THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES 1 EXTRACTS FROM THE INFORMATION RECEIVED BY HIS MAJESTY'S COMMISSIONERS, AS TO THE ADMINISTEATION AND OPEEATION OF THE POOR-LAWS. PUBLISHED BY AUTHORITY. » t J » i I , s' » » » LONDON: B. FELLOWES, LUDGATE STREET. WDCCCXXXIII. . .. ; . • • • • • I • • • • -• • • • • • t • • t . . . .,' • • • • • ^ • • • » ft • " ►• • • • • • ••: •■ to THE RIGHT HON. LORD VISCOUNT MELBOURNE, His Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Home Department. ^ My Lord, ^ On the receipt of the letter with which we were ^ honoured by your Lordship, " requesting us to transmit, DC ^ in detail, the information which we have received as to the administration and operation of the poor-laws, in some of the parishes in which those laws have been adminis- > tered in various modes, and particularly any returns to - our inquiries, which show the results of the various modes adopted in those parishes," we applied to the gentlemen who have had the kindness to act as our assistant commissioners, and requested them to furnish 5 us with such extracts from the evidence collected by §them as they thought most instructive. The following pages contain answers to our applications, and we have appended to them a copy of the instructions given by us to the assistant commissioners at the commencement IV of their inquiries in order to sliow the specific points to which their attention was directed. The lenoth to which this collection has extended is much greater than we at first expected it to be. But it appeared to us on consideration, that evidence from which any practical conclusions could be drawn, must consist of many instances spread over a considerable extent of country. The modes in which the poor-laws are administered, the motives to their mal-administra- tion, and the results of each form of mal-administration, are so numerous and so diversified, that a complete statement of them, even without comment, would fill a much larger volume than that which we now present to your Lordship. We believe, however, that this volume, though a small portion of the evidence, which we are preparing to report to His Majesty, contains more information on the subject to which it relates than has ever yet been afforded to the country. The most important, and certainly the most painful parts of its contents are, — the proof that the mal-administration, which was supposed to be principally confined to some of the agricultural districts, appears to have spread over almost every part of the country, and into the manufacturing towns — the proof that actual intimidation, directed against those who are, or are supposed to be unfavourable to profuse relief, is one of the most extensive sources of mal-administration, — and the proof tliat the evil, though checked in some places by extra- ordinary energy and talents, is, on the whole, steadily and rapidly progressive. We have the honour to be, My Lord, Your Lordship's obedient Servants, C. J. LoXDOX. J. B. Chester. W. Sturges Bourxe. Nassau W. Sexior. Hexry Bishop. Hexry Gawler. w. coulsox. . Poor-Law Commission, Idth March, 1S33. CONTENTS. ACCOUNTS. Method of keeping-, very confused, 3, 86, 116, 161, 179, 187, 191 Various heads under which payments are placed in different parishes renders it almost impossible to get at the true ground of expendi- ture, 129 Variety of forms and modes of keeping, render the returns to Parlia- ment exceedingly inaccurate, 129 Confused state of, covers gross frauds on part of overseers, 98, 99 State of, shows the necessity for some general superintending authority, 199 ALLOTMENTS of LAND. Terms upon which usually made, 39, 97 Frequently refused for fear of losing parish allowance, 36, 37 Small gardens for the mere occupation of after-hours — as a mere amusement — morally good, 41 Ultimate bad effects of large allotments hidden by small immediate advantages, 16, 40, 43 Ultimate consequence of to parishes shown in an enormous increase of poor-rate, 131 Instructions from the Board to the Assistant Commissioners respect- ing ^ 424 ALLOWANCE. Amowit of given. Number receiving, pages 105, 109, 110, 168, 186,— Cumberland, 403. Scale of, to able-bodied according to number of children, exhibiting the inducement to improvident marriages, 2, 65, 78, 82,127, 132, 141, 143, 179, 189,374,— in manufacturing districts, 170, 171, 172, 173, 340, 357, 366 Much greater to able-bodied than to aged and infirm, 7, 15, 16, 72 Great partiality in awarding, 113, 162 Cost of keeping in workhouse given as, 74 To paupers greater than the earnings of industrious and independent labourers, 14, 149, 203, 218 Absurdity of an overseer or magistrate judging of the value of a shilling to a pauper by its value to himself, 230 Once received is ever after clung to, 85, 119, 169 To whom given. Instructions from the Board to the Assistant Commissioners respect' ing, 414 Given when quite unnecessary, 27, 79, 116, 120, 161 Persons receiving often living extravagantlv, 79, 120 Given to make up time lost by labourers, 110, 144, — to manufacturers in Durham, 172, 173, ISO Given to labourers for getting work, 120 b VIU CONTENTS. Allowance — (Continued.) Given to able-bodied without work being required, 2, 63, 74, 76, 116, 119,120,121,165,188,357,380 Large amounts annually received by the same individuals and families, 15, 90, 149 Largest portion of population of Lenhara receiving, 70, 72 In Bucks, given to all who ask it, 77 Given without reference to character, 77, 108, 116, 119, 120, 142, 162, 188 Receivers of, frequently thieves and prostitutes, 121, 241, 247 Absurdity of supposing the difficulty of obtaining, causes people to com- mit crime, 247, 248 Given at Liverpool to the aged and infirm as the only proper objects ; to the young, a workhouse under tolerably strict discipline is oftered, 349 Extorted by violence. Has been extorted by violence and fires, 15, 27, 76, 108, 136, 144, 148, 160, 384,— in Durham, 179 Increasing since the riots, 28, 166 Demanded for children, though large wages earned by father, 37, 141 Demanded for second child, though unnecessary, 72 Demanded by those who have been profligate in expenditure of large previous earnings, 40, 139, 357 Whilst the labourers in Sussex can extort, they refuse to work, 16 Scale abolished for years reinforced by labourers, 35 Reduces the whole labouring population to pauperism. Has been substituted for wages in whole parishes, the whole being made paupers instead of a few, 15, 163, 167,— manufacturers in Durham, 174, 179, 180,181 Induces farmers to discharge their men in order to receive them back as paupers, the parish paying part of the wages, 36, 1G7, — also manufacturers in Durham, 174 In agricultural parishes, encouraged by the farmers, as enabling them to throw a portion of their wages on the tithe-owner, shopkeeper, &c., 15 Destroys the ratio between wages and work, 77, 82, 90, 167, — in Dur- ham, 173 General distribution of, prevents the degree of any redundancy of popu- lation from being ascertained, 28, 83, 167 Demoralizi77g effect on workmen. Invariably demoralizes the labourers, 38,88, 149, 199,203,206,337, 380,— in Durham, 178 Increase of, has diminished inclination to emigrate, 28 Induces the labourer to refuse allotments of land, 28 Induces extravagant habits on part of labourers, mechanics, and wea- vers, 3, 29,229, 357,— in Durham, 171, 172, 173 Has destroyed the veracity, industry, frugality, and domestic virtues of the lal)ourer, 15, 37, 77, 119, 120, 123, 145, 149, 199, 208, 393,— in Durham, 171, 173, 174, 178 Where very common industry and morality is destroyed, vice and pro- fli<:acy rapidly increase, 123, 1«8, — in Durliani, 173 Makes labourers possessing small properly desirous of dissipating it, in order to be entitled to, 79, 142, 188 CONTENTS. IX Kl'lo'^ksc-e— (Continued.) System of, induces the opinion that destitution, however produced, con- stitutes a claim to be supported by the community, 80, 116, 147, 188— in Durham, 172 Has entrendered the opinion that dependence on parish is preferable to independent labour, 80, 81, 116, 118, 120, 121, 148, 149, 188, 380 — in Durham, 178 Causes destruction of reciprocal feeling between parents and chil- dren, 84, 85, 119, 141, 161, 162, 166, 188, 362— in Durham, 175 Induces men to desert wives and children, 119, 162, 347 — in Durham, 175 Ultimately renders helpless the persons receivino:, 93 Large portion of eiven to paupers, spent in beer and gin shops, 229 Leads to early and improvident marriages, 3, 110, 150, 151, 381 The unquestioned title of a widow to whatever may be her earnings, one of the inducements to early marriage, 128 Whei-ever given, paupers arise, and with paupers crime — instance, workinif of poor fund, America, 248, 249, 250 Great mischief of in towns, 211 In Sussex, the ultimate cause of the riots and fires, 14, 26, 30, 33, 35, 36 Effects on capital. Extent of, has reduced, and is reducing, the small rate-payers to being themselves paupers, 15, 163, 185 In the south counties gradually destroying capital, 27 After ruining capitalist, re-acts upon labourers, in leaving them desti- tute — instance, 93 System spreading. Evils of, rapid increase of, 110, 155 The vigilance of the best select vestries and assistant overseers inade- quate to check the increasing demand for, 196, 198 Increased at Tamvvorth, with decreasina' population, 198 All the evils of existing, and beins: gradually extended, in Durham and Northumberland, 169, 170, 171, 172 Accidental circumstances in preventing a surplus population, and not superiority of poor-law manatjement, the cause of the superior state of Durham and Northumberland, 169, 176 Ultimale evils of giving overlooked in temporary saving compared with cost in workhouse, 77, 83, 155 Discontinuance of. Attempt to discontinue in Sussex, 30 So firmly rooted in some parts as to defy every administration less than government, 27, 185 Discontinued without producing distress, 38, 99, 160, 190, 337 Discontinuance may be effected without causing distress, 150, 235, 236 Discontinuance of, has improved moral character of labourers, 38, 98, 149,150,160,208,267,268,337 Instruciions from the Board to the Assistatit Commissioners respect- ing, 413 BASTARDY. Great expense thereby occasioned to parishes, 98, 116, 101, 18G, 189, 394,395, 396,397,398 b 2 X CONTENTS. Bastardy — ( Continued.) Chiefly caused in workhouses by the absence of the means for neces- sary division of the sexes, 115 Allowance for a bastard larger than for a legitimate child, 392, 393, 394, 395, 396, 397 Demoralizing effects of the allowance, 122, 189, 241, 392, 395,397, 398 Great advantage of bastard children to their mothers, under present laws of, 122, 348, 393, 394, 395, 396, 397, 398 Perjury fostered by present laws of, 122, 393, 394, 397 Many children, instead of one child, the consequence of making the fathers and mothers of illegitimate children many, 219 So common, that the women of the labouring classes are generally pregnant before marriage, 84, Ifil, 392 No moral restraint upon, as women can more easily get married when they huve bastard children, by which they possess an annuity, 84, 189, 394 Women have large families of, and frequently by a variety of fathers, 161, 189, 393, 394, 395, 398. 403 Three sisters with child by same man, two of them twice, receiving alio ^ance from the same pnrish, 189 Women possessmga family of, better off than the generality of married women of their class, as they receive a certain income from the paiish, and have not the risk of a husband being out of work, 395, 396 In Cumberland respectable farmers when paying their poor's-rates deduct the allov\ance for their dauiihters" bastard children, the daughter and bastard residing with the father, 404 Mothers of cannot be punished, as gaols are more agreeable and more demoralizing even than workhouses, undtr present system, 98 Amount of, greatly decreased by altering the allowance, 161 Reduced at Bingham, by refusing to interfere in collecting the money from the father, and punishing the woman if she applied to the parish, 398 Error of the present laws, in the endeavour to punish men an induce- ment is given to women, 398 BEER-SHOPS. Frequently erected in bye places, 100 The resort of the worst characters, 24 CHARITIES. Create pauperism, but do not relieve all they create, 180 The objects of quickly demoralized, 85 Paupers remove to the vicinity of, 206 COTTAGES. Curious mode of letting to labourers at More Crichel, 103 EMIGRATION. To Canada, 4 To United States, 29 Emigrants from Lenham, discontent on arrival out, 4 Letters from emigrants sent by the parish, announce the receipt of high wages, 4, 29 CONTENTS. XI Emigration — (Continued.) Families sent out by parishes doins; well, 29, 148 Funds raised by parishes, 4, 29, 73 Has answered to parishes, 29, 145 Small farmers in some places are emigrating, 167, 168 Instructions from the Board to the Assistant Commissioners respect ing, 423 EXPENDITURE. Heads of, in parishes, 22, 65, 67, 68, 71, 75, 107, 132, 138, 144, 168 FARM, PARISH. A source of loss, 107 INCORPORATIONS. The chief evils of separate management retained by, owing to the in- dividual parishes continuing to themselves the distribution of out- relief, 187 Have very little control over the out-door paupers, 151 Do not therefore provide against the greatest of poor-law evils, 151 Interference, as far as it is exercised by on out-relief, beneficial effects of, 155 As at present managed, principal object a general workhouse for a large district, 151 Frauds by individual parishes of, and consequent disagreements be- tween, solely caused by system of giving out-relief, 156 Funds of, how levied upon the separate parishes of, 155 Officers of, who, and how appointed, 155 Ensure more efficient sets of officers, 156, 157, 207 Saving of expense effected by, as compared with unincorporated parishes, 156, 207 The evils of appeals to magistrates obviated by, 157 Forming many small parishes into, the only chance of efficient officers, and economical manasjement, 208 Good, as virtually extending settlement, so far as distribution of labour is concerned, 155, 207. — {See Workhouses Incorporation.) LABOUK-RATE. Plan of, 3, 74 Apparent temporary advantage of, 72 Does little, even temporarily, to lower the rates, 73 Seldom succeeds for any length of time, 64, 74 Object of to reach tithes, 69, 384 Operates severely upon the tithe-owner, 4 Confines each labourer to his own parish, 72 Labourers working under do less work, 73 LABOURERS. Number generally out of employ, 3, 34, 64, 70, 74, 76, 78, 100, 383 Items forminu; expenditure of weekly wages, 251 Restricted as to number of days allowed to work, 66 ; weavers in Dur- ham, ditto, 173 Do not like it known that they have deposits in savings' banks, as it makes it more difficult for them to get work, 270 If known to possess a little property, cannot get work till they have ?^ jCONTENTSi Labourers— (Cow/mwec?.) reduced themselves to pauperism, as work is reserved for those who will immediately come on the parisli, 129, 271, 272, 379, 381 Demoralizing ettects of preferring pauper to independent labourer who has saved money, 271 The moment the possibility of improving his condition by his own exertions is taken from the labourer, as is done by the allowance System, he becomes reckless and immoral, 94, ] 82 Made improvident by the knowledge that they can, under any circum- stances, claim from the parish, S'l, 40, C4, 226 Will not take work in another parish if their own is a good one, for fear of losing settlement, 271 — Weavers, 368 Single men paid by farmers less than married, 133 Driven to early marriage, as the farmers give their yiork in preference to married men, 129 Aware that the system of allowance is a bounty upon early and im- provident marriage, 236, 237 Would abstain from improvident marriages if bounties therefore were withdrawn, 236, 237, 23S, 240 At Swallowfield, many who are single would have married if allowance system had not been discontinued, 237 Table of marriages at Burghfield and Swallowfield for a series of years, 238 Married secured against punishment for theft, as no one will prosecute for fear of bringina: the family upon the parish rates, 380, 382 Inducement to better their condition by turning paupers, still more so by turning felons, exemplified by scale of food possessed by la- bourer, pauper, and felon, 261 Extremely difficult for the classes above to estimate their means of living, 234 Interference on part of gentry with domestic economy of, always pro- duces mischief, 251 Moral condition of, greatly improved by the discontinuance of the allowance system, 38, 98, 149, 150, 160, 267, 268 Non-parishioners always the best workmen and most moral men, because they have virtually no parish^ knowing that application for relief will ensure removal, 208, 373 Industry in, can only be encouraged by abolishing institutions which encourage idleness, 182 "Whilst one portion in a parish are receiving allowance, the other, obtaining only the same wages, live without it, 235 Married labourers, in some places, do not more frequently apply for relief, even where they are not obtaining more wages than single men, 235 MAGISTRATES. Support persons of vicious habits in opposition to the parochial authorities, 4, 29, 98, 108, 118, 119, 120, 121, 123, 125, 126, 150, 160, 162, 262, 263, 374, 375, 376, 203 In Sussex, mischievous scale of allowance ordered by, 75 Sometimes affect the honour of the poor man's friend, 98, 377 Injurious effects of interference with parish authorities, 101, 166, 373, 204 Overseers act mischievously contrary to their conviction, knowing that the magistrate will otherwise compel them, 101 Ignorance of, as to the affairs of the labourers to whom they award relief, 204,230, 233, 234 CONTENTS. Xiil Magistrates — (Continued.) When appealed to, seldom have as good evidence to determine the propriety of relief as the overseer, 2G2, 264, 265, 267 Errors of their decisions, owing to ignorance of habits of the labourers, 210 For fear of fires on their property, dare not refuse allowance, 160, 384 By their ill-advised measures, demoralize the labourers, 98, 160, 204, 373, 377 When they interfere, rates much higher, and parochial affairs v?orse managed, 101, 125, 166, 373 Advantages of non-interference by, with parish authorities, 99, 106, 266 Owing to little interference of, the labourers in towns more industrious and less vicious than in rural districts, 111 Some of the most enlightened admit the evils of their interference, 126, 127, 128 Some willing to concur with Government to arrest the growing evil of pauperism, 110, 262 Mischievous interference of, prevented by refusing relief out of the workhouse, 159, 160, 357 Instructions from the Board to the Assistant Commissioners respect- ing, 420 OVERSEERS and PAROCHIAL OFFICERS Knowing it to be useless to oppose magistrates, relieve improper per- son!, contrary to their own judgments, 83, 121, 188— in Durham, 173 Frequently well-intentioned but mischievous compassion for paupers, 115,204,368 General inclination to be too lenient to paupers, 145, 215— in Durham, 173 Constantly imposed upon by paupers, 114 Mostly io-norant of the ways and habits of the workmg classes, 229 lo-norance of, as to the affairs of the labouring classes, 230, 233, 234 Frequently give allowance to relatives of persons well off, 84, 120, 190 If tradesmen, afraid of injury in their trades by opposing magistrates, or offending paupers, 204 Of the same parish pay money separately, and consequently often relieve the same individual many times, 85 Grant to undeserving through ignorance and private interest, 164, 210 Persons of respectable appearance, from the facility in towns, apply for rehef, and defraud, 213 Afraid to refuse the demands of the paupers, 3 Compelled by paupers to give relief in the shape most agreeable to them, 18, 210 Being possessors of property in the district for which they act, dare not, for fear of fires and breaking machinery, do their duty— strong instances of, 137,' 138, 139, 140, 142, 384 Unfit persons often appointed, 113, 199 Confine supply of workhouse to the parish, though at much higher rates, for the benefit of their fellow-tradesmen, 219, 222 Frequent change of, detrimental to good management, causing it to be unsteady, 81. 