nstructions under which the
local relief committees have hitherto acted:--

First, with regard to the assistance given by the relief committees in
the proper appropriation of the relief provided under the 10th Viet.
cap. 107, by means of public works:--

That tickets should not hereafter be issued by the relief committees
entitling persons to employment on such public works. That, instead
thereof, the relief committees should furnish (according to a form to be
supplied to them for that purpose) the officers in charge of the works
on the part of the Board of Works, with lists of persons requiring
relief, noting them in the order in which they are considered to be
entitled to priority, either on account of their large families or from
any other cause; that the committees should revise these lists from time
to time, as occasion may require, and that the officers of the Board of
Works, from the information contained in these lists, or acquired by
them from other sources, should themselves furnish tickets entitling
persons to employment on the relief works, for certain limited periods,
according to the circumstances of each case.

Secondly, as regards the functions performed by the relief committees,
independently of the relief works carried on under the provisions of
Acts of Parliament.

Their lordships consider that donations in aid of private subscriptions
may be made, when necessary, as heretofore, from the public funds placed
for that purpose at the disposal of the Lord Lieutenant; and that these
donations may continue to be, as a general rule, in the proportion of
from one-third to one-half of the amount of the private subscriptions,
according to the extent of the destitution and the means of the
subscribers.

But their lordships are of opinion, that, in consideration of the
assistance so to be given from the public purse, the proceedings of the
relief committees in the appropriation of the funds administered by them
should be subjected to any degree of control on the part of the
Government that may be considered desirable; for which purpose their
accounts and correspondence should, at all times, be open to the
inspection of Government officers appointed for the purpose, and any
further explanations that may be required on any particular point
should be immediately furnished.

In order to keep in check, as far as possible, the social evils incident
to an extensive system of relief, it is indispensably necessary