The Irish problem of immigration as seen by the Board of Guardians of the Cardiff Union in 1849. [350]

It is not known how many Irish came ashore on the Welsh coast during the years of the famine - no reliable records exist. In 1854 witnesses appearing before the Select Committee on Poor Removal gave their accounts. From Cardiff, the chairman of the Board of Guardians, Evan David, gave his opinion of the situation prevailing at the port of Cardiff:

'They were formerly landed at Cardiff but our Union ascertained that the Captains of these vessels had no licences for carrying passengers, and they offered a reward for information against them. After considerable difficulty they fined only one; we then found that they left the paupers on the coast near Cardiff and went on themselves to Newport, consequently we were unable to get at the captains. We find the paupers very reluctant to state by what vessel they came over or the name of the Captain . . . ' [350]

The above was probably influenced by the Cardiff race riots and the following event of 1848 as reported by the Manchester Guardian [456] :-

'On Friday last more than 200 Irish paupers, men, women, and children, landed from Cork on Penarth beach, and instantly proceeded to demand relief at the Cardiff workhouse, though the same were possessed of a little money. Nearly all were lodged in the workhouse, but when they found that they were to be passed to Ireland several of the man scaled the walls, and deserted their wives and children. All of them have been sent to their own country by one of the Irish steamers; but their brief sojourn in Cardiff, and the expenses of their passage, are said to have cost the union more than £200'