112, 113, 115, 187, 199 Great inconvenience of a large body of, 114 Unpaid naturally give up the minimum of their time to parish affairs, 126,199 Unjust to compel a man to give up valuable time for an unpaid and XIV CONTENTS, Overseers and Parochial Officers— (Co7iiinued.) disgusting public duty, tlie only reward for which is either a broken head or the chance of being burnt in his bed, 380 Evil consequences of security not being exacted from, 113, 401 Advantage of permanent officers, 160,346 Instructions from the Board to the Assistant Commissioners respect- ing, 418 OVERSEER, ASSISTANT, paid. Salary of, 3, 70, 74, 76, 98, 121 Duties of, 74 The whole management of parochial affairs sometimes intrusted to, 140 Affairs of parishes possessing, the best managed, 154, 160 Should not, previous to appointment, have possessed any acquaintances in the district, 190 Obnoxious to paupers, 26, 29, 76 — in Durham, 179j One object of the Sussex rioters, 26, 30, 33, 34 In Sussex, for fear of paupers, dare not act as beneficial for the parish, 27 Appointed in some parishes for collecting the rates, as security can be exacted from, which the ordinary overseer will not give, 401 Instructions from the Board to the Assistant Commissioners respect- ing, 418 PARISHES. Under present system of out-door allowance to able-bodied, management of depends wholly upon the administrator, 14, 38, 103, 115, 126 To secure good management of, under present system of out-door relief, men of extraordinary talents and energy requisite, 14, 38, 102, 115, 124, 147, 164,345,369 Under present system, good management of can be ensured only by an annual succession of 14, GOO extraordinary men, 282 Good management of, under present system, after every attempt at checking the growing evil of out-relief, despaired of, 133, 134 Good management of, under present system, impossible, because magis- trates and overseers, possessing, in the district for which they act, property which can be destroyed, dare not oppose the paupers, 162 Great superiority of management in large over that in small, 311 When small, impossible to obtain good management in, 88, 207, 310, 315,318 Junction of small desirable, 95 Men of capital will not contract for small, 310 Good management despaired of, except under Government supervi- sion, 16, 187 Government control the only hope of eradicating the allowance system in South of England, 27 PAUPERS. Generally worthless and profliirate, 149, 181, 203, 206 Mostly niade so Ijy improvidence and vice, 121, 181, 218 The chief receivers of donations from charitable institutions and chari- table laches on wtiom they impose, 205,219 Receiving allowance frequently, much belter off than the soldiers, 258 Generally made so by vicious hal)ils, and not l)y unavoidable causes, 114, 121, 181, 22d, 247, 320, 357, 3GG— in Durham, 181 CONTENTS. XV Paupers — (Contiriued.) Made by lyins-in hospitals, soup kitchens, blanket societies, and perma- nent charities, 180 Give higher rents for a house in a "good parish," 122 \ List of at Eastbourne, 17 Out-door, character of in towns, 119, 120, 209, 257, 258 Out-door, in agricultural parishes, 209 The originators of riots and fires in Sussex, 35 In Sussex dictate to the parish authorities, 35 In Sussex looked upon one who had been hanged for incendiarism as a martyr, exhibited him in his coffin, and subscribed for his family, 27 In some parishes one mass of dissatisfaction, turbulence, and demorali- zation, 108 Frauds on parishes committed by, 149, 162, 265, 349 Constant and intricate frauds by out-door, 210, 211, 214 In London receive allowance from several parishes at same time, 214, 256, 257 Aid each other in imposing upon magistrates and parish authorities, 263 Drive others to receive allowance, 214,379 Out-door in towns, impossibility of ascertaining whether they have work, 163, 166, 211, 212 "Will not take work out of their own parishes, 167 Prefer Gs. per week from parish for doing nothing, to 95. from farmer with work, 209 Number of employed on roads and gravel-pits, &c., 2, 39, 40, 61, 63, 70, 76, 87, 100, 132 Demoralizing effects of employing on roads, 69 Employed on farms taken by parish, 74, 105, 139 Disimprove rapidly both in skill and morals, 88 Scale of parish wages for, frequently according to number of children, 61,63,66,70,^2,74,82,202 Married allowed higher wages than single, 63, 202 Married out ot employ increase, 63 Work of, does not repay the parish for the wear and tear of tools and machinery, 2, 65, 118, 121, 132, 316, 317, When they know the parish cannot find work, apply for relief, 210 Very small number remain on parishes when real work has been given, 139,150,181,209,210,346,350 Continue, from generation to generation, raising their families on parish allowance, 161, 204, 218, 220, 226,358 Many now on parish might have provided out of wages in youth, 226 So indolent and little trust-worthy, that capitalists prefer labourers from other parishes, even at higher wages, 208, 373 Know accurately the allowance of food in each workhouse and each prison within their district, and try to enter where the largest and best is given, 257, 258 In workhouses fare luxuriously, compared with the labourer of Ireland or Scotland, 260 Do not like, and frequently refuse, relief in kind, 215 Cheap support of, a secondary ol'ject; the primary object deterring others from becoming, 182 Will not enter a well-conducted workhouse, 159, 205 PAUPERISM. Rapid increase of, 182,J88, 380 XVI CONTENTS. Pauperism — (Continued.) Like small-pox, unless watched, quickly overruns a parish, 182, 206 Rapid increase of at Cholesbury — reaction upon paupers in leaving them destitute, 87 ; at Royston, 380 ; at Great Shalford, 384 The moment it reaches the point at which the whole rental is consumed, cultivation ceases — instance, 87 Degree of temptation to, under present system, can only be estimated by an accurate acquaintance with the mode of living of independ- ent working people, 226 Resisting the rapid increase of must not be left to local palliatives, but must be ensured by the enforcement of a general and vigorous system, 195, 380 POLICE. Who compose in rural districts, 25, 29, 187 How elected in rural districts, 25, 29 Village constable equal to suppression of a village quarrel, but useless against a mob, 25 In rural districts inadequate to protection of property, 3, 63 All classes in Sussex and Essex exclaim against present inefficiency of, 25, 36 Violence of paupers cannot be resisted without the improvement of, 25 Farmers and others afraid to act against the paupers, for fear of the destruction of their properties by burning, 25, 29, 187 Instructions from the Board to the Assistant Commissioners respect- ing, 425 POOR-LAWS, as at present administered. 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O C5 CO O O O 04 o o o o o 5£ cs CI a> o CO O CO CI CO -S .O 1— 1 CO — ' o OinO^ i-iCOCO C4 OS r^ 1-H ^3 o C2 •/C ^co 2- (-1 ^ «3 -3 a 3 o CO , -+- ' 13 CO . CO . "2 3 2 o 1-S o c n rt p' P . ■r - 1-1 .? s 3 -r. 1* n o , o ! ^ ipi -^ c d a) -^ t-3 c 1) 3 oi a ^ --1 3 '5 o ,0,0%- ■ ,t: ,o ,o ,>- a) 3> ;o3-mI3^soooo Hj "B CO -"^ CO jj »n t^ «o ^J-oo s 3 o u w 1—4 . ' ^ P4 ^ ^ •^ §i H o •a a> W i2 S H a p •3^-3 o ?i,am o o <1 ^ 1—4 «h* « "^ «^ !/! ^ -• 00 w Q . CO «^ -r -^ -a >- r— T" o u Ph w p -*-• M s CJ ■^" o» K V « H a> rt « ^ w ;-! .« o o s from Seaford — Sussex. 23 SEAFORD. Population. 1098 Rates in the £. 12s. Value. 3 4 Average Expenditure. 1800Z. Seaford is a liberty of itself. This is rather a strono^ instance of the effect of a town in crush- ing the land. Of the above sum one-third is paid by the town ; the remaining two-thirds by the land. From one of the principal farms, of the value of something more than 1000/. per annum, and assessed at 878/., the average annual payment of rates for the last three years has been 577L There is another reason, however, for the high rates of this place : being a borough, the various mysterious modes of keeping up the patron's interest were in full operation; and the rates on houses not called for from accommodating voters, but kept suspended over their heads, in case of misconduct, were among the engines put in force ; and of course it could not be expedient to examine too strictly the applications for relief made by freemen and their relations. Rates are formally allowed by the magistrates of the liberty ; and the account of the expenditure is perused and allowed, having been first verified on oath before the same magistrates. There ap- peared a strange confusion in these accounts. Entries of rent due to one of the proprietors, carried on from year to year. Bills un- paid, in a long string of items of various description, amounting to 500Z. or 600/. On turning back to an earlier part of the ledger, the confusion was in some degree explained by a page which had not been cancelled, when the Borough of Seaford was transferred to Schedule A. I subjoin some extracts previous and subsequent to the disfranchisement : — statement of statement of Amount of Poor Rate. Cash Received. Cash Due. £. s. d. £. s. d. £. s. d. Dec. 31, 1828 528 3 10 Apr. 13, 1829 522 19 10 3 14 15 Oct. 1, 1829 526 12 6 3 14 8 2 9 8 Jan. 21, 1830 524 19 2 4 2 8 2 9 8 A marvellous improvement in accuracy of accounts was pro- duced by the mere contemplation of the Reform Bill : — May 22, 1831 Oct. 14, 1831 Feb. 17, 1832 Amount of Poor Rate. £. s. d. 544 19 10 811 2 3 675 5 7 Cash Received. £. s, d. 500 12 2 723 17 6 557 17 ; 2 Cash Due. £. s. d. 44 7 8 ' 87 4 9 117 8 5 24 Mr. Majendie's Report It was notorious that in the borough of Helston, in Cornwall, the whole poor rates of the town were paid by the patron ; and when the patronage passed from one family to another, the burden of the rates followed the transfer : something like that system seems to have prevailed in Seaford. Near this town, in the parish of Bishopstone, there is a farm of about the same extent and value as that mentioned above. There beino- no borough town to oppress it, the rates are 1601. instead of 577/. GENERAL REPORT ON THE DISTURBED DISTRICT OF EAST SUSSEX. BEER-SHOPS. The beer-shops are considered as most mischievous. They allow of secret meetings beyond any places previously existing, being generally in obscure situations, kept by the lowest class of persons : they are receiving houses for stolen goods, and fre- quently brothels * ; they are resorted to by the most abandoned characters — poachers, smugglers, and night depredators, who pass their time in playing at cards for the expenses of the night, in raffling for game and poultry, and concocting plans for future mischief: they are never without a scout, and are not interrupted by the observation of any person of respectability ; no infornia- tion can be obtained from the masters, who are in the power of their guests, spirits being usually sold without license ; and not one in ten sell home-brewed beer. Similar representations are made in East Kent. A magistrate expressed his opinion that no single measure ever caused so nmch mischief in so short a time, in demoralizinor the labourers. The evidence of the hijjh-con- stable of Ashford is very strong, and his means of jvidging ex- tensive, — having been called upon to attend at the numerous fires which have taken place in that district. He has been present in the condemned cells, at the last parting of the convicts from their parents and relations; and it appears that all the acts of incendiarism were perpetrated by frequenters of beer- shops. Dyke, who was executed, was taken in a beer-shop ; and * A gentleman of property in East Sussex informed me, that a small te- nant of his converted his cottai^e into a beer-sho]): he was asked how it suc- ceeded, he answered, " If my l)eer-shop Mill not answer 1 don't know whose can, for 1 keep them a girl and a fiddle." from the disturbed Districts of Sussex. 25 the two Packhams, who suffered at Maidstone, acknowledged, before their execution, that they went from a beer- shop to com- mit the offence. RURAL POLICE. A more efficient police is a matter of the greatest importance. All classes, proprietors and occupiers, magistrates, overseers, — all reqvure it. Concession to paupers can hardly be avoided under the present insufficient police ; and the magistrates consider the calling in the military very objectionable, unless in the last extre- mity. As to yeomanry, there is so much distress among farmers, and consequently so much discontent, that they are unwilling to enrol themselves : those who, in the good times of farming, had horses fit for yeomanry service, now make use of a cart-horse, or go on foot. The few who are more opulent hang back ; as, from living in isolated situations, their property is completely at the mercy of their own labourers. Such, indeed, is the general insecurity of farming property, since the imhappy time of the riots, that a considerable occupier has thought it necessary to retain, in constant pay, two of the most confidential of his labourers, to watch over and report to him any symptoms of dissatisfaction among the rest, likely to lead to mischief. The constables and headboroughs are elected at the annual meetincy of the court-leet of the hundred ; the chief constable is usually some small farmer or tradesman, who receives no pay, except the small fee for a summons. The common constables are usually village artizans, competent perhaps to the forms of civil process, and putting down a village broil, but totally unacquainted with the business of police, and in case of great mobs, quite inefficient : they are changed every year, and are seldom willing to serve a second time. SMUGGLING, Since the establishment of the preventive service, is much dimi- nished. This diminution has had the effect of increasing the poor- rate, or, as was expressed by an overseer, who is supposed to have had formerly a very accurate acquaintance with the business, " the putting down smuggling is the ruin of the coast." The la- bourers of Bexhill, and ofthe villages proceeding eastward towards Kent, used to have plenty of work in the summer, and had no difficulty in finding employment in smuggling during the winter. The smugglers are divided into two classes, the carriers or bearers, who receive from five shilHngs per night and upwards, according to the number of tubs they secure, and the batmen. 26 Mr. Majendie's Report The batmen, so called from the provincial term of bat^ for a bludgeon, which they use, consider themselves as of a superior class : they go out in disguise, frequently with their faces blackened, and now with fire-arms ; they confine their services to the protection of the others, and are paid 20s. or more per night ; and many, perhaps most of them, are at the same time in the receipt of parish relief. Large capitals have been invested in this business, particularly at Bexhill. Many of the small farmers, if they do not partici- j)ate, certainly connive at these practices ; those who do not di- rectly profit by smuggling, consider that it is advantageous, as finding employ for many who otherwise would be thrown on their parishes. The smugglers are now much more ferocious since the use of fire-arms is more constant. The offer of 1000/. reward by the Secretary of State, for the detection of some men engaged in a desperate affray, caused much sensation, but was ultimately ineffectual. Many from fear left the country for France and America, but have returned since the failure of the prosecution, for want of satisfactory evidence; though, probably, not less than 500 persons in the district were fully ac- quainted with the transaction. Beyond all doubt the practice of smuggling has been a main cause of the riots and fires in Sussex and East Kent : labourers have acquired the habit of acting in large gangs by night, and of systematic resistance to authority. High living is become essen- tial to them, and they cannot reconcile themselves to the moderate pay of lawful industry. RIOTS. The riots in the north-east parts of the Rape of Hastings com- menced simultaneously on the 5th and 6th of November, 1830. The farmers observed, that their labourers all at once left their work : they were taken away l)y night by a systematic arrano-e- ment; no leader could be identified, but bills were run up at the public-houses in the evening, and in the morning a stranger came and paid. Tile mobs generally had written forms containing their de- mands, they varied a little in the amount of wages, but all agreed in the amount of " allowance " of Is. (id. for every child above two; that there should be no assistant-overseer; that they should })e paid full wages, wet or dry ; that they would pay their own rents*. There were nine cases of incendiarism that winter at • This last point is remarkable : perhaps it may be thus explained, — that the labourers were aware that high rents, paid out of the poor-rates, formed part of the system of parish jobbing, of Uttle advantage to them. from the disturbed Districts of Sussex. 27 Battle. The mob which assembled there, on the day of tlie ma- gistrates' meeting, amounted to nearly 700 : all the principal magistrates of the division, nineteen in number, assembled ; the arrival of a troop of horse established order. Thoutjh the suilt of one of the incendiaries, J. BufFord, who was executed, was clear and admitted by himself, yet the feeling of the country was so much in his favour, that he was considered as a martyr, — he was exhibited in his coffin, and a subscription made for his family. A permanent Bench of Magistrates was established at Battle, at which ]Mr. Courthorpe presided, at their particular request, and directed by day and night the measures which were requisite for public tranquillity. This harassing duty continued during a month ; but from that period, a certain degree of intimidation has prevailed in this dis- trict. The assistant-overseers having been then ill-treated by the mobs, are reluctant to make complaints for neglect of work, lest they should become marked men and their lives rendered uncomfortable or even unsafe. Farmers permit their labourers to i-eceive relief, founded on a calculation of a rate of wages lower than that ac- tually paid : they are unwilling to put themselves in collision with the labourers, and will not give an account of earnings, or if they do, beg that their names may not be mentioned. A similar feeling prevails in East Kent : at Westwell, the farmers are afraid to express, at vestry-meetings, their opinions against a pauper who applies for relief, for fear their premises should be set fire to. Two of the fires immediately followed such a resistance ; one of them happened to a most respectable farmer, a kind and liberal master, and a promoter of cottage allotments. The allowance system is represented to be so established, that without some legislative enactment, neither overseers, vestries, nor magistrates, can make any eilectual change; and that if local regulations were attempted, a repetition of the outrages of 1830 may be expected. Day wages seem to be fixed at 2s. to 2s. 3d. ; which are not thoucfht too hi b60L Incidental County Rates . At the commencement of the new system, very numerous applications were made to the Select Vestry, but they were strictly examined : where relief was necessary, in cases of illness or real distress, it was liberally granted ; but refused, unless con- sidered requisite ; and the labourers, by degrees, learnt to depend . on their own resources. The rates gradually diminished, and the money expended on the poor alone, which in 1825 amounted to 834^., was in 1828 only 196/. The Vestry determined that all capable of work shovdd be employed, and that no relief should be given but in return for labour. The labourers improved in their habits and comforts. During the four years that this system was in progress, there was not a single commitment for theft, or any other offence. Mr. Andrews once put this question to a supporter of his plan : — " What do the poor give in return for that which they receive from the poor- rates?" After a pause, he thus answered his own question: — " They give their honesty, their veracity, their industry, and everything that tends to make a man a good member of society." In the year 1830, after the death of Mr. Andrews, who fell a sacrifice to his great exertions, the expenditure of the parish was rising; and Mr. Capel Cure, a principal proprietor, introduced the plan of an incorporated workhouse, as is related by Mr. Becher, in his evidence before the House of Lords. Ten parishes united to erect " the Ongar Hundred Workhouse," under Gilbert's Act, by the medium of 3| years' poor-rate. The expense amounted to 3181/. The sale of the old workhouse at Stanford Rivers, defrayed their medium, with 100/. over. The expense for diet, which was before 3s. 9c/. per head, is now below 2s. No " allowance " is given on account of large families; but the children of those parents who are unable to maintain them, are taken into the house, where they attend in the school, are taught to read, to sew, and knit stockings, which are given out for distribution in the united parishes. from Stanford Rivers — Essex. 39 There is no assistant-overseer in this parish, but the accounts are accurately kept by a schoolmaster, at Ongar, who acts as vestry clerk. The salary to the suro-eon is 251. Twenty-seven allotments of 20 rods each have been let this year to labourers, at 6s. per allotment, free of rate and tithe; it is proposed they shall hold the land by lease, from the 1st of December. The crops are great, and the land is considered a great benefit by the labourers, who are enabled to raise potatoes, instead of buying them at great disadvantage at the retail price. The opinion of the rector of the parish is, that the morals and general conduct of his flock are improved since the new plan has been adopted. Under his auspices, with the assistance of the deputy-visitor of the workhouse, several charitable institutions have been formed ; which, by making additions to the deposits of the poor, tend to encourage in them habits of providence. Mr. Capel Cure, to whom the district is indebted for the introduction of the improved workhouse, continues his services as visitor. While many parishes in the neighbourhood remain in a pau- perized state, this parish is entirely cured, to the mutual advan- tage of the payers and receivers of rates. It is to be observed, however, that the circumstances are favourable ; there is no surplus population, — a considerable portion of the land being pasture, the pressure on the capital of the occupiers has not been so great as in arable districts, and that fair wages are paid. Ongar Hundred Workhouse. The printed rules and regulations will sufficiently detail the general management. The governor is a retired supervisor of excise ; his former occupation has accustomed him to accuracy in accounts, and his services on the Kent and Sussex coast have inured him to the firmness required in his present situation : and the most refractory have given way to the discipline of the house. The building is in general judiciously planned : the governor's apartments in the centre, between the male and female wards, and overlooking the two yards. The mmiber of inmates at pre- sent is 62, principally aged, deserted children, and a few child- ren of parents who are not able to maintain them. The able- bodied who are sometimes sent in, are soon induced by the order, the cleanliness, the abstinence from fermented liquors, and the general restraint, to quit, as soon as possible, and seek work for themselves. Nearly 200 persons are sent into the house in the course of the year. The able-bodied are employed in raising and drawing gravel, and in the repair of the roads. The cheapness 40 Mr. Majendie's Report at which they can be maintained is a material object; for where the charge is heavy, some obstinate paupers frequently vise that as a means of wearying out their parish and obtaining their own way. The attempt has been made here by some families, but they have at last given way after a fruitless attempt to recover their " allowance." As children can be maintained here for Is. 6d. per week, the parishes avoid the evil of the large allow- ances usually made for bastards, which operate as a premium on immorality. SAFFRON WALDEN, ESSEX. Population. 4762 Acres. 7296 Rental 13,790/. Value. Rate in tlie £. 4s. lOd. Expenditure 1832. Poor . . 