts, whether that proposal went in the direction of emigration or migration (cheers).