I HAVE the honour to report that, in obedience to a further
resolution of the Mansion House Committee, at their meeting of
the 3rd inst, I lately proceeded to Mayo a second time,
selecting a different part of the county, for the purpose of
inquiry and inspection, from that which occupied my attention of
my former visit.
2
At Ballyhaunis I had the advantage of
meeting the Catholic Bishop of Achonry, Dr. McCormack,
3
to whose
splendid gifts of seed I referred in my previous report, and
also Mr. Henry Brett, formerly and for many years County
Surveyor of Mayo, and still holding the same important office in
Wicklow county. The Bishop, like every person of position whom I
have yet met, expressed it as his firm conviction that, were if
not for the merciful operations of the Relief Committees, many
thousands of persons must have died of starvation in North Mayo
alone during the past six months; and also that, perhaps, even
now, we may not beyond the contingency of a great calamity,
arising out of the various causes, such as the still possible
failure of the potato crop, the general indebtedness of the
small farmers to the landlords and the shopkeepers, even if the
crop would prove to be a bountiful one, and the absence of
useful or remunerative employment for the people during the
winter months, to enable them to tide over their difficulties
next year.
4