2900/. Surveyor (paid out of poor-rate) 900 3800/. Saffron Walden is a considerable market-town, in which a great trade in malting is carried on ; and from the extent of land, it is also important as an agricultural parish. Weekly wages 10s. ; and, contrary to the usual practice of the district, there is no re- gular scale of " allowance " on account of families. There is an open vestry, well attended by proprietors and occupiers; two overseers, an assistant-overseer, and vestry clerk. Strict exami- nation is made of all applications, and the business of the parish seems to be conducted with great regularity and economy. The general improvidence of the artisans who waste their summer earnings, throws many on the parish in the winter, and this number has bee*n much augmented by the necessity imposed on farmers to reduce the number of their labourers, in consequence of the diminution of their capital, owing to a succession of bad crops, and the general depression of agriculture. The able-bodied are set to work by the surveyor of the roads, and paid out of the poor-rates. Hills have been lowered and roads much improved, but these works have been carried on not from choice, but to em- ploy the people. In the commencement of 1830, spade-hus- bandry was introduced, and 52 acres of land were dug and the la- bour paid at a certain price per rod by the occupiers. At the same time, at the suggestion of Lord Braybrook(>, with the assistance of Messrs. (jibsoM, bankers in the town, who had long been advo- cates for the plan, allotments of land to the labourers were intro- duced, in order to enable them to make additional earnings by their own exertions. To the account published by Lord Bray- from Saffron Jfalden, Essex, 41 brooke, I add a fe^y details — first, as to the effect on the rates. The repair of the roads, which exceed 25 miles in length within the parish, requires an expenditure of about 400/. ; i)ut in the year 1829 the sum actually expended on the roads was 1500/. At the commencement of 1830, there were 136 men on parish employ, at a weekly expense of 401. At the same period of the year 1831, the greatest number was 88, and the weekly expense 25/. In the year ending March, 1832, the greatest number out of employ was 86, and the total sum paid to them was 560/. less than in 1829. It is probable that other causes have contributed to this reduction ; but the most competent judges ascribe much of this improvement to the allotments. The effect on the habits and comforts of the labourer has been most beneficial. In No- vember of the year 1830, in which the system commenced, when fires and riots were prevalent in many of the adjoining parishes, this altogether escaped the infection. Not only did the labourers refrain from joining the mobs, but they went out under the orders of the magistrates to assist in putting down the riots. It happened at this period that (by an ill-timed joke, as afterwards appeared) the notice, "' This house to be burnt,"" was written with chalk on several houses, and among others, on that of a principal promoter of the allotments. Nearly 50 labourers came forward to offer to watch his premises. There are now 138 allotments, of from 20 to 40 rods each ; and it may be considered that each of their occupiers is a special constable ready to protect public order in moments of difficulty, because he has now an interest in maintaining it. It is pleasant to take this more favourable view; but as the tenants are liable to lose their occupations by miscon- duct, those whom good motives might not influence, are bound by a tangible recognisance to their good behaviour. The produce has infinitely exceeded that of farming lands. The profit of the labour on each allotment, after charging rent and seed, may very reasonably be calculated at 3/. 138 X 3 = 414/. Thus there is a constant creation of capital, which otherwise would not have existed. The attachment of the labourers to their small occupa- tions is increasing. Many spend their hours of leisure, and sometimes a whole day, there. They have now something they may call their own. Since the abolition of small farms, it has been observed, that there is nothing between 10s. a week and a large occupation : and a familiar metaphor has been used, that all the intermediate staves in the ladder have been removed. ASHHURST MaJENDIE. 42 Report to the Poor-Law Commissioners ANSWERS TO THE QUERIES OF THE POOR-LAW COMMISSIONERS FROM TICEHURST, SUSSEX. Queries. Answers. Are cottages frequently ex- einpted from rates? and is their rent often paid by the parish Is the industry of the labourers in your neighbourhood sup- posed to be increasing or diminishing ; that is, are your labourers supposed to be better or worse workmen than they formerly were ? The rents of cottages have been paid to a great extent, in this part of the country, from the parish funds ; but in this parish and many others, this practice is now discon- tinued. Cottages are frequently exempt from the poors' rates from the impossibility of enforcing the payment from the poor occupier : I believe the more general practice is not to make the attempt against their own parishioners. It appears to me to be desirable that both the occupier and the landlord should be rated where the rent is small, the poor would then feel some interest in checking the amount of the rate, and the parish would be secure from tlie landlord. The industry of the steady la- bourer, who is in constant employ- ment under the same master, I believe not to be diminished ; and I believe that such labourers have no ground of complaint at the pre- sent wages of this neighbourhood ; but the supply of labourers in many parishes exceeding the de- mand for them, and the reduced capital of the farmers not enabling them to pay for the work which a due cultivation of their farms would require, many of the labouring class, and more particularly the single men, are left in a state of idleness, or obtain very irregular and uncertain emj)ioyment. The payment of such labourers being too frequently measured by what is considered necessary for subsist- ence, rather than by the merit of the workman, — the idle and dis- solute receiving as much by aid of the poor-rate, as the most indus- from Ticehurst — Sussex. 43 Queriiis. Answers . 3. Have you any and wliat em- ployment for women and children ! 4. What in the wliole might an average labourer, obtaining an average amount of em- ployment Ijoth in day-work and piece-work, expect to earn in the year, including harvest work and the value of all his other advantages and means of living, except parish relief? You will observe that this ques- tion refers to an average labourer obtaining an average amount of employment, not to the best la- bourer in constant employment. 5, What in the whole might his wife and four children, aged 14, 11, 8, and 5 years re- spectively, (the eldest a boy,) expect to earn in the year ? obtaining, as in the former case, an average amount of employment. trious for his labour ; and the va- rious shifts and contrivances for giving employment and support to what is considered as surplus la- bour, at the least expense to the former, — all tend to ruin the in- dustry of the country, and to pro- duce much discontent and irrita- tion amongst a large class of the agricultural population. The women have employment in hop-pole shaving, hop tying, weeding, and haying ; but the principal profit to the women and children arises from the hop-pick- ing, which, in favourable seasons, gives a considerable sum to large families. In many instances, since the late riots, the labourers have been re- ceiving 2s. 3d. per day as day- wages ; but I should calculate the general day-wages in this neigh- bourhood at 2s. per day, or 12s. per week. I think a good la- bourer, in constant employment, with the average advantages of piece-work, would earn 35/. per annum, or 13s. 6d. per week ; and the best and most industrious would exceed this sum, and would probably reach 40Z., or something more than 15s. per week. It is impossible to form even a conjec- ture as to those who are not in regular employment, but are dis- missed from day to day, when the farmer from distress is unable to pay them, or has no occasion for their work. The wife, and the eldest bov of 14 years old, if in regular service as carter's mate, &c., would con- tribute very materially towards the support of the family ; but the boy's being able to procure such a situation, or any regular employ- ment, is very uncertain. I am in- 44 Report to the Poor-Law Commissioners Queries. Answers. 6. Could the family subsist on these earnings ? And if so, on what food i clined to estimate earning of the wife as band's average adding the and children one-tenth to the hus- receipts ; but this is not trifling sum hop-picking. the age of might very founded in any data that can be depended on. In good hop sea- sons such a family would add no by their earnings in When the boy is of 17 and upwards, he materially contribute to the general fund for the support of the family. The poor, in order to make a further claim on the parish, treat such a lad as inde- pendent of them ; and even if living in the same house, as a mere lodger with the father and mother. If true, this places the young men in a situation likely to lead to every kind of irregularity, at an asre when thev ought to be under parental control ; and if false, it is a fraud upon the parish. I think such a family, if in con- stant employment, might subsist on their earnings, with prudence and economy, especially with the assistance of a garden to the cot- tage ; but much will always de- pend on the good management of the wife. Their food is pork, bread, and cheese, butter, potatoes, and tea. I conceive the poor have no reason to complain of the the day or weekly the hardship consists amount in of jfcs ; but their not being able to obtain regular employment. The distress of the farmers having led to a practice (which does not prevail so much in this parish as in many others) of dismissing their la- bourers from day to day, and thus throwing them for support on the poor-rate, whenever they have not pressing occasion for their labour ; from Tkehurst — Sussex. 45 Queries. Answers. and whenever such relief is to be measured by the necessity of the family, neither overseer, vestry, nor magistrate, can do this with satis- faction to themselves ; for one poor family will live in compara- tive ease and comfort under the same circumstances under which another appears in great distress. All seems to depend on such mi- nute savings and management in so many articles, each trifling in itself, that a magistrate has no measure low enough for such an estimate ; his duties, therefore, be- tween the overseer and the pauper, are most painful. A practice pre- vails in this part of the country, which, though very plausible, I fear is productive of evil conse- quences to the poor, to the rate- payers, and also to those who ap- pear to receive advantage from it, — I allude to the custom of putting out children into the farmers' ser- vice, with clothing, and frequently with a premium to the farmer who takes them ; it deprives the poor man of gettinsc his children out but through the medium of their becoming parish paupers, as he has no means of offering the ad- vantages that are given bv the parish, and the children are much worse servants, and less under the control of tiieir masters, than if the clothes were provided by the latter, as they consider themselves under no obligation, and are care- less whether they keep such places or not. If, by this means, more children were put out than would otherwise get into service, it might be considered beneficial, but none are taken but those which the farmers require, and to whom they must have given clothes 46 Report to the Poor-Law Commissioners Queries. Answers. and food for their services, if they had not been provided at the parish expense. The regular de- mand for domestic service is thus superseded bv the parish supply. The farmers in this parish some time since determined to put an end to this practice; which has sel- dom since gone beyond giving 10s. with girls from the poor-house for clothes, and then not till after they have been tried in the place, and approved by the masters ; but there is great difficulty in putting an end to this in any one parish, unless neighbouring parishes do the same, as the farmers in such case would take their female servants from other parishes on these advanta- geous terms, and their own pauper children would crowd their own workhouse. 7. Could it lay by anything ? As to a poor family laying by, and how much ? it is quite out of the question ; but if the single tnan could procure regular work, and could be induced to lay by as he ought to do, I think an industrious man might in a few years secure an independence at the present wages of the coun- try ; but if an industrious man was known to have laid by any pari of his wages, and thus to have accu- mulated any considerable sum, there are some parishes in which he would be refused work till his savings were gone, and the know- ledge that this would be the case acts as a preventive against sav- ing. 8. Is there any and what differ- The most profitable and regular ence between the wages paid employment is given to the mar- by the employer to the mar- ricd men ; and the single man, ex- ricd and unmarried when cept at the busy seasons, finds employed by individuals? great difficulty in' procuring work in a great part of this country. I beUeve the wages in this parish from Ticehurst — Sussex. 47 Queries. Answers. 9. Have you any and how many able-bodied labourers, in the emplovment of individuals, receiving allowance or regu- lar relief from your parish on their own account or on that of their families ? 10. Is that relief or allowance ge- nerally given in consequence of the advice or order of the magistrates? or under the opinion that the magistrates would make an order for it if application were made to them? are not different to the single men when employed by individuals ; but as they are the persons generally, in most places, dismissed when any of the workmen can be dispensed with, they are in the receipt of a much less weekly or yearly sum than the married men. The most active, therefore, of the agricul- tural population have much idle time, acquire vicious habits, which are much promoted by the beer- shops, and are in a constant state of discontent, it cannot be said w^ithout reason where they are in- dustrious and anxious to work, but not able to procure it. The only mode in which able- bodied labourers, in the employ- ment of individuals in this parish, receive parish relief, is by the payment in consequence of the size of a family ; or if only par- tially employed, parish work, in raising stones, &c., is given, when considered necessary for them- selves or family. The magistrates in this division have, as far as it is practicable, de- termined never to order relief upon any regular scale, but that each individual case should depend upon its own merits, and they very rare- ly interfere in ordering more than has been determined by the vestry ; and when such an occasion has occurred it has generally been done by private intimation that the case deserved to be reconsidered by the vestry, and not by any po- sitive order upon the subject: by this means the magistrates and vestries have drawn well together, and there have been comparatively but few applications to the magis- trates. 48 Report to the Poor-Law Commissioners Queries. Answers. 11, Is any and what attention paid As parish allowance is reduced to the character of the appli- to the lowest amount which is cant, or to the causes of his conceived necessary for subsis- distress ? tence, however desirable it may be, it becomes almost impossible iu practice to make any important difference, grounded on the cha- racter of the applicant, or the causes of his distress ; but with this view some parishes prefer giving relief according to the num- ber of the children, rather than by estimating the actual receipts of the family, considering that the former mode encourages the in- dustrious, whilst the latter (even where it is practicable) operates as a premium to idleness and vice ; since, by aid of the parish funds, the weekly receipts of the profli- gate idler (as the necessary sub- sistence of his famih') are made to equal the amount of what is earned by the hard labour of the indus- trious. It is very difficult too to ascertain with any accuracy tlie real earning of the family, as some farmers, from various motives, will join with their men in deceiving the vestry as to their amount. 12. Is relief or allowance given Upon the late riots this parish, according to any, and what besides increasing wages, acqui- scale ? esced in the demand of giving allowance for families, to com- mence with the third child ; but thinking this unreasonable, the ■ vestry afterwards determined to make some alteration ; but before tliey carried it into eflect, requested the farmers to speak to their re- spective labourers on the subject, — some of whom expressed their surprise that it should ever have been acceded to or continued so ■ long ; and it was then determined, witliout further difficulty, that when the fatlier was on regular work, he from Ticeliurst — Sussex. 49 Queries. Answers. 13. Can you state the particulars of any attempt which has been made in your neigh- bourhood to discontinue the system (after it has once prevailed) of giving to able- bodied labourers in the em- ploy of individuals parish allowance on their own ac- count, or on that of their families ? should support three children with- out parish relief: since that time, four gallons of corn per month have been generally allowed for the fourth child ; seven gallons for five children, and so in proportion. A\ e have few families above five entitled to claim relief, the older children being able to do some- thing for themselves, or being above twelve years old, when we cease to give the parents relief on their account ; if relief is given at all on account of the size of the family, something like a scale is almost unavoidable in practice, though in theory most objection- able. In this parish we had, some few years ago, viz. from IS 19 to 1823, a large apparent surplus of labour- ers, and at ^Michaelmas 1S19, hired a parish farm, which was found to be attended with many evil con- sequences, and was relinquished at Michaelmas 1822, finding the mischief of collecting together so manv of the worst characters in the parish. In Nov. 1821, a sys- tem of billeting was adopted, at which the surplus men were to be drawn for by the occupiers, at the rate of one man to 15Z. rental, and two boys from 12 to 16 rec- koned as one man ; such men were to be paid Id. per day by their employers, and the rest of their income made up in proportion to their families from the poor- rates ; this practice was conti- nued till June, 1822, and being found very objectionable, a differ- ent plan was adopted ; viz. the surplus labourers were put up and sold to the highest bidder, to be taken by those occupiers only wlio had in their employ at the same 50 Report to the Poor-Law Commissioners Queries. Answers. time, one man to every 10/. 12s. rental, wliich was continued till April, 1823 ; during these respec- tive periods the surplus labour ap- peared to be large, and after a trial of the last-mentioned experi- ment it was found, like all suck schemes, to be mischievous in its result ; and by superseding the regular demand for labour, to in- crease the apparent surplus, and has been given up for some years. A committee was therefore ap- pointed in Oct. 1823, to find some public work for such unemployed labourers ; and by persevering in the determination that such men should never be employed in pri- vate labour of the farmer on his lands, with anv assistance from the poors'-rate, we have never since had a large surplus, though small numbers, varving at different sea- sons of the year, are on parish work; as far as I can learn, during the last year about twelve men have been so employed during the win- ter months, and three or four in the summer, averaging about six or seven durin£r the vear. But whilst the distress of the farmer continues, from want of capital and credit, and the habit (which is the unavoidable consequence) of turn- ing off the labourer every day when his labour is not absolutely requisite, there must always be an apparent surplus, or number of persons who are paid out of the rates for want of regular employ- ment. AVhilst there is such a fund as the poor-rate to resort to, I fear it is too much to expect that all farmers will abstain from this mode of relieving themselves at the ex- pense of others ; but this is much less ])ractised in this parish than in the neighbourhood, from a know- from Ticehurst — Sussex. 51 Queries. Answers. 14. What do you think would be the effects, both immediate and ultimate, of an enactment forbidding such allowance, and thus throwing wholly on parish employment all those whose earnings could not fully support themselves and their families ? 15. Would it be advisable that the parish, instead of giving allowance to the father, should take charge of, em- ploy, and feed his children during the day ? and if such a practice has prevailed, has it increased or diminished the number of able-bodied applicants for relief? ledge that it will not lead to pro- curing labourers at reduced prices from the rate. All labour-rates are objectionable on this principle, and if examined will be found to be nothing more than a plausible mode of legalizing the crying evil of paying the labour out of the rates. I conceive this to be quite im- practicable ; the farmers and the labourers would unite in resisting any such scheme, and the whole of society in this part of the coun- try would be deranged: its effects no man can calculate. In country parishes, not very extensive, and where the popu- lation is not very large, and where the workhouse is very well and judiciously conducted, and it is superintended by a zealous advo- cate and promoter of the scheme, such a plan might be adopted with success, as I believe it has been in some places ; but it is impossible to secure such a management of workhouses throughout the king- dom, that they would not be made instruments of oppression in some places, and, I fear, lead to a great demoralization of their nu- merous inhabitants. I believe, occasionally, such an offer of tak- ing a child into the workhouse has been made in this parish, in cases where imposition has been sus- pected, and the parties have de- sisted from making further appli- cation ; but as a general law, I think it would lead to mischievous consequences, and in some cases the workhouse would be so con- ducted as to become an object of desire, and would defeat the object E 2 52 Report to the Poor-Law Commissioners Queries. Answers. 16. What do you think would be the effect of an enactment enabling parishes to tax themselves in order to facili- tate emigration ? 17. What do you tliink would be the cfl'ect, immediate and ultimate, of making the de- cision of the vestry, or select vestry, iu mutters of relief fnial ? by running into the opposite ex- treme. I think it desirable that facilities should be given to raising funds for emigration ; having no doubt, in the present state of the agricul- ture of the country, that there is a surplus of labour beyond the de- mand. I had imagined till very lately, that if agriculture was in a healthy state, this surplus was small, though from the ignorance and mismanagement of the paro- chial authorities, it is in many places apparently large ; but, I fear, from recent inquiries into the amount of the agricultural population in this district, I am mistaken, and that the surplus of labour is beyond what I imagined ; but at all events, as a safety-valve, emigration, in my opinion, would operate beneficially, and would soon check itself. For this object I should recommend that the expense incurred should be paid in a short period, viz., two or three years at the utmost, that parishes might not be encouraged to throw too much of their burdens on their successors : the landlords, on such a subject, should have a vote in the vestry (though in gene- ral occasions 1 would not give them such vote), and they should pay half the expense. I believe this has been adopted in tlie parish of Salehurst with success, where tlie whole expense was paid in this manner within the year. I cannot venture to give an opi- nion on this question. I am well aware that the charitable and hu- mane feelings of magistrates have formerly led to a great increase of the poor's-rate, but of late years this has been much cliecked in this part of the country ; it is the from Tieehurst — Sussex. 53 Queries. Answers. 