January 28th, 1846: The supply of Indian meal from the US, purchased by the British government, arrives secretly in Cork.
The Relief Commission has been reorganised to administer temporary relief supplementary to that provided in the workhouses. The duties of the commission are to advise the government, through the Treasury, about Irish distress and to co ordinate the activities of local relief committees.
The main duties of these voluntary bodies will be to encourage employment, raise subscriptions and purchase and distribute, at cost price, Indian corn from depots established by the Relief Commission and manned by commissariat officers.
The purchase of food in ordinary use is forbidden to avoid competition with private enterprise, the sanctity of the market being very much part of British political thinking.
The purpose of the limited stocks of imported corn is not to replace private traders but rather to control them. The government believes "that under judicious management of this supply the markets would be so regulated as to prevent an exorbitant price for native produce.
However, the Relief Commission, the Treasury and the Home Office the government departments involved - are anxious mainly that the whole burden of coping with Irish misery should not be thrown on them.
Charles Trevelyan, assistant secretary to the Treasury, writes to the new commission chairman, Sir Randolph Routh: "The landlords and other ratepayers are the parties who are both legally and morally answerable for affording due relief to the destitute poor".
"The measures to be adopted by you, and the officers employed under you are, therefore, to be considered as merely auxiliary to those which it is the duty of persons' possessed of property in each neighbourhood to adopt."
But many of the squires are absentees or insolvent. As the parish priest of Kilgeever, Co Mayo, informs the commissioners: "There is but one resident gentleman in this parish - there are no magistrates, none but the clergy to convey the wants of the people."
Ireland is to be dominated but not treated as an integral part of the UK. While the Irish landed interest is expected to finance and distribute relief, responsibility for administration remains with the British government.
February 3rd: Trevelyan is in no doubt about the correctness of this policy: "That indirect permanent advantages will accrue to Ireland from the scarcity, and the measures taken `for its relief, I entertain no doubt.
"If a firm stand is not made the prevailing disposition to take advantage of this crisis to break down all barriers, the true permanent interests of the country will, I am convinced, suffer in a manner which will be irreparable in our time."