ON PETITIONS RELATING TO LIMERICK TAXATION. 51. Elections generally, or for the city of Limerick ?— I mean as is usua henever an Appendix election is contested. ) One party stiled themselves Independents, did they not?— Yes. v _ And were in opposition to the corporation ?— Yes. Mr. Pray did not a great majority of the members of the Chamber of Commerce belong J- M• Hervty. to that independent party ?— I cannot say whether a great majority, but I know that ( 26 June.) several did, but I never did myself; I know that several others did not; I cannot say whether a majority of the members of the Chamber of Commerce were actually members of the Independent Association or not. But you are sure that a great many of them were ?— Yes ; and I think it is pos- sible that the majority may have been; but I wish to state only what I know or believe. Was the grant of money from the funds of the Chamber of Commerce for the support of a petition to this House upon the rights of the citizens, a unanimous vote of the committee of the Chamber of Commerce ?— I think I said before by a consi- derable majority, but it was not unanimous. There was a division upon it ?— There was a division of sentiment expressed. Was not there a division; did not they tell numbers on the occasion ?— I cannot positively say; but the inclination of my opinion is, that there was; I had no idea of being examined on this business until I was just going out of the room this morning, so that I have not come prepared for any accurate information; I can only speak from memory. You consider that the petition so presented to this House from the Chamber of Commerce did, in effect, support all the other petitions which had been presented against the right of election as heretofore exercised in the city of Limerick ?— I do not know that I saw all the petitions, for I never mingled with the committee of Independents at all; most assuredly it supported the principle of excluding non- residents, and confirming the rights to the inhabitants by birth, servitude and marriage. Have you not heard that that was the purport of the petition presented by the Independents of Limerick to this House ?— I believe it was, but I have no con- nection whatever with them; I never saw their papers, petitions, or any thing of the sort, unless I met them in the newspapers. With respect to the local taxation of the city of Limerick; you live, I believe, in the New Town ?— Outside of the town, in the liberties. Do you consider the present mode of taxation, by exempting the parish of St. Michael from contributing a part as they now do, a fair mode ?— I have always expressed my opinion, in public and private, to the contrary; I do not consider it a fair mode. Do you not consider that it is a very great hardship upon the Old Town to be obliged to bear the weight of taxation, while the New Town is comparatively exempt ?— It would be an intolerable grievance if the inhabitants of the Old Town bore the whole of it; but they have been so much reduced by the wealthy inha- bitants, and the principal people of business going into the New Town, that they are not able to bear it; and I understand, that in the manner in which it is ap- plotted by the grand jury, or the magistrates, the great burthen falls upon the farmers in the liberties. Do you believe there are at this present moment a great proportion of the city of Limerick in a starving condition?— I hope not; I hope they are not in a starving condition, for I belong to a committee for the relief of the poor, of which the bishop is president, and we have been for nearly two months past assisting those who are in distress out of our own funds, and the funds sent us by the benevolent inhabitants of this country, and the funds received from government in Dublin, therefore I cannot believe there can be a large proportion now in a starving state. Previously to that committee being established, do you believe it?— No, not a large proportion; there were some persons in great distress for want of em- ployment. And this among the lower orders ?— This among the lower orders in the New Town as well as the Old Town and the liberties. Did not that distress principally prevail in the Old Town ?— A larger number of the poor reside there, therefore it must have existed in a greater proportion there than in the New. Do you consider the new bridge about to be built at Limerick, will improve or operate to the contrary on the Old Town ?— The Old Town is so completely aban- 617. doned