1 S. If an appeal from the vestry or select vestry shall continue, what do you think would be the effect, immediate and ultimate, of restoring the law as it stood before the Stat. 36 Geo. III. chap. 23. was passed, so that, in any parish having a workhouse or poorhouse, the magis- trates should not have the power of ordering relief to be given to persons who should refuse to enter the workhouse or poorhouse ? most painful part of the duty the magistrate has to perform, and I have never been able to discover any mode of discharging it with satisfaction to myself. In those places where the magistrates draw well with the parochial authorities, the overseers would wish for the appeal as they receive assistance from the sanction of the magis- trate ; but where the magistrates are very generally interfering with and controlling the proceed- ings of the vestry, the overseer loses all authority in the parish and nothing can go on well. If relief is offered in ^the work- house, it is very unusual for the magistrates in this district to order relief in any other shape ; occa- sionally a recommendation to the parish officer has been given where the circumstances seemed to re- quire it ; but I conceive the pro- posal of any general law dooming every applicant for parish relief to be confined to a workhouse would rouse a most formidable resistance, and that in these times of popular excitement it could not be carried into effect without endangering the peace of the country. Many parishes in this neighbourhood are very extensive, and the num- ber of labourers out of employ at some seasons of the year, wlie- mismanagemont or not, ther from is large : if these persons, wlio are the idle, vicious, discontented, and the most violent of the agricul- tural population, are collected in numbers,instead of being dispersed, as would be most desirable, few parish oflicers would be found that would dare to do their duty with such a formidable body in their workhouse. 54 Report to the Poor-Law Commissioners Queries. Answers. 19. Can you suggest any, and what alteration in the settle- ment laws, for the purpose either of extending the mar- ket for labour, or interfering less with contracts, or di- minishing fraud or litigation? It is very difficult to propose any alterations in the law of settlement tliat will not furnish fresh sources of litigation : and the whole subject is so involved in difficulties, that I had intended wholly to omit re- turning any answer to this head of inquiry, having no confidence in any foresight of my own upon any plan that I could suggest, and knowing too well that cunning and artifice will be at work in every parish to relieve themselves at the expense of their neighbours, and will never fail to present infinite difficulties in carrying the best principles into practice. The in- clination, however, of my opinion is, that residence, if it can be free from restraint by the interference of parochial authorities, is the best foundation of settlement. But in proportion as any law on this subject gives room for parochial interference, it impedes the circu- lation of labour, 1 would suggest that if residence is adopted as a mode of settlement, it should be re- sidence not necessarily consecutive, but during the greater part of a given period, so as to prevent, if possible, any contrivance by which parties or parishes may receive the benefit without the corresponding burden. Before the law of settlement by hiring and service, or apprentice- ship, is abolished — unless residence or some such substitute is adopted in their place — it should be well considered whetlier it will not lead to much injustice towards parishes who are to bear the burdens, cruelty towards the objects of removal in illness and old age, and, unless the law of settlement by parentage is also altered, to further evil conse- quences. Questions on the settle- ment by hiring and service might from Tlcehurst — Sussex. 55 Queries. Answers. 20. Do you think it would be ad- visable to afford greater faci- lities than now exist, either for the union or for the sub- division of parisiies or town- ships, for any purpose con- nected with the management of parochial affairs ? be much simplified, by confining it to residence in such character, but it would be tedious and useless to enter upon these details, unless any such plan is in contemplation. Soon after the close of the war, when the agricultural labourers were increased by the disbanding of the army, and the demand for their labour was diminished from various causes, agricultural parishes very generally came to the reso- lution of employing none but their own parishioners, which ruined the industry of the country, and pro- duced more individual misery than can be conceived by those who were not eye-witnesses : the imme- diate consequence of this determin- ation was the removal of numbers of the most industrious families from homes where they had lived in comfort, and without parish relief, all their lives, to a workhouse in the parish to which they belonged; and without materially affecting the ultimate numbers in the re- spective parishes, the wretched, objects of removal, instead of hap- py and contented labourers, be- came the miserable inmates of crowded workhouses, without the hope of ever returning to their for- mer independence. Since this pe- riod recourse has been had to vari- ous plans, shifts, and devices, all bad in principle, and seldom afllbrding even temporary relief in practice. It must be obvious that the evil of a superabundant population, even where the excess upon the whole is not large, is greatly aggravated bv confining undue proportions within small local divisions ; but I am not aware of any practicable scheme, by which the general evils of the settlement law can be reme- ^^ Report to the Poor-Law Commissioners Queries. Answers. died by the union, much less by -,, „ . , the subdivision of parishes. dV, Lan you give I he commission- ers any information respecting Having no local knowledge of the causes and consequences ^^^^. ^^stern part of Kent, where, I of the agricultural riots and b^^'^ve, the agricultural disturb - burnings of 1830 and 1831? ^"^^^ commenced in the summer of 1830, my views may be mis- taken ; but the fund for labour in the hop districts depends ma- terially, in the present distressed state of agriculture, upon the advances from the factor to the grower, on the credit of the ex- pected crop. There being a de- cided failure in the gardens in that part of the country in the summer of 1830, a greater num- ber of labourers were out of employ, and the thrashing ma- chines became the first object of attack. Whether the burnings which had likewise commenced at this period originated with the la- bourers, is more than I can pre- tend to explain, but I am satisfied they were very soon adopted by them as a means of revenue against those whom they considered their oppressors. The lenient pu- nishment of the Kent sessions, as well as the increase of wages which was recommended and adopted in Kent, instead of conciliating (as was expected), tended only to en- courage combinations in the ad- joining parts of the country. I conceive the latter to have been the more immediate exciting cause of tlie risings in the eastern part of Sussex bordering on Kent, whore the disturbances first assumed a serious aspect. The same cause for diminution of labour, viz., a failure of (i\\e hop crop, did not exist in that neighbourhood, but there were various causes of dis- content which had created a feeling from 'Ticehurst — Sussex, 57 Queries. Answers. of much dissatisfaction anion f^st the labourers for some consider- able time, and the then recent events at Paris had given rise to a notion amongst the lower orders, that the means of redress- inff their grievances were in their own hands, whilst the beer shops afforded facilities for union and combination which never before existed amongst the agricultural population. The several causes of discontent to which I allude were, the reduced allowances from the poor-rates, principally effected by the assistant overseers, which ren- dered them the first objects of attack by the labourers ; the de- graded state to which the single men were too generally reduced, and the numerous shifts and con- trivances which had been resorted to in various parishes to relieve the farmers from the burden of what they considered surplus la- bour. These had long been pro- ducing an irritation which the cir- cumstances of the moment brought into action. At the same time, various motives prevented the ex- ertions of those who ought to have assisted in suppressing them : some of the little farmers (though I believe they did not first occa- sion the rising of the labourers) gave decided encouragement to them, with the hope of compelling the clergyman to reduce his tithes, and, though not so prominently brought forward, the landlord his rent; the leaders in these meetings by their placards, and by other means, endeavouring to impress their followers with tlie belief that the farmers were unable to pay fair wages, in consequence of the extortion of the clergyman. Many of the above class of farmers were 68 Report to the Poor-Law Commissioners Queries. Answers. in a state of insolvency, and quite reckless of the consequences, whilst the more respectable farmers, from the alarm for their property, occa- sioned by the fires, were deterred from appearing to resist the gene- ral torrent ; and I am sorry to say a very general feeling of dissatis- faction against Government pre- vailed in this part of the country amongst the farmers, grounded on the supposed inattention to, or neg- lect of their petitions, which I im- pute to what I consider to be a mis- chievous practice of parochial peti- tioning, too generally adopted for other purposes than the benefit of the petitioners. This feeling was extensively and decidedly ex- pressed in answer to the recom- mendation of the magistrates to appoint special constables, which, after much difficulty and persua- sion, was at last adopted. In such a state of the country, the first ris- ings being successful in attaining their object, and with such an ex- citing cause as the increase of wages and additional allowances from the poor-rates, it is not sur- prising that these risings should spread to a considerable extent. The petitions to which I allude were principally on the subject of the hop duty, which Government must be aware has never been paid since 1822, without remonstrance and petition. There is one other subject con- nected with the poor-laws, which does not appear from the preceding questions to have attracted the at- tention which I think it deserves — I allude to the clergyman, or other owner of tithes, when he enters into a pecuniary composition with the respective occupiers of land, being liable to be personally rated from Ticehurst — Sussex. 59 Queries. Answers. to the poor as an occupier of the tithes. The certain consequence, wherever this is adopted, is to dis- turb the whole labour of the parish, as it becomes the obvious interest of the farmer to throw as much of his labour upon the rates as he can, and there always will be the ap- pearance of surplus labour in such a parish, whether it really exists or not. I imagine that this is not a general practice ; but recourse has been too frequently had to it as a means of annoying the clergyman in the eastern part of Sussex and adjoining parts of Kent, and inva- riably with the worst of conse- quences to the labouring popu- lation. The commissioners are aware that this state of the law proceeds from tithes being an in- corporeal hereditament, and con- sequently not passing by parol ; for to make a conveyance or lease of tithes effectual, it must be un- der seal, but the stamp-laws render it impossible to enter into such compacts with each separate pa- rishioner ; the lessee tlierefore is not legally bound either by his composition or agreement. I would suggest such an alteration in the law as to jjlace tithes with respect to rating to the poor and highways upon the same footing as land ; that in all cases where the tithe owner receives a rent or pe- cuniary consideration in lieu of taking' his tithes in kind, the occu- pier of the land should be consi- dered also as the occupier of the tithes, and liable to be rated as such, whether his agreement is by parol or by writing under seal or not ; by which means the owner of the tithes would bear his ])ro- portion of the burden of support- ing the poor as the landlord of 60 Report to the Poor-Law Commissioners from Ticehursf. Queries. Answers. land does at present by the reduc- tion of his rent or pecuniary re- ceipt ; but as the law now stands, the titlie-owner (though in truth a landlord or lessor) must be rated to the poor as the occupier, if it is insisted on by any parishioner, and he thus becomes liable to a large proportion of the whole rate, having no occasion (as far as his tithes are concerned) for the em- ployment of any portion of the la- bour of the parish ; the evil conse- quences of which no man at all acquainted with the subject can doubt. Before I leave this subject I cannot avoid noticing the cir- cumstance of the clergy having, in some instances, been the per- sons who have effected beneficial reform in their parishes ; but if it is to be inferred from thence that it is desirable, by rating them for their tithes, to compel them to take a part in these parochial transactions, I have no hesitation in saying it would pro- duce the most mischievous results. 22. What is the name and county The parish of Ticehurst in the of the parish, township, or county of Sussex, district to which your an- swers refer? G. COURTHOPE, a Magistrate resident in this parish. Surrey and Sussex. 61 My Lords and Gentlemen, I have the honour to transmit to you, for the information of Viscount Melbourne, the following statement of the practice pur- sued in several of the parishes which I have visited, with regard to the management of their poor ; and, at the same time, subjoin such remarks as I deem it right to add for his liOrdship's perusal. As Surrey and West Sussex consist of parishes purely agri- cultural, the treatment of persons applying to the parish officers for relief, or for labour, is nearly the same, varying only as respects the able-bodied labourers in the amount of abuse, as in no case have I found the parish officers able to apply the labour thrown upon them to a protitable purpose. Nearly every parish has a workhouse for itself, or the use of an incorporated one. These for the most part are farmed, the cost of maintaining the inmates vary- ino- from 2s. M. in agricultural districts to 5s. in town parishes. SURREY. SHERE. This parish contains a population of 1190, and 4000 acres, of which half is waste land. There is a workhouse containing twenty- one inmates, chiefly old persons and children. It is farmed at 2s. 4:\d. per head, according to the price of flour. The number of able-bodied men out of employment at one time, during last winter, was 35, and the average exceeded 20. These are put upon the roads, or to dio- aravel bv the load, for which there is no sale. Parish wages are. For a single man . 5s. Married man . . 7s. With one child . . 8s. With two children . 9s. One shilling and sixpence is given for every child above three. The money expended on labour by the parish last year, 4:111. 6s. 6ic/. The vestry is an open one. There is no paid overseer. The whole expenditure of the parish last year was 1963^ The rates are 17s. in the pound, considered to be assessed on land at its full value. * In 1821 and the three following years the annual expenditure from the poor-rates averaged 1050/. The population of 1831 exceeds that of 1821 by 113. G2 Mr. Macleans Report It is impossible to resist calling his Lordship's attention to the deplorable condition of this and the adjoining parish of Albury, owing to the disaffected and demoralized state of the labouring classes, and the continual fear in which the respectable inhabitants live of fires, or other destruction of property. It will be in his Lordship's recollection, that this part of the covmtry was notorious in the winter of 1830-1 for the lawless outrages com- mitted, both on person and property. The same spirit and incli- nation still exists, and the word " fires," or allusion to the occur- rences of 1830-1, are in the mouths of all classes, either for the purpose of producing intimidation or indicative of alarm. I remained some days in the parish of Shere, and from what I there saw and heard, shall not be surprised at any outrages which may be committed. While staying in the house of Captain Hay, who occupies a considerable farm in the parish, poison was given to some of Captain Hay's farm stock, in the farm-yard adjoining his house, of which five fat hogs died. No traces could be discovered, or any clue obtained, by which the perpetrators could be foimd out. The following night Captain Hay was roused, about twelve o'clock, by the barking of his dogs, and on going out with his loaded gun, perceived a man standing as if attemptino- one of the windows, who made off immediately, and was fired at by Captain Hay. About six months before this time the house of Captain Hay had been attacked, all the windows and frames were broken in, fruit-trees barked or cut over, and the hot-bed frames de- stroyed ; an immense bludgeon was left sticking in the gravel- walk, with threatening words written on the gravel in a good legible hand. It is supposed that the active part which Captain Hay took at the request of the magistrates of the Guildford bench, in acting as a special constable, and taking command of Shere and the adjoining parishes of Albury and Chilworth, durino- the disturbances of the previous winter, has been the cause of these attacks. There is an organized body of men in this parish, known by the name of " the Shere Gang," and who arc the terror of the whole neighbourhood. Th(! members of it have always money without any ostensible means of earning or obtaining it, as thev neither work nor apj)ly to the parish for relief. The farmers and others are afraid to employ them, and equally afraid to refuse them work. When any depredation or outrage is committed, some one or more of these is apprehended, but generally escape com- mitment, as no one of them was ever known to split, nor was any crime ever punished upon information derived from them. One of the most notorious was hung for burning Albury Mill, in the winter of 1830-1, and seven or eight have been transported at from Surrey and Sussex. 03 various times. Those belonging' to the gang are known, and are objects of universal terror. There is no resident magistrate in the parish, and, on a recent occasion, it was necessary to send seven miles to obtain a warrant to commit a man. Some vigorous measure of police is necessary for the security of property in this part of Surrey, as well as in the almost adjoining parishes of Woking, Purford, Egham, and Chobham, in each of which fires have occurred within the last few weeks. SUSSEX. KIRDFORD. This parish has a population of 1623 persons, and 16,000 acres, of which 9000 are under cultivation, 3000 under wood, and 4000 waste, though some of it is good land. The parish has a workhouse, farmed at 3s. 2d. a head per week. The nvmiber of inmates averages 44, but there are more in v/inter. Some of all classes are put into it. A medical man, who resides five miles off, gets 50/. a year. No rent is paid by the parish. Aged and impotent persons are either taken into the house, or allowed from 2s. to 3s. a week out of it. Widows and orphans, or deserted children, the same. If an able-bodied single man applies to vestry for relief, he is asked what he can shift for, and if he will take 2s, Qd. a week it is given to him, and no further inquiry is made after him. This generally continues for three months during the winter season ; and 33 single men were so relieved last year ; but at one period dviring the winter 43 single men were upon the parish. Work upon the roads is reserved for the married men. The scale by which these latter have been relieved, has been, since November, 1830, at which time the scale was raised — For a man and wife, Is. Qd. a day. A man and wife, with one cliild, Is. 8fi a day. A man and wife, with two children, 2s. a day ; and Is. Zd. for the third child. And the same for every child above that number. This scale has been reduced Is. a week on each class, and con- tinues at that rate now. The reduction was made on account of the fall in the price of provisions, and because the farmers lowered the scale of their wages. In the year 1820, the 'nimiber of unemployed married men did not exceed 30 ; in 1828, it reached 60 men ; in 1830, the nund)er was 80; and in the winter of 1831, the number amounted to 85; 64 Mr. Mademis Report and tliere seems every probability of an increase to tliis number. Every possible mode is professed to have been tried to find em- ployment for these persons, and to reduce the expenditure of the parish. The roundsman, or ticket system, was adopted ten years ago, but as the farmers were jealous of the manner in which the men were sent to them, it was abandoned. A labour rate was tried last year and the year before ; under it it was agreed, that each farmer should employ a man, at the usual rate of wages (then 12s.) for every 25/. to which he was assessed. This did not employ the whole available labour, and was soon abandoned. The number of able-bodied agricultural labourers in the parish, as near as I could ascertain, is 190, exclusive of about 15 mechanics, most of whom apply to the parish for work during the winter months. It follows from the above statement that, during last winter (1831-2), there were 118 able-bodied men, married and single, upon the parish : this leaves 72 labourers to do the work upon 9000 acres of cultivated land, and 3000 acres of woodland. The general opinion, as far as I was able to collect it, seemed to be, that there is not more than sufficient labour in the whole parish for the cultivation of the land, but that the want of capital among the farmers prevents the employment of it on the land. On this subject a resident proprietor, in answer to the circulated queries, states " that the amount of agricultural capital was decreasing ; that the poor-rate has increased of late years, and such increase, together with three or four unfavourable harvests, has reduced many farmers to a state of insolvency.' It seems difficult to reconcile the alleged want of capital with the amount paid by the farmers to the poor-rate, — as the sum levied by the poor-rate in 1823 was 2129/., while that levied in 1832 was 4675/. The population of 1831 exceeds that of 1821 by 51 individuals only. The vestry is'an open one, well attended by the farmers. The parish is divided into two districts, and one overseer acts in each. The books are kept by the vestry-clerk, who has a salary for so doino- of 15/. a year. There is no assistant-overseer. The subjoined statement of the expenditure of this parish, for the last four years, was furnished to me by Mr. Hasler, a magis- trate resident in the parish, and amounts to above 50s. per head on the population. from Surrey and Sussex. 