2/ J ON THE LOCAL TAXATION OF THE CITY OF DUBLIN. rj 137 paid for the several prisons ; the eighth head includes food, clothing, bedding, coals, od, soap, candles, and employment for about eight hundred criminal prisoners, for that may be considered the average number of the criminal prisoners in the Dublin prisons; under the ninth head are the charges for stationary, advertisements/ costs and petty expenses for the prisons; under the tenth head, charges for medicines, and necessaries for the sick, and the payments made to the nurses or hospital superintendents; under the eleventh head, payments made to the principal officers of the prisons, ( sixteen in number) and to inferior officers and servants, ( twenty- eight in number;) and under the twelfth and last head, are instalments to repay money borrowed from government. Were any other subjects besides those, formerly matters for presentments ?— There were various other objects formerly presented for, that now are not, for example, for building bridges over the Liffey, the support of conformed Popish priests, which did not cease till within the last ten years; the transporting of felons, which was entirely at the expense of the city, and is now at the expense of govern- ment ; there were the making of pavements and sewers in the city; rewards for apprehending robbers, and prosecuting constables; raising and equipping the militia; census of the population, and various other objects. How far back have you gone in examining the grand jury warrants?— To the year 1764. What is the gross amount of those warrants, from that period to the year 1822 inclusive ?—- The gross amount of presentments for the fifty- nine years, amounts to 557,880/. making, upon the whole, a yearly average of 9,455/. Have you made any calculation how that sum has been expended ?— I have made such a calculation, taken from the warrants themselves, and of that sum above 85,000 was expended in the erection of the various prisons of Dublin, and public buildings connected with the administration of justice; about 30,000/. in the erection of bridges ; 30,000 /. in the repairing of roads; above 20,000 /. to public hospitals and dispensaries ; about 15,000/. in raising and equipping the militia of the city ; above 5,000 /. in certain Acts of Parliament on the commission of perambu- lation, and a census of the population ; about 45,000 /. for the poundage paid to collectors for collecting the Grand Jury tax, the Wide- street tax, and the AnnaLiffey tax, & c.; about 50,000/. for sessional presentments for the prosecution of prisoners, for fees remitted, and for paying all the charges connected with the maintaining the sessions house as a court of justice; about 24,000/. for the supplying medicines and necessaries for the sick, during the period of forty years ; about 40,000/. more in numberless sundries, which could scarcely be enumerated ; leaving a balance of 208,000 /. for providing food, clothing, bedding, employment, coals, candles, soap and other necessaries for the prisoners of the Dublin gaols during the period of fifty- nine years; also for the various repairs of the prisons, and for the payment of officers and servants during the same time. The Committee have before them the returns of the grand jury assessments, from 1807 to 1820 inclusive ; can you state any previous and subsequent returns, or can you give any general view of the whole ?— I think I can lay before the Committee a view of the presentments for the last fifty- nine years, which will explain satisfactorily, I hope, Lie causes of the progressive increase of presentments from the year 1764 to the present day, I have divided that interval of time into four periods When do you commence?— The first period embraces twenty- three years, from 1764 to 1786 inclusive; the second period embraces twelve years, from 1787 to 1798 inclusive; the third period consists of twelve years, from 1799 to 1810 inclu- sive ; and the fourth period of twelve years, from 1811 to 1822 inclusive. I11 the first period the lowest amount of presentment was for the year 1766, 963/.; tlie highest for 1764, was 4,9251- That iii the highest and lowest amount of annual presentments in the first period? — Yes; : in the calculation of the first period, there were four deficient years that I could u ot supply, and these were taken at 3,000/. each, the average of the whole period being only 2,675/. thereby making the whole assessment of the first twenty three years° 6i ,539/.; in the second period the lowest presentment was for the year 1789, being 6,989/.; the greatest was for the year 1795, being 12,672/. l ie total amount of presentments in the second period was 108,8251. making the average 9 068 /. In the third period of twelve years, the lowest presentment was in the vear 1805, being 8,368/.; and the highest for the vear 1809, being 18,329/. third period amounts to 137,405'- making an annual average ot 11,450/. The tq tal of the 549 D-. William Harty. ( 12 May.)