is Act which is not without its interest at the
present time. It is the thirteenth. It recites that "the Relief
Commissioners, with the sanction of the Lord Lieutenant, are empowered
to direct, whether the whole or any part of the sum mentioned ... shall
be borne by and charged exclusively against the Electoral Division, or
whether the whole or any part thereof shall be borne by and charged
against the whole Union; and the Guardians shall charge the whole Union,
and the several Electoral Divisions accordingly."

Here is Union-rating in 1847.

Immediate preparations were made to carry this Act into effect.
Commissioners were appointed; a General Order was issued by the Lord
Lieutenant, and in due time that most potential of documents, a Treasury
Minute, was published.[246]

In virtue of the powers conferred on him, his Excellency, in his General
Order, declared that besides the justices, Poorlaw Guardians and Relief
Inspector; archbishops and bishops of every denomination, the principal
officiating clergy of the three denominations, and the three highest
ratepayers of the district should be members of Relief Committees. Some
further regulations were made to meet such special difficulties as might
arise. In the next place his Excellency defined the duties of Government
Inspectors. They were: 1. To direct and stimulate the Committees within
their districts; 2. They were to exercise vigilance in order that relief
should be given only to persons really in need of it; 3. And they were
commanded to interfere as little as possible with Committees that were
performing their duties well, whilst, at the same time, it was laid down
as their duty to interfere with, and address Committees whose
proceedings were of an injurious kind.

As to Finance Committees, the Lord Lieutenant explained that they were
to be composed of the resident gentlemen, who had the greatest interest
in the welfare of the districts. The legislature intended, he said, that
they were to be the superintending controlling bodies over the
proceedings of the Committees of Electoral Divisions, inasmuch as it was
to them the country had to look for the carrying out of the provisions
of the Act, with the least injury to the great interests concerned.
There is no doubt that in this matter the Lord Lieutenant used the
powers vested in him with a good deal of freedom as to the appointment
of the Finance Committees. The clause of the Act referring to them (the
6th) run