65 Annual Expenditure of Kirdford Parish, from 1829 to 1832. Years. Reliefs for Infirm, Sick, and Children* For Labour. Paupers in the Poor-house. Bills, including Law Expenses, Salaries, &c. Total ' Expended.f Amounts levied by Rate.f 1829 1830 1831 1832 £. s. d. 1974 14 8 1983 16 6 1960 Oi 2079 6 £. s. 676 6 890 7 999 10 1209 6 d. 1 4 3 1 £. *. 360 10 363 18 366 14 371 9 d. 4 6 4 2 £. *. d. ■05 3 m 332 6 3i 386 8 31 +579 9 8 £. S. d. 3216 14 Hi 3570 8 7h 3712 12 10| 4239 10 11 £. s. d. 3917 17 5 4296 9 41 4301 18 7 4675 11 8i The rating is upon a scale of three-fourths of a vahiation taken in 1825 ; but now, in many instances, it exceeds the actual rent paid for the land. * Included under this head is about 1000/. annually paid to labourers i« reyj//ar employ7nent, on account of their famihes. The allowance made for children to men on the parish is included under the head " Labour." f The difference in the amount expended and the amount levied is accounted for by the balance in hand, and the uncollected rate upon cottages. J Included in the bills of 1832 is 100/. allowed to committee for emigration for this parish. PULBOROUGH. The population amounts to 1979 individuals. The numbers of acres are — 4216 arable; 900 meadow; 158 woodland; 150 waste land — in all 5424 acres. There is a workhouse, which is farmed at 3s. a head per week ; flour at Is. 3d. a gallon ; and 25 inmates being- secured to the contractor. The inmates are either aged, infirm, or children, with occasionally an able-bodied man, during the winter months. The medical man receives fifty guineas a year. One shilling a week is paid as rent for every person who has a third child ; and the price of a gallon of flour is allowed for every child in family above that number. Aged and infirm persons, unable to work, if not in the workhouse, are allowed from is. 6d. to 2s. 6d. a week, and additional relief in cases of necessity. A similar amount of allowance is extended to widows, orphan and deserted children. The parish possesses no means of employing labour profitably ; but all able-bodied applicants for labour or relief, are put upon the roads % or to dig gravel in pits. For above nine months of last winter, 1831-2 there were 130 able-bodied men at parish work. Duringf the winter months the number reached 176. The whole number of labourers, inclusive of bricklayers, carpenters, * The surface of the roads in many parts of Sussex is so good, that I have heard it said. " If a man finds a stone upon it, he must make a hole into which to put it." C6 Mr. Macleans Report shoemakersj &c., is stated to be 308. In the month of Septem- ber parish wages were as follows : — A single man was allowed to work four days in the week at Is. a day. A married man worked the whole week at 8s. With one child, at 9s. With two children, at 10s. Upon my return to this parish^ in the end of the month of Oc- tober last, these wages had been reduced to the following scale : — A man with a wife and two children received Is. Qd. A man with a wife and one child, Is. Ad. a day. A man and wife, Is. 2d. a day. Singrle men above 21 years received Is. a day. Ditto from 18 to 21, Is. a day, for five days in the week. Ditto from 15 to 18, 10c?. a day, for five days. Ditto from 12 to 15, ad. a day. Those who only work a limited number of days, are under no control, and no inquiry is made into their occupations, pursuits, or earnings during the other days in the week. The shifting system is never adopted as a permanent arrangement ; although a shilliiior' or two is ofiven to enable a man to 2.0 and look for work out of the parish. Cottage rent varies from 4Z. to 6Z., with a garden of from 20 to 25 rods. A select vestry existed, in name, up till last March, but has been discontinued in fad for some years. Few attend beside the parish officers. The overseers are usually farmers, but this year a trades- man is in office. An assistant-overseer was appointed ten years ago, and still continues. The present assistant-overseer receives 25/. He acts as vestry clerk, and also as superintendent of the men on the roads. The rates last year reached 14s. in the pound, on a valuation made in 1829, and then put at two-thirds, but which is now considered rack-rent. The expenditure of last year was as fol- lows, nz. : — from Surrey and Sussex. G7 EXPENDITURE OF THE PARISH OF PULBOROUGH, SUSSEX, from March 25, 1831, to April 5, 1832—54 weeks. £ s. d. Poor-house . . . , . 265 8 3 Old, infirm, widows, and fatherless children . . 559 4 6 Occasional relief in illness and distress, and for clothing boys 1 ,fj^ „ ^ and girls going first to service . . . j " Medical advice " . . . . . 59 19 Repairs and additions to the poor-house . . 13 2 6 1398 2 5 Relief to able-bodied men — In house-rent, Is. a week for every third child . . 257 1 gallon of flour for every child above three . . 378 Poor-rates allowed to cottagers . . . 275 5 9 Able-bodied men on the roads paid from the poor rates . 1807 12 11^* 2717 18 8.^ £ s. d. Law expenses . . . 15 4 2 Clerks' fees at the Bench . . 5 10 Acting overseer's salary . 52 His and the constable's expenses . 22 10 9 Beadle's salary ... 31 4 County and bridge rates . . 67 19 G Churchwardens' bills instead) of a rate . . J 18 9 1 212 17 6 Three faraihes emigrating 1 . 120 to Canada . . j 1398 2 5 2717 18 8i 4448 18 7h or near 45s. per head on the population. Wages in Sussex have been 12s., but a reduction to 10s. was very generally talked of, and has taken place in some of the ad- joining parishes. Many farmers make a difference of nearly one half to the married and single men : turning them off Avhen the weather is wet, and only employing them for half days. When the nature of the v,ork admits of it, task-work is general, but rarely above 2s. can be earned at this : constant work cannot be said to average above eight months in a year. * To this sum must be added 324/. expended on the roads by the way- warden, making the total expended 2131/. 12*. Wld, F 2 68 Mr. Macleans Report ■^"^ CO , a ^3 0) o s d 6 CO CO U Q Q Q O l-H * i-*M fl C4 < rr. -^ "55 O CO in © I— t © 00 CI 1—* r^ 7i r; "O -«_* >- -^ O o CO CO © rt lO F - J '-'^ t^ -^ CJ CO -e CO CO 00 1— t 1-H t>. — »4 1— « l» O H -M "^ "2 5-^ 5 ^ «■* CO f-H in in 00 CO 3 (U 1^ O CS 00 CI GO 00 00 pi -s J' • fO 00 1— < CO 00 ■<3" CO ^ O ^ tT to CO f— t c» ■* o 3 3 CO PS (M (M (N CO CO ■^ 00 »— t -Id He. .S 5 >.-;4 "^ "^ o o o CI r^ '"' 0) '^S Ph '^ ? - «;o (M t^ CO © t>. •-^ CJCO P 3 a ^•^ 1— K 1— t .r« t>. X o i o • »o CO o in d ^H ^ a) CO CO H H^ 05 in o ■^ in t^ CO CO in < ■«Oi o © CT> «o CO CO *c„ >A o o W •i '-' o CO 00 CO -* f-H w 3S 1— t o CO _ CO CO ■* is 5 H Pi - C f^l o CO 00 00 00 1— < C5 CI in CO •^ in CO '5 5 o W 'iS, CI r— 1 © © 1— < C5 1— t ti E"""^ . o o . Hid Hfcl He. -Ki CI 2 Pi o >>*^ "e »o © © Oi ■^ ■^ © s D Ph §1 00 o © .—I in in f— I © s<; CO CO CO CO -5" CO ^ © o ©) CO CI p=< o in IS Ol ■^ o C5 CO 00 CO CJ 0) p «o ^ CO ^ © CO © r^ C3 O ^ •-^i o © in in in 00 in o in © CO o GJ <; r-(C» ^Cl -t:i -«> "3 •« "^ o \n © 00 ' — ' CO >; W t> cj ^ CO P5 o •3* © © CI to -t*. H^ iO lO ►n. © o © r- P^ ?. CO t^ in s © i— 1 00 1— » to in OJ t^ t^ h. ' 1—1 H ^1 00 Ci © ,^ c« o «D c-i CI CO CO CO s C-4 00 00 00 00 00 O 00 f— ' t—i mmimm ^^_ tm^mmt "* from Surrey and Sussex. GO The condition of this parish, possessing perhaps greater advan- tages of situation and soil than any other in the weald of Sussex, though, in common with most of them, destitute of the wholesome influence of a resident proprietor, is truly lamentable. The happiness and prosperity of the parish have been sacrificed, and, I fear, past hopes of recovery, by a bitter animosity which has sprung up between the parishioners and the rector, respectino- the amount of composition to be paid for tithes, which are now nearly all taken in kind. The loss of independent feeling, of industrious habits, and respect and attachment for their superiors, which necessarily follow the vicious and demoralizing practice of setting large numbers of men to work together at unprofitable work and inadequate wages, to which the parish has been forced, have been the ruinous and melancholy consequences to the labour- ing class. In this state of disagreement, the parisliioners have, for the last two years, (for the purpose, it would seem, of bring- ing the rector into their own terms,) been in the habit of throwino- a large proportion of labourers on the roads, whose wages are paid out of the rates, and so, by means of the poor-laws, they have thrown an additional burthen on the rector as a rate-payer. In addition to this, they have lately attempted to come to an ao-ree- ment under Sir Charles Burrell's Act, that each person assessed to the poor-rates should employ an able-bodied labourer for every 301. of his assessment, or pay at the rate of 10^. per week for each man so to be employed ; the result of which agreement would be to compel the rector to employ or pay for a number of labourers *, for whom in fact he has no employment — and thus the breach has been still more widened. Whether the exercise of a little more concession on the one hand, and a little more temper and reason on the other, mitrht not restore the tone of this parish, is well worthy the serious consideration of those who have brought it to its present most unhealthy state. WISBOROUGH GREEN. This parish has a population of 1782 persons, and contains near 8000 acres, of which two-thirds are arable, and the rest woodland or waste. The parish has a workhouse, farmed at 2s. 9c?. per head per week, but varying with the price of flour. Last year able-bodied single men were put into it, but owing to the dilapidated state of * The whole living being rated at 1050/., the number of labourers thrown upon the rector would be thirty-five, being 910/. a year for labour alone, and independent of a poor-rate, which certainly is a most effectual mode of re- ducing the chufcli to apostolic poverty. 70' Mr. Maclean's Report the house, and the want of means to enforce discipline, this course will not be again pursued. The medical man receives 40 guineas a year. No rent is paid out of the rates. Aged and impotent persons, out of the work- house, are allowed from 2s. to 2s. 6d. a week. Widows are allowed from Is. to 2s. 6d., according to their families and opportunities to earn anything. If an able-bodied single man applies to the parish, he is put to work on the roads at 6s. a week. A man with a wife is paid 7s, at the same work. A man with a wife and one child, 8s. A man with a wife and two children, 9s. ; and Is. 6d. is allowed in money for every additional child. This Is. 6d. is allowed to every labourer for his third child, whether working for the parish or for an individual. A trades- man, or journeyman in employment, is expected to keep three children. The common practice of giving a regular allowance of a few shillings a week^ and requiring no work in return, is not adopted. The roundsman, or ticket system, did not give satisfaction, either to the labourer or farmer, when tried about ten years ago. The average number out of employment for the last five win- ters has been 80. In the winter of 1830-1 the number exceeded 100 for a few months, but this was owing to the parish wages having been raised through intimidation, which brought many home to their parish. In the winter of 1831-2 the number em- ployed by the parish was 84. There are two overseers, generally farmers. A guardian receives 251. a 3'ear, and the vestry-clerk has a salary of 10/. The vestry is now an open one. Up to the month of Novem- ber, 1830, this parish had a select vestry. This was given up, as those who at that time composed it ceased to attend, owing to the alarm caused by the disturbances. The members of it were unwilling to incur the odium which was thrown upon the vestry, and by degrees the meetings ceased to be attended. The parish accounts are made up half-yearly, bvit not printed. The accounts of this parish, as furnished to me, are as follows, and amount to rather more than 35s. per head on the population. It will be seen that they have increased one-third in the last four years, though the popuhition, from 1821 to 1831, has increased very slightly, only from 1649 to 1782. from Surrey and Sussex. 71 CO 00 a! \0 CM V 4= 1^ !. o o o c: ■rf &i o -♦-» s o a o ■■§ E: 1 o Tinder the head of Bills is included the sum of 181/. 5s. lid., amount of j tax remitted on small titlie and cot- l tages occupied by jiaupers. I'nder the liead of liills is included the sum of 2U0/. 18<., amount of tax rcmilti'd on small tithe, and cottages, also the sum of 18/. 9s. 3d. expended on bedding, &c. for the poor-house, not general every year. IT'uder the head of Bills is included tlie sum of 235/. lis. Hid., amount of tax remitted on small tithe, and cot- tages occupied by paujiers. ' I'nder the head of Bills is included 19/. Ct.-<. a lialance due to Guardian on late year's accounts ; 287/. 17s. 8rf. tax remitted on small tithe and cottages; 27/. 1-v. expended on bedding for the jmoi-hou.se ; 75/. 2s. 9(/. for enlarging poor-house, and 43/. 2s. 7d. expenses of measuring land in consequence of an appeal against the poor-rates. ' I'nder the head of Bills is included 232/. 19s. Od. expenses incurred in con- si'iiucnce of an appeal against the jiocir-rati'S, and paiil for valuing the "v jiarisli, &.C. Tliere were otlier bills contracteil to the amount of 13U/. re- niaiuiug unpaid, in consequence of the non-payment of tlie poor-rates. 1 2142 14 8 2208 3 2 2612 10 2 3155 14 6| 3171 5 10 Bills including every Expense not otherwise specified. 491 1 10 505 19 7i CO 01 OJI Employment of Poor on the Highways. -H O I-H t^ -^ «n CO (M 431 18 11 880 1 2 966 4 21 Law Expenses .Tourneys, &c. in eases of Bastardy and Kemovals. ■8 CO "^ I-H CO CO TT CO r-H r-« Oi •-< *^ I-H I-H t^ t^ CO ej iM ■^ E.xpense of BoysandGirls in Service. -3 90 6 79 8 10 Hit Hci -*< CO 00 o> I-H r-H ^ \n 40 6 Widow Labourer 18 4 Widow J 3 7 16 3 7 16 .0 9 23 8 3 7 16 £2 4 6 216 8 from Buckinghamshire. 91 PARISHIONERS RECEIVING RELIEF.— Continued. RELIEF AFFORDED. »5 )) NAME. AGE. Bachelor, Joanna 50 Joseph 21 William 16 Mary . 12 George 9 Gates, Rhoda . 12 Corbett, Jane . 14 Gurney, Edmund 38 Forster, William 81 Norris, Mary . 68 Cox, Joseph . . 36 Gates, Edward „ Mary . ,, Shadrach ,, Jonathan Puddifoot, Sarah Spittle, William Ann . Mary John CALLING. )5 Cox, James . „ Ann Griffin, Thomas „ Sarah „ William Geort John Robert Gates, William ,, Esther Brought over Widow Labourer Orphan Ditto Deaf and Dumb Cobler Widow Labourer Per week Per year. £. s. d.\ £. 's. . 29 Labourer . 27 . . 11 . . 15 . 2 Orphan . 58 Labourer . 56 . 8 . . 4 . . 30 Labourer . 28 . . 33 Labourer . 25 . 7 . . 5 . . 3 . . 1 . 621 g . |-occasionaIly 66 in number 35 not relieved 6216 8 d. Y> 3 o' 4 '23 8 1° 2 2 5 4 1 6 3 18 4 10 8 3 7 16 3 7 16 4 10 8 4 > io 2 [20 16 2 5 4 » S 20 16 }» 4 10 8 ■0 9 6 24 14 ^5 1 6 367 4 7 Oi Total 101 92 The Rev. H. Jeston's Report INHABITANTS, NOT PARISHIONERS, RECEIVING RELIEF FROM THEIR OWN PARISHES. NAME. AGE. CALLING. YouHij-, Sarah . . . . 79 Widow. Wrig^ht, Edmund 32 Labourer. „ JMary . 23 „ Joseph . 5 ,, Sarah . 4 „ Charlotte 1 Franldin, Fanny 57 Spinster. ,, Hannah . . 54 Ditto. Young', Thomas . 39 Labourer. „ Ann . . . . 46 Philby, Henry . . . 27 Labourer. „ Ehzaloeth . 26 „ Ann .... 5 „ Elizabeth . 2 Jomer, Jose[)h . . 47 Labourer. „ Sophia . 46 „ Sophia . . 4 ,, Ann .... . 2 Guttridge, Joshua . 51 Labourer. „ Charlotte 45 „ William . . 22 Labourer „ Ann . . 20 „ Elizabeth . 18 „ Hannah . . 16 „ Joseph 14 „ Margaret . 12 riiebe . . . 10 „ Caddy . 7 „ Sarah 5 Badnick, Charles 22 ,, Mary . . 18 ,, Ann 1 Prickett, Ann . 30 Spinster. Carter, Ann . . 17 Gates, John . 31 Labourer ,, Ann . . 30 „ Adey . . 3 „ Maley 1 38 in num ber. from Buckinghamshire. 93 After the preceding pages had been in print, the Commissioners received the following letter from Mr. Jeston : — To the Secretary to the Poor-Law Commissioners. Cholesbury Parsonage, Great Berkhampstead, Feb. 2, 1833. Sir, I am sorry to state the condition of my poor is again becoming very distressing. The rate in aid for 50/. is exhausted ; and the able-bodied poor have again resorted to me for relief, the parish officers being afraid to employ them, on account of possessing no means of remunerating them for their labour. The donations "vvhich I received from the neighbouring families are expended, with the exception of 20L presented to me by the Countess of Bridgewater. I rejoice that this sum enables me, which other- wise I could not have done, to set the married men with families to spade-husbandry on a piece of my glebe; the labour on the piece given by me to the overseers for the use of the parish beino- for the present necessarily discontinued on account of their hav- ing no funds to pay for digging it. This land, about two or three acres, I have given to the poor themselves, as garden- ground. The present unfortunate condition of the parish officers is an evil which, I fear, must recur as often as a fresh rate in aid is required ; for the magistrates to whom, about a fortnight ago, I applied for further assistance, — the rate in aid which they had granted being nearly gone, — then informed me they had no power to interfere, nor to grant an order for another rate, till the former was quite expended. Whenever, therefore, the one rate in aid is exhausted, and before another can be obtained, an interval of at least three Aveeks must expire, and, during that period, the poor can be afforded no relief In the present instance they can ob- tain none for three weeks to come but what is advanced by myself; and this, should the evil continue longer, it will be out of my power to render. This circumstance will continue to be a source of much uneasiness to me, inasmuch as it is of very bad tendency to the poor themselves. For the poor-laws have pro(hiced so much dependence and improvidence among them, that if for a few weeks only they are deprived of parish aid, they incur debts, and become behindhand in their rent; and, to avoid discharijin"; it, voluntarily quit a comiortable cottage for one much less so : and thus a spirit of recklessness and dishonesty is promoted, de- trimental to the moral character of the very best of them. I have always remarked, that from the moment a pauper quits a com- 94 The Rev. H. Jeston's Report fortable dwelling for a poorer and less comfortable one, his character invariably alters for the worse ; and he soon becomes idle and dishonest ; he betakes himself to the pot-house, and from thence to poaching, which at once incapacitates the body for labour through the day. 1 can perceive these effects already in more than one of my poor. There is another circumstance which augments the evil under which the parish of Cholesbury now labours, which is, that although nearly the whole of the land is noAv abandoned, the parish officers are called upon to furnish the full assessment of county rates as hitherto. It is true, these have not yet been en- forced, but the officers have repeatedly expressed to me their fears of having their goods distrained on this account ; and, for their sakes, I attended at the late Quarter Sessions at Aylesbury, and prayed the bench to exempt, for the present, the parish from paying county rates. The magistrates took the matter under their consideration, but I was at last informed it was out of their power to grant the thing I prayed for. Having obtained the consent of the trustees of the principal farm in the parish, now abandoned, to let it at a nominal rent till Michaelmas next, and having found that if I could obtain a rate in aid for 120Z., I could induce persons to come forwai'd and take the land at 5,s. an acre, — by reason of that sum enabling me to guarantee the occupier for that period from a greater burden of rates than 10s. in the pound at rack-rent^ — I, at my last interview with the magistrates (for whose most ready and obliging compli- ance Avith my wishes^, as far as lies in their power, I am most thankful), solicited them to grant a rate in aid to the above amount, to carry the parish officers on till Michaelmas next. They did not, however, feel justified in making an order for so great a sum, nor prospectively for so long a period. Had 1 obtained the sum stated, the parish officers themselves had, by my advice, agreed to become the occupiers, who, by em- ploying all the surplus labourers on the land, would have greatly lightened to other parishes the burden of supporting the poor of Cholesbury. The probable amount required by rates in aid, for the same period, I now estimate at about 180Z. Thus, if the farm in question had been occupied, an expense of 60/. might have been spared, and the poor have been employed usefully and with satisfaction to themselves. Having failed in this attempt, I confess I now see no prospects whatever of the parish being relieved from its present degraded and impoverished state. The situation of myself and the parish officers is a most painful one ; for besides the continual calls upon their time, which to them is no small loss, — they being httle better from Buckinghamshire. 95 than paupers, and obliged to labour hard for their bread, — I ex- perience that we are exciting unpleasant feelings against ourselves from the other parishes in the hundred, who dread being called upon, by rates in aid, to assist in the support of the poor of another parish. And, in fact, this mode of supporting the poor of an insolvent parish, is a great grievance to the one rated, as the one selected for that purpose is generally that in which, through good management of the poor, the rates are so reduced as to attract the notice of neighbouring parishes. The parish of Cholesbury does not exceed in extent the size of a moderate farm, and the whole is to be bought for about 2000Z. 1 wish government would purchase the whole, and try the experi- ment of allotting it exclusively to the able-bodied paupers. 1 v/ould gladly dedicate my time to the project ; and I have reasons to think, that at the expiration of two years (the parish in the interval receiving the assistance of rates in aid), the whole of the poor would be able and willing to support themselves, the aged and impotent of course excepted. I have the honour to remain, Sir, Your very obedient servant, Henry P. Jeston. P. S. If the burden of supporting the poor of an insolvent parish could be thrown on the county, or the hundred, it would be little or not at all felt. 96 Mr. Okeden's Report My Lords and Gentlemen, In compliance -with Lord Melbourne's wishes, as con- veyed to me by you, I have selected six of the parishes in the district which I visited, viz. — Cranbourne 1 Poole MoreCrichel [ * ' J^^rset. Hasilbury BryanJ Dunstew . . Oxfordshire. Cable . ■ . . AViltshire. I have endeavoured in this selection to illustrate the points mentioned in his Lordship's Letter. I am, my Lords and Gentlemen, Your obedient Servant, D. O. P. Okeden, Assist. Commissioner. More Crichel, Dec. 25, 1832. CRANBOURNE, DORSET. Population, 2158. Number of acres in the parish — Acres Roods Pole Common, or heath land . 4604 . . 1 . . 5 Woodlands . . 1347 .. 1 . . 28 Arable land . . 5006 . . 1 . . 37 Pasture land . . 2093 . . 3 . . 13 Total acres 13,052 3 Rate about four shillings in the pound rack-rent — payment to paupers of different descriptions both in and out of the poor-house. 