s thus: "And be it enacted, that it shall be lawful for the Lord
Lieutenant of Ireland, in every case in which it shall appear to him
expedient, to appoint in every Union in which this Act shall be in
force, a Finance Committee, which shall consist of the Inspector, to be
appointed as aforesaid by the Relief Commissioners for such Union, and
of such justices resident in the Union, or such other persons as the
Lord Lieutenant should think fit, not being less than two and not more
than four persons in addition to such Inspector."

The Treasury Minute repeats the numbers on the public works during the
month of February. They were, in the

Week ending on the 6th, , . . 615,055
Week ending on the 13th,. . . 605,715
Week ending on the 20th,. . . 668,749
Week ending on the 27th,. . . 708,228

It also gives the outlay for three months, not including the expenses of
the Commissariat Department, which were by no means inconsiderable.

It was for December, . . . . L545,054
" " January, 1847,. . L736,125
" " February, " ,. . L944,141

being nearly a million of money for that month. Besides excluding the
expenditure of the Commissariat, this account did not, of course, take
in the very large sums disbursed by charitable bodies and by private
individuals.

The new Relief Act came into force on the 27th of February, and the
Government obtained, without any difficulty, the permission of
Parliament to borrow L8,000,000, to carry out its provisions. As this
Act was to supersede the Public Works, it was decreed by the Treasury
Minute that on Saturday the 20th of March the labourers on those works
should be reduced by not less than twenty per cent. The remainder were
to be dismissed by successive reductions, at such times and in such
proportions as would be determined by the Board. The order in which
dismissals wore to be carried out was, that persons holding ten acres of
land and upwards, were to be discharged on the 20th of March, _even if
they should exceed the twenty per cent._; if they fell below it, the
persons holding the next largest quantity of land should be discharged
in order that the full twenty per cent. should be dismissed. In
districts where rations of soup could be supplied by the Relief
Committees, the Relief Works were to be entirely suspended.

It was added in the Minute, that as the Commissioners of Public Works
were of opinion that, in existing circumstances,