------------- ---------------
Total, L9,532,721 0 0 4,845,062 0 0

_During the years 1846, 1847, and
1848, the following sums were
also expended by the Board of
Works:_
For arterial drainage, 470,617 10 3
Works under the Labouchere
letter, 199,870 9 2
For land improvement. 520,700 0 .
-----------------
Total, L10,723,908 19 5

In the above ten millions seven hundred thousand pounds, it may be
fairly assumed, we have all the monies advanced by Government to
mitigate the effects of the potato failure. Our next duty is to inquire
how much of this sum was paid back by Ireland, and how much of it was a
free gift from the Treasury.

The money advanced under the Labouchere letter for land improvement, and
for arterial drainage cannot, of course, be regarded as a free gift
towards staying the Famine; arterial drainage and land improvement go on
still, through money advanced by Government. The works under the
Labouchere letter were, no doubt, intended to give reproductive
employment during the Famine, but the cost of them was a charge upon the
land and not a free gift.

The money spent on arterial drainage and land improvement, under the
Labouchere letter and various drainage Acts, during the years 1846, 1847
and 1848, was, as given above, L1,191,187 19s. 5d., which being deducted
from L10,723,908 19s>. 5d. leaves the sum of L9,532,721, of which there
was finally charged to this country L4,845,062. Deducting this from the
L9,532,721 we have L4,687,659 as the amount of money given by Government
as a free gift to Ireland to sustain the people through the Great
Famine. To this, however, there is to be added a sum of about L70,000
paid for freights. The American people, when they had collected those
generous contributions of theirs, and when they had resolved to send
them in the form of food to Ireland, began to make arrangements for
paying the freights of their vessels, but all trouble and anxiety on
this head was removed by the action of the English Government, which
undertook to pay the freights of all vessels carrying to Ireland, food
purchased by charitable contributions. Those freights finally reached
about L70,000. The addition of this sum brings the whole of the
Government free gift towards the Iris