1830 . . ^'1693 18 Si 1831 . . 1370 9 7 1832 . . 1541 9 4i Cranbourne parish contains five tithings, viz., Alderholt, Bover- idge, Blagdon, Fairwood, or Yerwood, and Monkton-up-VVinbourne. Over each of these there is a tithingr-man, and a constable of the parish resides at Cranbourne. The magistrates hold a petty ses- sions at Cranbourne once a fortnight. In the tything of Farewood there is a large pottery of the coarsest earthenware, which affords employment to about 100 men and about ten boys, who turn wheels. The agricultural labourers amount to SOO The pottery ditto . 100 from Dorsetshire — IJillshire. 97 The average wao^es of the agricultural labourers are 8s. per week — at the pottery they are perhaps 9s. per week. The women have employment onlv in the fields. The woods atlord very profitable piece-work labour, in fencing, hurdling, and fagotting, at each of which employments an able- bodied man may earn from 12.v. to 14.v. per week. The rents of the cottages in Cranbourne parish are high, and run from 3^. to bl. per annum, and the gardens are small except at those cottages which border on the heath-land. Here, too, the labourer has another great advantage — he is allowed to cut turf for himself gratis, so that his fuel costs him nothing but the labour, and his vicinity to the heath does not require carriage home. Ten acres of land have lately been given up to the poor by Lord Salisbiu'V, the lord of the manor. This is divided into 24 parts, and let at the rate of 1/. 3s. per acre. A speculation of building small houses for the poor has lately been undertaken in the tithing of Farewood, and a large popu- lation of 300 or 400, raised round the pottery. While the works continue, the pressure will not fall on the parish ; if they fail, the pressure will be very great. Every house is taken as soon as it is finished, and at a very hi^li rent. All the cottages are rated, but many returned " rates uncol- lected :" this the parish makes up by a small increase of rates. A few house rents are paid by the parish for labourers with large families ; but no number of children are a plea for the relief of an able-bodied man in employ. A child or two are occa- sionally taken into the poor-house, if their support at home presses hard on the parents, and if they request the children to be taken. The strictest investigation takes place into character. A sum left by the will of a parishioner to be annually given in clothing to the poor is used as the reward of industry and good character. Xo distinction is made, by individuals, in the wages of single and married men. If a man belongs to a friendly society, and is thrown out of work, by illness or accident, the parish gives him the full benefit of his society's allowance, and look to the wife and children. There is a poor4iouse, containing this year, 1832, 28 inmates, and a few orphans and bastards. The 28 inmates are made up of 12 old infirm women 16 old infirm men 28 There are about 8 children in the house, all very young. H 98 Mr. OJi-eden's Report There is no contract^, and the expenses of each individual, for lodging, bedding, clothes, food, medical advice, and all expenses of the house, amount to about 3s. iOc/. per week. No work is done in the house. There are now, December 15, 1832, only eight persons out of employ, who have applied to the guardian for work. The parish of Cranbourne is governed by the Gilbert act, and has four overseers, six visiters, a treasurer, and a guardian of the poor. The latter is a paid officer, and is in fact the working overseer. His salary is 70?. per annum. The loss by bastardy last year was as vinder: — Amount of bastardy-orders made £\ 14 Collected bv the g-uardian , 23 D Loss . . £l\ The committal of women who have had two or three bastards avails little, either as punishment to them, or as terror to others. There is no female tread-mill at Dorchester, and the hard labour of the women consists in washing the jail linen, and keep- ing the female wards clean ; in fact, of their usual occvipations. 1 once went to one of the female wards at Dorchester, where I saw 15 women with 18 bastards. The room was clean, had a good iire in it, and one and all declared they had rather be there in winter than at home. As for shame, it is out of the question. Emigration is unknown. In my report on Dorsetshire I cited a remarkable act of swin- dling, by the late guardian of the poor of Cranbourne, to show the necessity of parish accounts being audited by regular accountants, and not by the loose and irregular auditors of a vestry. GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. I HAVE selected the parish of Cranbourne, in Dorsetshire, as affording a remarkable instance of the great improvement in the character and comfort of the poor, by an emancipation from the most systematic and constant interference of a resident magistrate I that perhaps was ever displayed. The Rev. H. D , the late vicar of Cranbourne, was a county magistrate, he attended very little to any business except that of poor-management. This formed the whole employment of his life. He affected the mischievous honour of " the poor man's friend." His house was a daily petty sessions. He made scales, and small codes, and issued orders and recommendations of the most preposterous and illegal descri])tion. The overseers gave up the contest ; the justices were beaten by Jiim, and the parish was a scene of discontent and demoralization. from Dorsetshire — Wiltshire. 99 About four years ago this vicar died. Some new magistrates had begun to act in the Cranbourue division; they heartily joined the others in estabhshing a new system in so large a parish as Cranbourne. A meeting of farmers, rate-payers, &c., was called at the petty sessions, and it was declared that from that time no scale or head-money should be allowed : that every case should rest on its own merits, and that able-bodied men in employ should not be relieved on account of their families. There was a little dis- content at the pottery, but in the end, as the magistrates were firm, the opposition ceased. The magistrates have met with complete success. They refer every case back to the vestry, and hardly ever hear of it a second time. They hear few cases at their own houses, and in every way inter- fere as little as possible. Three years and a half have created a change most pleasing and satisfactory. The old poor, regidarly paid, are satisfied; those whose applications are refused by the vestry acquiesce in the decision ; and I can assert, as one of the magistrates of the division, that the complaints which used, in the late vicar's time, to amount to at least 20 in a week, do not amount now to that number in a year. If the rates, though they are lessened, and lessening, do not show the diminution which might be expected, it is owing to the swindling acts of the late gviardian, and which are wholly uncon- nected with the relief of the poor. He has made over his property to the parish, and the whole is in a train of settlement, by which I hope the parish will soon be repaid its losses. The excess of 1832 above 1831 is owing to bills left unpaid by the late guardian. The actual poor expenses of 1832 are less than 1831. Ludicrous as it may appear, and almost incredible, I must mention that the late vicar's power was so highly estimated, by the paupers, that the printed scales and rules, Avhich he issued and signed, were called by them " Mr. D.'s Acts of Parliament,'* and a pauper actually once threatened me with the consequences of disobeying them. Cranbourne, as a parish, lies under great disadvantages. Its population is 2158, and scattered over a wide extent. There is a large parish church at Cranbourne, a chapel-of-ease at Farewood, and the same at Boveridge. These are to be all served every Sunday. The poor, so nume- rous, are to be visited at their homes, and their temporal, as well as spiritual, wants inquired into. The whole income of the vicar is 125/. per annum. A curate, of course, is out of the question, and no individual is eqiud to the n2 100 Mr. Okederis Report adequate, or to anything like the adequate, discharge of the duties of a vicar of Cranbourne. The great tithes which are in the hands, principally, of Lord Salisbury, and another person, amount to 2500/. per annum. I have universally found that of all the blessings of a parish, few, indeed none, are equal to the pastoral care of the clergyman, and his advice and guidance in the temporal concerns of the poor, Avhom circumstances render so helpless. Cranbourne suffers much by beer-houses, which are numerous, and which are more dangerous in proportion as they are esta- blished in heaths, and places at some distance from the villages. I am personally so well acquainted with Cranbourne, that I have not quoted the names of many intelligent persons from whom I have received mvicli information. The present vicar, the Rev. F. Pare, deplores his inability to perform half the duties which his responsible situation entails on him. HASILBURY BRYAN, DORSET. Population — 611. Number of acres in the parish. Pasture-land Arable do. Woodland do. Common do. Gardens 2020 250 27 150 7 Total acres 2454 Expended on the poor, as per book for one year to Lady-day 1832, 413/. There are 77 agricultiu'al labourers. In summer none are out of employ, in winter not above five or six are unemployed. These are put on the roads, or, if family men, relieved by the scale as settled at the petty sessions at Sturminster Newton. In short, the scak' system, and the making up of wages is complete. There is no workhouse, but there are eiofht cottaofes belonofinof to the parish, in which there are 14 families lodged. Hasilbury Bryan is seated in a rich grass vale, and the farms are principally pasture farms, whence cheese, butter, and cattle are sent to Smithtield market. The wages may be thus stated : — from Dorsetshire — IVillshirc. 101 £. s. d. Man, 26 winter weeks at 7s. . . 9 2 16 summer do. at 9s. . . 7 4 10 weeks hay and corn harvest, at 9s. -j per week, and beer, the beer valued I 5 15 at 2s. 6rf. . .J Fuel given or carried . . 10 Man Wife, button-making per week Bov, do. 2 children buttonincr and bird- keepin } • 23 1 £. s. d. 2 6 2 2 6 7 - 52 IS 4 364 Total per annum 41 5 Thus the family would receive above 13s. 6d. per Aveek. Soon after the riots of 1830 a new and more liberal scale was made by the magistrates of the division; and in February, 1831, an order was given to the overseers of Hasilbury Bryan, requiring them to relieve 10 families, all able-bodied, and in employ by the new scale. The overseers contended, and the clergyman protested against this order in vain. In this district, indeed, the overseers know so well the inutility of resistance, that to avoid trouble, expense, and reproof, they generally accede to the demands, and settle all claims, not by character or merit, but by the rules of addition and subtraction. I have already named, in my report on Dorsetshire, the district of Sturminster Newton, as the worst regulated as to poor concerns, with the highest proportionate rates, in the county. It is certain that in no district is there so much maoristerial interference. BASTARDY. The allowance is from Is. 6cZ. to 2s. per week. No regular bastard account is kept in the parish. There arc now five bas- tards, who cost the parish nearly 15/. per annum. GKNERAL OBSERVATIONS. I have selected the parish of Hasilbury Bryan, from its afford- ing the singular case of a rector of great intelligence, and of the most correct views on the working of the poor-laws, being thwarted 102 Mr. Ohederis Report by the overseer and Magistrates. "W^hen I name the Rev. Henry Waher, I need hardly enlarge on his knowledge of the poor-laws. His examination before the House of Commons on the Labourers' Wages Committee, will prove my assertions. Mr. Walter determined in 1823 to put an end to the illegal system of roundsmen or stem-men, and he appealed to the Dor- setshire July Quarter Sessions against the rate made for that pur- pose. His appeal was successful; and no appeal from the decision of the magistrates against the rate to a superior court ever took place. But mark the consequences, — Mr. Walter's legal expenses exceeded 90/. The expenses of the parish and overseer were paid by a rate made on purpose. Mr. Walter, indeed, succeeded ; but the practice continues, and the relief of the able-bodied men in employ, according to their families and the scale, is universally bestowed. I fear Mr. Walter's appeal in 1823 did not conciliate the magistrates ; and certain it is, that in some remarkable cases, the bench of the division have done all in their power to counter- act Mr. Walter's efforts. Still his zeal for the true interests of the poor in his parish is unabated ; and he proves how the evils of a bad system may be mitigated by a constant watchfulness and well-applied kindness, though he is not permitted to use his judi- cious eilbrts for the introduction of a good management. MORE CRICHEL, DORSET. Population— 304. Poor expentliture to Lady-day, 1832, for one year, 124/. 7^. Zd,, being 10/. less than tiie former year. Number of acres about 1860 ; viz. — Woodlands . . . 150 Arable .... 880 Pasture .... 630 Downland .... 200 Total . . 1860 There are about 25 men and 10 boys able for field and barn- work, which are quite sufficient for the labour of the parish, with the women to weed, &c. Then; are none on the poor-book but the old and infirm, and widows, with four or live very small children. There is no scale nor make-up system. Every cottage has a large garden, and po- tato land is let to the labourers by the farmer at the usual rate. There are never any men out of employ : indeed, for tlie road- work, or dniining, or any extra job, application for labour is made to the neighbouring parishes, which abound in superlluous from Dorsetshire — Wiltshire, 103 labour. The mode in which the cottages are let in this parish conduces, in my opinion, more to preserve the spirit of independ- ence and attachment to the soil than any I know. It is the letting of cottages on their lives to the poor. No one who has not wit- nessed it can imagine the struggles that are made, the privations that are undergone, to purchase these copyholds of inheritance. For a good cottage and about a quarter of an acre of garden the price is about 40/. ; of this they generally have half the sum laid by, and raise the other half by mortgage, paying it off" in about five years by instalments. The rates are scarcely is. in the pound. BASTARDY. There has been but one in the parish for seven years, and for that the money is received regularly from the father. No emigration by the parish has been ever heard of; two boys were sent last year by subscription, at the rate of 11. each, which left them 1/. each in their pocket on reaching Montreal. GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. I have selected this parish, because it exhibits a proof of what may be done by good management and constant watchfulness. There has been but one instance in five years of any appeal to the magistrates, from the decisions of the vestry. The property being only in two hands, a regular system has been practised for above 30 years, and no increase of cottages allowed above the requisite habitation required for the sufficiency of labourers of the parish. I wish to mention here a curious instance of the dealings of the poor at their hucksters : the enor- mous profits of the shopkeepers, and the badness of their articles, induced one of the landowners here to furnish a shop with goods (tea, rice, sugar, treacle, &c.) of excellent quality, which were supplied to the poor at prime cost. A better tea than they used to get for 6.9. 10c/. per lb., w'as supplied at 5s. 2d. per lb., and everything else in proportion. The two shopkeepers who for- merly made a livelihood by their trade were pensioned otf. Ready money (that is, one week's credit) was required. In one year the old shopkeepers threw up their pensions, and returned to their trades, and all their customers followed them. The fact is, long credit is given ; and one of the shopkeepers confessed to me that if one out of three paid, he made a very comfortable profit. So that the fashionable coachmaker in Long-acre and the petty huckster of a petty village proceed on the same principle of dealinof. In this village, some of the copyholds, about five or six, have from six to ten acres of land. Those families have universally done well. 104 Mr. Okeden's Report POOLE, DORSET. Poole is a town and county, having its own quarter sessions and gaol. It is entirely governed by its own magistracy, without any interference of the magistrates of the county. Population, 6459. Annual sum expended on the poor for the year endinf?"! nn^cr o ^ T J 1 ^ "^ Tor.r.^*32o5 8 6 Lady-day, . . . 1830 J Ditto .... 1831 3149 13 Ditto . . . 1832 3440 17 6 There is but one parish in Poole, St. James's. Poole is go- verned, as to the management of its poor, by the Gilbert Act. The assistant-overseer has 30/. per annum. The guardian act- ing, Mr. Hooper, who is the entire manager of all that relates to the poor, has 130/. The acting guarcUan and visiters settle the relief to be allowed to each pauper. There is scarcely ever an appeal to the magis- trates. THE WORK-HOUSE. The numbers, ages, and sexes of the inmates of the work-house are at present, December, 1832, Old and infirm men, some above 90 . 37 Ditto women, three above 92 . .42 Under 13 years old — boys . .21 Ditto girls ... 29 Total inmates . 129 There are generally about five or six more, somewhat younger than the old men and women, who do the work of the establishment. The women arc mostly widows. The men have been sailors and mechanics. The old men occasionally pick a little oakiun, and some of the less infirm sweep and clean the streets. These employments may save the parish about 40/. per annum. The men and women are separated, except in the case (there are only two cases) of an old married couple. The board, lodging, clothes, fuel, and all expenses of the house, and medical advice, for each individual, amounts to a sum not ex- ceeding 3,v. 10c/. per week. The children are well instructed, go to the Sunday-schools, and to church or meeting-house. l"he boys are apprenticed to the sea line. There is a very accurate and constant visitation of the out-poor at their houses, and every means arc used to ascertain from Dorsetshire — Wiltshire. 105 their characters, and the validity of their claims on parish aid. The men, of the out-poor, are principally old sailors and some mechanics. The women, widows of those classes with families. When they have fathers or children able to support them, the parish does not relieve the poor, but apply for, and procure, from the magistrates, an order on the relations. If able-bodied men apply for relief they are sent to the parish farm. Such applications are rare, and the applicants soon find work again. The out-door women are employed to make up cotton shirts, for the Newfoundland sailors. The sailors in the Newfomidland and coasting trade get about 21. 10s. per month. A good mechanic earns about 50/. per annum. About one-tenth of the resident poor are non-parishioners. The total number of poor relieved out of the work-house are generally 700. The resi- dences of the poor are rated, but the rates never demanded. There is a loss of about one-third in every rate on this item, as the land- lords are not made to pay the rates. There are twenty-five bas- tards supported by the parish at l.s. (Sd. per week. The fathers are generally strange sailors, who get away. I think this is a small number of bastards in proportion to the population, and may be accounted for by the abundance of prostitutes at Poole. REMOVALS AND APPEALS. The expenses of removals, are as under; — For 1829 1830 1831 • • • • • • Total of three years Expenses of appeals : — For 1829 1830 1631 £. s. d. 32 5 6 27 11 3 21 8 9 81 5 ~6 14 10 6 21 13 19 9 3 55 12 9 Total of three years The accounts are all kept by the acting guardian, and submitted to, and passed, monthly, by the other guardians ; and every quarter they are audited and signed by the visiters. The accounts are published annually, and sent to all the rate- payers. CHARITABLE IXSTITUTIONS. The charitable foundations of Poole are as under : — 1st. Twelve alms-houses, vested in the corporation by Christo- 106 Mr. Ohederis Report pher Jolliffe, Esq. They are occupied by twelve poor old men, who only receive, besides their lodging, some coals at Christmas. 2dlv. Six alms-houses are left to the corporation as trustees. In these reside twelve old women, who receive, besides their lodg- ino-, Qd. a week each. These are Rogers's alms-houses. 3dly. 300/. left by W. Bennett to the corporation, as trustees, the interest thereof to be distributed by them annually to the poor. A few smaller sums have been left to the corporation, as trustees, at various times ; the interest to be applied to coals, or bread, or schooling. GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. I have selected the town of Poole as an instance of the best management of the poor I have met with. The interference of the magistrates is unknown. The present acting ofuardian took on himself the manacfement in 1815. In four years he reduced the expenditure 2,600/. ; and though the population has nearly doubled snice that period the rates have never exceeded what they were after that reduction. CALNE, WILTSHIRE. Population — Parish and Borough . 4795 Bowood Liberty . . 81 Total 4876 The hamlet of Bowood consists only of the mansion of the Marquis of Lansdowne, and a few cottages and one farm-house. So that in considering the population of Calne, as applicable to the poor-rates, it will be fair only to consider the population of the borough and parish, viz., 4795. Of these the males are . 2296 females . 2f499 Total 4795 The number of inhabited houses is . 962 do. uninhabited . . 33 Total houses 995 There arc 393 families employed in agriculture. There are 368 do. in trade. Other famihes 351 Total 1112 from Calne, Wilhkire. 107 The parish contains about 8,000 acres of land. The money expended on the poor last year, that is, for one year to Lady-day, 1832, 49GW. 17s. 9ri. The items of this annual expenditure, which I took from the parish pay-book are as under: — 150 old men and women past work, at 121. perl «„„_ ^ ^ month . . . . I ^936 27 widows with voun!:: children 30 old men and women in work-liouse 6 children in the poor-house 41 bastard children, to whose mothers is paid! yearly . . . . j 84 able-bodied labourers with families, whose] wages are added to by the magistrates'/- 455 scale . . . .J 370 10 208 45 10 71 12 Extra relief to poor persons in sickness, out of] work, and loss of time . . ) Payments to Calne poor in other parishes, andi funerals . . . . j Payments to surplus labourers employed on the I parish farm or roads (for one year) . j Tradesmen's bills, about . . . 350 Officers' salaries, medical attendance, law bills, &c. 300 Pent of parish farm . . . 132 591 2 7 320 7 4 lOSl 15 10 1 year's total to Lady-day, 1S32 ^"4961 17 9 On the above account, after expressing my surprise that any bench of magistrates could be found to sanction it, 1 would make the following remarks : — Of the fifth item for bastards, there is so little ever received on the orders that it is not worth speaking of, — the whole is nearly clear loss. On the ninth article or payment of able-bodied surplus labour- ers, I found the whole labour was allowed to be utterly unpro- ductive. The parish farm is a great loss ever)' year, and is used merely as an excuse for labour, to keep the men employed on it out of mischief and thieving. The poor-house contains GO old men and women, about thirty of each, who receive 2s. 6d. per week, and keep themselves. The management has lately been improved, which has occasioned some decrease of rates. The few children there are kept at about 2s. 9d. each per week. The rents of the cottages are from 3/. to 4/. per annum, with very little garden ground. * 108 Mr. OkederCs Report. Wages, in general, are low — not above 8s. per week ; but the labourers enaployed on the property of the Marquis of Lansdowne, both at Calne and in the neighbourhood, have 10s. per week, and potato land. The operation of the scale system is complete. Calne labours under the disavantage of having had a manu- facture, Avnich lately has fallen into decay — a manufacture of coarse cloths and serges ; so that many men have been thrown out of em[)loy, as manufacturers, who are unused to, and nearly incapable of, the least sort of field labour. I met many of the paupers who came either for increase of pay, or for other relief. I never, even in Oxfordshire, heard demands made with more brutal insolence. *' We will have our right by the scale, or Mr, Overseer shall take the consequence," was often repeated. The assistant-overseer, and the other parish officers, allowed that no attention whatever was ever paid to character ; but that the most notorious drunkards, swearers, and thieves, with wives and families, were all duly relieved by the arithmetic of the ma- gistrates' scale. I asked them if they never took these men before the bench for punishment. Their answer was, that they had so often been reprimanded, and triumphed over, (to use their own expression.) that they had given it up in despair, and relieved all alike, bad and good, meritorious and profligate. GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. I have selected the town and parish of Calne not as a single but as a strong example of a bad system of working the poor-laws, uncounteracted, except in one instance, the improved manage- ment of the poor-house, even by common care and prudence in the parish officers. The same prevails in the adjoining parishes. The rigid adherence to the scale, and the total disregard of character, have produced every evil of which they are capable. The overseers never appeal to the magistrates, knowing that they would be reprimanded, and the insolent pauper supported by the scale. Thus, with the appearance of no appeal to the magis- trates, the magisterial interference is unbounded, complete, and, by tacit consent, always in exercise, and ever producing evils of the greatest magnitude and worst description. The whole pauper-management is one great vice, — throughout the whole of the district which includes Calne ; which must be entirely attributed to the scale system, and the making up of wages from ** the book.'* from Duns Tew, Oxfordsldre. 109 DUN'S TEW, OXFORDSHIRE. The property of this parish belongs, almost entirely, to one indi- vidual, Mr. Bolton, whose attention to the concerns of the poor cannot be surpassed. He is well supported by the rector, the Rev. W. Gordon, a most intelUgent, active man. From Mr. Gor- don, with whom I had many conversations, I received the detailed account of his own parish, as well as much information respecting the poor-laws in Oxfordshire, as given in my report on that county. JNIr. Gordon is a magistrate for Oxfordshire. Population — 450. Number of acres in the parish, about 1716. Of these there are about 24 acres of road and waste, very little pasture, the whole chiefly arable land. The amount of the sum expended on the poor for one year, to Lady-day, 1832, is 682L 135. ^d, The system of the scale is in full operation here, as it is in all Oxfordshire, and also the roundsman practice. Of these evils, which account for the rates being so high (6s. on the rack rent), Mr. Gordon is fully aware. He cannot, unsup- ported as he is by the other magistrates of the district, alter the system, but he does everything in his power to mitigate its evils. His affability and good arrangements have, at least, produced an orderly and satisfied race of paupers. The cottages are by far the best I ever saw. They belong to the lord of the manor, and are let low, varying from \l. 10s. to 2,1. 10s. They have good gardens, and the farmers all let potato land to their labourers. The wages of an able-bodied man are 9s. per week, 12s. in hay harvest, and 15s. in corn harvest, so that altogether his earn- ings alone amount to above 25/. per annum. The wives earn about Qd. a day, weeding, &c., and in hay-time 8cZ. a day and beer. The roundsmen, who are the less able of the workmen, gain 7s. a week. Boys on the round have abovit 3s. a week after 12 years old. The number of persons receiving parish allowance, when I was in Oxfordshire, in September, 1832, was as under : — Aged, sick, and infirm ... 32 Children . . . . . 81 Men, boys, and girls, on the round, whose wages are"! ^„ paid in part . . . . ] " Total reheved 140 ] 10 Mr. Okedens Report Besides tbis there were entries of medical advice, rents paid, make-ups for loss time^, &c., to about 30 more^ making on the parish books, 170. In the winter months of December, January, and February, I have no doubt the numbers are increased to above 230, or more than half tlie population of the parish. In Dun's Tew, as in all the Oxfordshire parishes, the early marriages of mere boys is frequent, for the avowed purpose of increasing their income by allowance for increase of children. There is no select vestry, no assistant-overseer, no workhouse. There are 64 agricultural labourers. Mr. Gordon is fully aware of the great evils that have been produced by the scale and head-money system. He sees what it has done, what it is doing, and he foresees all these evils tenfold multiplied, in ten years, if the system is allowed to continue. He assures me, and I was assured of it at every bench in Oxfordshire, that the magistrates of that county are also so fully aware of this, that they are ready to concur in, and to support, any measure proposed by Government for arresting the increasingr curse. GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. I have only one observation to make on Dun's Tew, which is the remarkably good eft'ects which may be produced on a bad system by the constant care of an intelligent clergyman, who -tlevotes him- self to the temporal as well as spiritual wants of his parishioners. If I have arrived at one opinion more decided than any other on the poor, it is, that the loss of such a clergyman is not to be made up to a parish by any means whatever. The poor live a life of expedients, — to use their own phrase, " they live from hand to mouth." They are like children, they want constant help and advice. The greatest blessing to them is a clergyman, constantly livino- with them, who is not only their teacher in religion, but their friend and guide in their worldlv affairs. REMARKS. I have thus selected, according to the wishes of Lord Melbourne, six places, from amonsrst those which fell under mv oi)servation, in the district entrusted to me; and I have so selecl(>d thorn as to illustrate the points enumerated in his Loi'dship's letter to the Central Board of Poor-Law Commissioners. I have selected CRANBOURNE, DORSET, As an instance of a large and populous parish, which, after suffer- ing for many years, by constant magisterial interference, has, by a, from Dun's Tew, Oxfordshire. Ill complete change of system, risen to comfort and content, and in which the most satisfactory improvement in morals, appearance, and character of the poor, has succeeded to depression and degra- dation. HASILBURY BRYAN, DORSET, As an instance of what may he effected, even under a had sys- tem, and magisterial interference, by an active and intelligent minister, who, perhaps, has few equals in his correct and exten- sive knowledge of everything connected with the operation of the poor-laws. MORE CRICHEL, DORSET, As an instance of a small parish, as well managed with regard to its poor concerns as the poor-laws will allow, and where magi- sterial interference is unknown. POOLE, DORSET, As an instance of a large, trading, populous, borough town, where perfect confidence beino- placed by ihe magistrates in the decisions of the vestry, and in the management of the assistant-guardian of the poor, no interference takes place, and where all that relates to the government of the poor seems to me to be of unrivalled ex- cellence. CALNE, WILTSHIRE, As an instance of every unmitigated evil that can arise from a most corrupt and vicious working of the poor-laws. DUN'S TEW, OXFORDSHIRE, As an instance of the evils of a most vicious system mitigated, and rendered, at least, harmless, by the care of an active and intel- ligent minister. o In the whole district that fell imder my care, I do not hesitate to pronoTUice a decided opinion, that the poor of boroughs, where litde or no magisterial interference takes place, are superior in moral character and appearance to themajority of country parishes. I have instanced Poole, I could support it by the cases of Biiclport, Devizes, and jNIarlborough. ,,*^«»*^"" Okedkx, mt-Commissioner, Z^ec. 27, 1832. ,'^,\' or; 112 The Rev. H, Bishop's Report ^Iy Lords and Gentlemen, In compliance with your requisition, I submit to you the results of ray inquiries in the city of Oxford. I have the honour to be. My Lords and Gentlemen, Your obedient Servant, H. Bishop. CITY OF OXFORD. The population of the eleven united parishes, according to the Parliamentary Returns of 1831, amounts to 16,425. Annual value of real property, according to the Property Tax Returns of 1815, i'37,853. The city of Oxford a.nd its suburbs comprise 14 parishes. By a private act, 11 Geo. III. c. xiv., 1771, eleven of these parishes are incorporated, and possess a workhouse. The parishes which are not united are three in number — St. John's, a very small parish, lying in the very heart of the city (population, 122) St. Giles's, and St. Clement's. Here, then, lie close at hand some materials for estimating the advantaofes or disadvantages of unitinor several parishes under one administration. But it ought to be remarked that the mere amoimt of rate, whether estimated per head or by its per centage, wiU furnish but a deceitful test. St. Jolm's is so small a parish, has so few paupers, even in proportion to its size, and from its situation is so incapable of greatly extending its population, that it may fairly be put aside. St. Giles' and St. Clement's are very considerable parishes, and are so situated as to contain much more than their due proportion of paupers, while a smaller amount of rateable property is contained within theii- limits. St. Thomas' doubtless contains a very large pauper population, but it possesses likewise some of the most valuable property in the whole city of Oxford, as well as a large tract of highly-rented land. The local act for the city of Oxford is very long, and generally admitted to have many faults, and probably this is the case really in more instances, than those usually insisted on. L'nder this act, thirty-foiu- guardians arc annually elected, and the office may be compulsory : those who have served it may be compelled to serve again, after an interval of five years. A guardian fi'cquently is re-elected; but all go out of ofBce in July. This appears to be one of the blunders of the act, for every year there is too large a proportion of the guardians seceding from office; and even the substitution of one who has previously served the office in the place of the retiring guardian, does not remedy the evil of so large a from the City of Oxford. 1 13 number coming into the new board, and the result actually is, a great degree of unsteadiness in the management of the house and of the poor generally. The paupers themselves are aware of the effect of this change of administration, and consequently July is the period of the year when the greatest number of improper applications and fraudulent attempts are made on the board. This I learnt from one who had served the office of governor and guardian together for more than three years, with great zeal and equal advantage to the pubhc. Overseers of the poor are appointed for each parish, but the whole of their duty consists in collecting the rate which they have been enjoined to make by the precept of the guardians. The guardians perform those duties which are ordinarily discharged by the overseer. To them all applications for rehef ought in the first instance to be addressed, unless made to the governor, or at once to the court, which assembles every Thursday in the afternoon or evening. The overseers when they have collected a rate pay it into the hands of the treasurers, and the governor has the power of drawing upon them without check. This absence of all control over the governor has already, in one instance, produced its fruits. A very few years ago, the governor absconded with many hundred pounds of the public money, and has never been heard of since. One great cause of the Oxford Act working so badly arises from the low quaUfication for the office of guardian; in many instances very improper persons are elected, and though, in themselves, they may be respectable and intelligent men, and fit to conduct the business of a single parish, yet they are quite un- equal to discharge the duties which they are forced, perhaps, to take on themselves. There appears to exist a great deal of jobbing in the conduct of the house. The average number of persons in the workhouse is 234, the greatest number 258 ; yet for these large numbers no contract is entered into, and the reason assigned for not doing so, is that articles so supplied are commonly inferior to the samples. The real reason was, however, contained in a supplementary cause, viz. that it was ri^ht that the trade of the house should be dis- tributed. In the relief of paupers great partiality appears to exist. Any person who can make interest, or who is connected with a member of the court of guardians (and this last is a circumstance of no uncommon occurrence), obtains a very different measure of atten- tion and assistance from one not so situated. The absence of all responsibility, of all inspection, and the non- I 114 ThelRev. H. Bishop's Report publication of the names of paupers, gives great facilities to the indulgence of these incUnations; and, without doubt, many are permitted to enjoy regular pensions, who would be ashamed of receiving parish aid, if it were publicly declared that they were on the list of paupers. Many persons also receive it, of whose cir- cumstances such evidence could be tendered as would render it impossible to continue them on the list. These abuses were heavily complained of by some, who, from having held seats in the court, had opportunities of seeing and knowing the secret springs which influenced the members ; many also admitted the justice of the charge, and not one denied it. Another evil of the Oxford Act is the size of the court. Thirty- four is too large a number to be invested with executive power. The number of those who actually meet varies so much as to give the character of a new assembly almost to each meeting ; and, consequently, even during the year, the body is deprived of all steadiness of conduct. In every respect, and in every department, the system works ill. Impositions by claimants are very frequent ; and nine-tenths of the paupers are reduced to, and kept in that state, by their own vices or improvidence. The remarks hitherto made apply to the workhouse, and yet nmch remains to be said on that head. In the city of Oxford, the house of industry of the united parishes, as it is most im- properly called, is that to which all arrangements for the manage- ment of the poor are made subservient. But in this house of industry there are no means of employ- ment for the paupers. There once was some weaving, but this has been abandoned for some years. The Commissioners for Lighting, Cleansing, and Paving, have made a contract with the guardians of the house for cleansing the streets. This finds occa- sional employment for a few old men. They also contract for digging and breaking stones to repair " the mile-ways," as they are called. And this is the whole of what is done by those in the house, beyond the little which is required for the immediate service of the establishment. A few out-paiipers are also employed (chiefly young men and boys) in breaking stones at so much per load. The followinor anecdote will show the state of subordination of the paupers : — It was judged proper to employ the inmates of the house in wheeling the dirt of the streets out of the city in barrows, instead of carting it away. The men resisted this arrangement, and instead of carrying the contents of their barrows to the appointed from the City of Oxford. 115 spot, they one and all emptied them in the centre of the town, where the four main roads meet and cross, at Carfax. The mayor and one of the city magistrates, intimidated by this act of insub- ordination, sent for the governor, and entreated him to give up the plan: fortunately, he possessed greater firmness, and refused to give way, and he succeeded in reducing the paupers to order ; his year, however, expired, and the plan, I believe, was abandoned by his successor. Great improvement in the internal management of the house seems to have taken place under the present master, who appears to have done all in his power, but he is sadly hampered by the mterference of one or two meddling and mischievous guardians. The house is clean, and as regular in its arrangements as its defective construction allows. There is, however, a lamentable want of means of classification, even the sexes cannot be kept separate. The house stands in the middle of a garden, or piece of ground between three and four acres in extent : this lies in one allotment, without the slightest internal fence or division, and sur- rounded by a high wall. Visitors are admitted by a porter living in a small lodge at the gate. The house opens into this piece of ground; consequently all, men, women, and children, may meet in this space, even after dark. It is hardly necessary to add, that there is, to speak in the most cautious terms, strong suspicion that the bastardy list has been swelled even within the walls. The diet-table of the house has been constructed on too liberal a scale ; the inhabitants of the workhouse are better fed than they could expect to be at their own homes. The house is not an object of terror, but rather of desire, to the young and able-bodied pauper. There is no seclusion or confine- ment. Permission, it is true, must be asked to leave the walls, but it is never refused, and the pauper, when once out, need not return till bed-time. There is, in fact, no government in the house. One guardian frequently undoes what another has done. There is, at the pre- sent moment, a guardian, who, probably from a morbid craving for popularity, goes about to the gangs of men that are occasion- ally set to w^ork (for the house has IG acres of pasture land to keep cows and horses on, in addition to the garden ground) and will order the men to go to the house and get bread and cheese and beer, in addition to their pay. This took place lately, in the case of eight men engaged in cleaning a ditch, and so far were they from deserving encouragement, that the whole eight did not do the work of two men. It may be added to these observations, on the authority of a I 2 116 The Rev. H. Bishop's Report competent judge, well and practically acquainted with the Oxford workhouse, and several of the London ones, that had the houses in town been so managed, and the poor kept as they are in Oxford, their numbers would have doubled. In London, so far from allowing the sexes to mix, it is common to separate man and wife. At the date of this report (August 17, 1832) there were in the house 247 inmates, one-sixth of whom, at least, were able-bodied men, and women with illegitimate children, and all the labour from the garden, scavenger's work, stone-breaking for the mile- ways, &c., would perhaps occupy 15 men — the guardians had, on Saturday last, (this is dated August 17,) to set 53 to work. This time last year, the weekly pay for work was 6L, now it is 22/. The amount of out-door relief by the present board, which commenced July 12, has varied from 90Z. to 1201. No accounts deserving that name are kept ; there is one ledger, in which appears the entries for labour, house, and out-door work, A difficulty is found in getting out the females from the house ; respectable people are unwilling to receive them into their families as servants. ISecessaries are never given to bad characters, but they, like others, are relieved in money ; the alleged object, there- fore, of o-uardino' their families from want is defeated, and so much more money is put in their hands to waste in intemperance and profligacy. Nearly 130 illegitimate children are paid for by the house; the bastardy debt due to the united parishes, is now 1054/., which the late governor as well as the master of the house concurred in representing to me would be dearly purchased at 100/. The following are some few of the applications which the writer of this report witnessed on a Thursday night. One woman, receiving (is. per week, asked for 2s. more, because she had to support two boys, her sons, of the respective ages of 16 and 17. lliis application was made when harvest-work was at its height. Another person, wlio deals in cottons, tapes. See, and travels the countiy, came to ask for (rather to demand) her annual clothing. A third, an habitual drunkard, ruined by the facility of obtain- ing parish aid, and who b\it for that might have done well, but now allows his wife and family to continue in a state little above starving, came to ask for work, and obtained 7s. without work. A fourth, receiving 12.S. per week, obtained 2.v. this night: he wishes to have " a fixed income" (his own words), that he may know what he has to depend on. A woman in the house step})ed ibrward, and complained that she had been obliged to go ^^xthout tea and siujar, in order to from the City of Oxford. 117 have her shoes repaired, and wished for money to pay the shoe- mender. Many other cases might be enumerated, but sufficient perhaps have been stated to show the nature of the apphcations, and the description of apphcants ; and there cannot be a doubt that every case which came before the Court of Guarchans this night (which w^ith the other apphcations occupied considerably more than two hours) not only might, but ought to have been dismissed at once, without further consideration. By a balance-sheet, from July 11, 1831, to July 9, 1832, it appears that the total expenditure on account of the poor of the united parishes of the city of Oxford, exceeds 10,000/. It has increased with fearful rapidity, and is still increasing. It is im- possible to say where it will stop, unless some fundamental change takes place in the management of the poor. ST. GILES'S, OXFORD. Population 2000 ; acres 800 ; equal portions of pasture and arable. There is no select vestry in the parish, the name creates a pre- judice against it, which cannot be overcome. This parish is divided into two districts, one within, one without the jurisdiction of the city of Oxford. This division of jurisdic- tion has been the cause of considerable difficulty and dispute, as to the mode in which rates should be levied and enforced. There is a poor-house situated in the county part of the parish ; but this house, though newly built, at some considerable expense, is merely a pauper barrack. There is no master or mistress now, and the occupants are congregated together as in a collec- tion of cottages. It is, as might be expected, a very grievous nuisance to the neishboiu'liood : women of the town with their bullies have been residing there, and robberies have been eflfccted by its inmates. It is at the present time in rather better order. Still, however, as a place of regulation or discipline, it is worse than useless. The parish, however, contrives to extract this good from it. If there is a pauper likely to be troublesome, and to summon the overseer before a magistrate, the parish authorities remove him to this house if possible, and, by so doing, bring him under the authority of the county magistrates, who are much more pains-taking in their inquiries than some, at least, of the city magistrates. The petty sessions of the county magistrates possess likewise this advantage over the city court, that the overseer has greater personal security and freedom from insult in the former than in 118 The Rev. H. Bishop's] Report the latter. The city magistrates themselves are perhaps ci\nl, but lukewarm and indifferent to the overseers, and the precincts of the court are beset by a number of blackguards, who assail the over- seers with scoffs and jeers and insults, sometimes almost with per- sonal violence. This the overseers have to encounter in their official character, — as such they are marked out for insult, — and this conduct seems to meet with no check or animadversion even from the magistrates. The following case deserves to be fully detailed. The pauper in question, by trade a leather-dresser, has, for some years past, preferred parish and casual relief to the honest gains of his employment. The overseer stated eighteen years as the period of his present mode of life. The pauper seems to think it is not quite so long ; he talks of thirteen : however, he does not vio- lently impeach the overseer's statement, which may therefore be assumed to be tolerably correct. He belongs to an incorporated or combined trade ; the directors of this combination issue tickets to the members. These tickets are renewed from time to time. The holder of one ,goes about from place to place, but must not take the same road more than once in six months. With these intervals he is again and again assisted, and, as in the present case, for a very long space of time together. This ticket is available in every part of the United Kingdom where a club or lodge of the trade is established. The individual in question might have had work at 11. per week, but he refused to take it, or indeed 30s. per week ; nothing under 21. will satisfy him, and when pressed for reasons to account for his refusing such offers — when asked whether it would not be better to get 1/. per week than to trust to casual sources of support, he replied, that he should not like to be " turned black," (quere — returned black?) \vhich would be the case if he worked under price. Thus then, as far as an individual instance will avail, and it seems to be a fair sample of the general system, we see the effects of parish aid upon the combinations for raising and keep- ing up wages, whose ramifications extend over the whole of these kingdoms. This man gets a ticket; he is, by his own admission, a most worthless fellow, to use his own mild and gentle language, he has been " a very /oo/tVi man, his fault has been drinking." Though at times of his life, and that too for long periods, he has been earning from 21. to 3/. per week, he has neglected to make the slightest provision for his future necessities; his iicalth has been greatly impaired by his vicious habits ; his character, probably his value as a workman, has been lowered from the City of Oxford. 119 by his own deliberate acts, yet he is not to take employment but at the highest wages ; and in order to support him in this un- reasonable demand, he gets a ticket from the trade, for wdiich he pays \s. Qd. per month, constantly : this furnishes him with his own support as a vagabond ; for when he is at home his relief trom the trade ceases, and the intervals of travelling are filled up by parish aid : his wife and familv, let it be observed, are con- stantly on the parish, for he only travels his rounds. No source of support is objected to by his fellows, nothing incapacitates him from receiving the benefit of his ticket, but honest industry in his own trade : let it be known that he has once been guilty of this — of making the best terms he could — of aorreeinof for w'hat his ser- Vices are worth, and supporting himself and his family honestly and in comfort — and he is struck otf the list, and denied all future benefit from this fund ; the pavniients to which are in a manner compulsory, and raised from all in the trade. It is probable that this fimd, if honestly, and fairly, and properly expended, might nearly destroy all necessity for the members of this trade having recourse to parish aid : so far, however, from the fimds being applied to such honourable and beneficial purposes, they are made to contribute to the support of combinations. Even the magistracy of the country becomes subservient to the objects of these combinations, for this pauper is under the patronage of a city magistrate, whose name is known, and can be disclosed, with evidence of his conduct ; who brow-beats and insults any overseer that refuses to comply with these demands. In reliance on this protection, the man's wife lately told the overseer that she had once made one, who filled his office, '• tremble before his betters, and would do so with him." This man's history is not yet concluded ; and the sequel is im- portant, as it exemplifies the inveterate habits of pauperism, and the skill and perseverance with which they are followed up by those who have once been introduced to them. This same individual has a child ill, which had been sent into the infirmary of the city and county ; of course, during the time the child is in the house, he is off the father's hands, and the parish refused to make any allowance to the parents towards his support : this man went to the infirmary, and removed the child, in order to enable him to claim his allowance from the overseer for this week. The pauper himself complains of illness, but w ill neither accept the advice of the infirmary as an out-patient, nor of the parish medical man, but has gone, or is going, the round of the medical men of the city, begging from any of them a certificate of liis inability to work. A pleasure fair was held, according to custom, a week or two 120 The Rev. H. Bishop's Report before the present time, in this parish. The pauper in question was seen drinking and idhng dvu-ing the fair. He was warned that he would be refused relief, on the ground of his having wasted both his money in drinking, and his time. '■ I don't care," was his reckless reply ; " I won't work during holiday-time." He had his method of compelling parochial assistance. On the following Thursday, he went to the infirmary, and begged a blister, which he was wearing when the writer of this report saw him, and then presented himself for relief. A complaint had been made against him, and with very great difficulty the city magistrate was induced to record him as a vagabond ; still, notwithstanding, the man obtained on this occasion 3s. It is hardly necessary to add, after this long history, that here character is not at all attended to, when relief is to be given, nor under the interference of the magistrates is the vestry allowed to regard it. The individual above spoken of says the magistrates " would not hurt him." There is, in fact, no instance of any of these idle, insolent paupers having been pimished for the last twelve years. It appears, on investigation, that, in seven cases out of ten, the paupers are idle or drunken, abusive or thieving. " I don't care for your work, I can get as much from the parish," is their con- stant lano-uag'e. In the list prepared for payment this week, containing 50 sepa- rate cases, one is ill, two are idiots ; of the rest not one docs any work, and it is useless to divide the cases into casual or permanent, for the casual, when once on the list, always continue there. An instance of the improvidence of relief appeared in the case of a boy, deaf and dumb certainly, but the son of a tradesman, a butcher, perfectly able to support his child, who, nevertheless, is kept by the parish. Another person receives 2s. a week for getting work. This is durinof the harvest. An inhabitant of this parish, once an overseer, applied on behalf of a woman, who, he alleged, was ill, but begged that it might not be known that she had parish aid ; it would so distress her, not to receive it, but to have it knoivn that she received it. Her dress gave no evidence of her want of such assistance; it was much above the rank of those who might be expected to look for parish help, of many, indeed, who have to contribute to her assistance. On her it was proposed to settle 4s. or 5s. per week. A widow, who has some friends among the efficient parties at the vestry, receives Is. 6d. a week, though she is in possession of a very considc-rable sum of money at the saving bank. A boy has 4s. a week, because he has so bad a character that from the City of Oxford. 121 few or none will employ him. The parish let him out at 2s. per week, when they can get anything for him to do, and pay 2s. more for him. A woman says she was not bred up to work, and won't work ; she does not even choose to knit, and during the last month she received 6s., 4s., 4s., and 3s. in the four weeks, week by week. These various persons are supported in their applications by the city magistrates ; and the parish authorities and vestry, know- ing how useless it is to look to them for countenance, prefer pay- ing these people their annuities to contesting them and failing"^. A considerable quantity of casual relief takes place in clothincr. Shoes are made by parishioners, who charge 14s. a pair, for articles which would be sold to private individuals for 12s. No balance sheet is published, neither are the paupers' names printed. No visitation of them at their houses takes place. They have been all ordered to attend a vestry for examination, and the absentees were struck off, but were, however, restored to the pay- list the next week. There is no parish work of any kind. The paupers, at one time, were set to stone-breaking ; but it was found that they destroyed their tools, and that their earnings were insufficient to pay for the repairs. The assistant-overseer is generally a decayed tradesman, with a salary of 50^. per annum. He was to have lived in the poor- house, and taken the superintendence of the paupers; but the present one, finding the place, or the inhabitants, disagreeable, left the house and came to Oxford, and no notice has been taken. The annual amount of money actually expended on the poor is 1317/. The overseer comes into office every year, and this is a great evil, as the new officer is always assailed with a number of false complaints. The present overseer appears to be a most intelligent and respectable man, anxious to put everything on its proper footing, and capable of improving the parish very materially, if he was not fettered by opposition and the badness of the magistracy, as well as by the faults of the existing law, or practice, which has grown into something resembling law. The rates are fast increasing in amount, while the difficulty of collecting them is growing in an equal ratio. About ten rates in the year used to be sufficient, now one is required every three weeks. * These various cases can be identified by the names of the parties, if necessary, and many others of a Hke kind might be miiUiphed ; these are only given as samples of what actually takes place in this parish. 122 The Rev. H. Bishops Report Tho fees of the raaoristrates' clerk, already too high, are rising rapidly. The examination of a pauper, and order of removal, used to be Is. 6d., or 8s. 6d., now, however, it is 13s. Qd. The charore for the overseer's warrant of appointment is doubled, but no resistance, or even remonstrance, is hazarded, as it is neces- sary to stand well with the court ; and any one resisting would run the risk of incurring their displeasure, at least their suspicion. The following instance of the justice with which fees are ex- acted is worth observation : — A man was conWcted of assaulting an overseer most violently ; his punishment was three weeks' im- prisonment, and to find security for his good behaviour for twelve months, and the parish had to pay the fees for his giving the security. St. Giles's has the character of being a " good parish :" land- lords, therefore, can let their houses at a very high rent. The spe- culation of building houses, and those of the most wretched de- scription, is encouraged ; very few rates are collected from them, and thus it happens that acres of land, which used to bear their share of rate, now, in their more valuable state, and increased rent, contribute nothing, though they greatly augment the parish burthens. There are at the present time eleven bastards on the weekly list — the parish receives for two only. It is well known, that for fi'om 3Z. to 4?., and a treat, many men consent to be sworn to as the fathers of illegitimate children, knowing that the parish cannot enforce payment against them; and that, generally speaking, it will not be at- tempted. The mother is, of course, a party to this arrangement, and has her advantage, either promised only, or actually per- formed ; at least she is not worse oft', for the parish pays for the putative father, whether it recovers the money or not, and the mother has her share of the price of her perjury from the real father. One girl, for whose child the parish receives the money, swore her infant to a boy aged only fifteen, a servant in a gentleman's family : the poor lad remarked, " This was very hard, this was too bad ; the child ought to have been sworn to my young master;" and there was little reason for suspecting his veracity. Another woman has brought three illeoritimate children on the parish, and, for her last, she was committed to prison for three weeks. She told the vestry that she would, if put to gaol again, swear the child to ihc overseer; she is now pregnant a fourth time. This same individual says openly to the vestry, " If you don't give me some relief (enough, in fact, to support her in idleness), I will bring you some more bastards to keep." . from the Cihj of Oxford. 123 The difficulties under which this parish is labouring seem to be caused by the combined badness of the law and of the admi- nistrators of it, that is, the magistrates in great measure; for there is no superfluous labour, provided the labourers would only conduct themselves in such a manner as to make them worth employing. But those who want labour done, prefer em- ploying out-parish men, or will rather leave undone that which, if well and sufficiently done, would yield them a profit, or be, at least, a source of pleasure and satisfaction. Those labourers who have famiUes say, we can get lOs. or 12s. per week from the parish, why should "' we slave ourselves for this sum ? " ST. CLEMENT'S, OXFORD. Population 1836. Value, (1815,) 1352;. After the detailed report of St. Giles's, it is hardly necessary to say much of this parish, which presents the same features of mismanagement. Increase in the amount of rates,* decrease of the means of paying them, destruction to the industry and cha- racter of the labourers, and the steady growth of every species of vice and profligacy, while the interference of the magistrates, thouorh not, in this parish, carried to such an extent as in some others, and by some benches, yet still exists to a very mis- chievous extent, and in a very bad manner, — by recommendations chiefly ; these are enough to promote the spirit of discontent in the paupers, to discountenance the overseer, and to screen the maoistrate, even from the trifling responsibility which attaches to the making of an order, the check which the law imposes, by requiring that every oi'der shall be signed by two magistrates, and, of consequence, that every case requiring an order shall be heard by two magistrates being removed. The only peculiarity is to be found in the extent of the specu- lation for building small tenements, and in some of the local cir- cumstances which have attended that speculation. St. Clement's, like the rest of Oxford, was originally situated on a thick bed of gravel resting on clay. As long as the buildings were confined to the gravel, the inhabitants enjoyed a healthy soil and means of good drainage; as soon, however, as they were pushed off" on the clay, a very considerable change took place both in the houses, the inhabitants and their health. Nearly half * There has been an assistant overseer ; but he is on the point of retiring, being unable to raise the rates. His nominal salary, 20/. per annum, has remained unpaid, from the poverty of the parish ; and from the like cause, the poor last week (Aug. 20, 1832) were not paid at all. 124 The Rev. H. Bishop's Report. the deaths of Oxford, from cholera, took place in St. Qement's ; on inquiry, it appeared that the majority of those cases were in the newest houses, near the river, upon the clay banks. It is impossible to estimate, with any tiling like accuracy, the number of new houses, but there are whole streets and rows built in the cheapest manner. There may be exceptions to this statement, but, in general, the speculation has paid so well, that the cupidity of those who have more money than conscience has been strongly stimulated. Cottages, costing on an average from 100/. to 120/. let for 9/. per annum, some, which have been built for 140/., have let for 10/. per annum, and upwards. These cottages have yards, perhaps, but the bit of ground attached to them is too small to merit the name of a garden. These exorbitant rents are, in fact, levied to a considerable de- gree upon those who pay rates. For, in the first place, by the abstraction of so much property from rateable wealth, the re- mainder has to bear a heavier burden; and, secondly, the rents are carried to as great a height as possible, upon the supposition that tenements so circumstanced will not be rated ; the owner, therefore, is pocketing both rate and rent. Thirdly, the value of his property is increased precisely in the proportion that his neighbour's is deteriorated, by the weight of rates from which his own is discharged ; neither is this all — as it is always regarded by the tenant as a desirable thing to escape the payment of rates, the field for competition is narrowed, and a very inferior description of house is built for the poor man. In order to make out a case for the non-payment of rates, it is sometimes ne- cessary, perhaps, to have inconveniences and defects — and thus it happens, that a building speculation depending on freedom from rates for its recommendation, always produces a description of houses of the worst and most unhealthy kind. Those who would build for the poor with more liberal views and greater attention to their health and their comfort are discouraged, and a monopoly is given those whose sole end is gain, by whatever means it may be compassed. Aucjust 20, 1832. Mr. Power's Report. 125 My Lords and Gentlemen, In compliance with Lord Melbourne's wishes, I submit the following extracts from the results of my inquiries in the county Cambridge. The following are a part of my observations on the subject of THE MAGISTERIAL CONTROL. When pressed on the subject of their management, overseers in- variably excuse themselves by alleging the want of co-operation and protection from the magistracy in their endeavours to check the demand on the parish funds. Even the paid officers, both in town and country, justify themselves on these grounds for sparing the time, trouble, and expense of contesting Avith the pauper the question of relief before the individual magistrates, or the bench in petty sessions. Of the many whom I have seen, one and all are in this story. But the Commissioners will probably consider that I have found a higher and a better authority on this subject in Dr. AVebb, master of Clare Hall, the present vice-chancellor ot the University. He has acted as county magistrate for more than sixteen years ; and being resident a great part of the year at his vicarage in Litdington, he has personally superintended the relief of the poor in that parish, as well as in Great Gransden, in Huntingdonshire, where the college have been obliged to occupy a farm of 700 acres, in consequence of their not being able to obtain a tenant for the same at any price. He is strongly of opinion that a great part of the burthen of actual relief to the poor arises from the injudicious interference of magistrates, and the readiness with which they overrule the discretion of the overseer. He has attempted in both the parishes above-men- tioned to introduce a more strict and circumspect system of relief — with great success in Littlington, as apj)ears by the descending scale of poor-rates in that parish since 1816 ; the population at the same time having nearly doubled itself since 180 L*. In Gransden, he had found less success, being seldom personally present there, and acting principally through his bailiff. Also he had had less time by some years for effecting any steady improvement in that parish. He showed me, however, by a reference to the books, that he had made the practice of allowing relief to married men, when em})loyed by individuals, in respect of their families, entirely disappear from * In 1816 the rates of this parish were 242/. 1828 they were . .116^. Since 1801 the population has increased from 350 to 622. 126 Mr. Power's Report the late accounts. The principal impediment to the introduction of a better system, he found in the power of the pauper, when re- fused relief by the overseer, to apply to the bench in petty sessions ; which nothing but the advantage of an intimate knowledge of his own parishioners, and of uniting in himself the functions, not the office, of overseer and magistrate, enabled him, by perseverance, to overcome. The following case is a sample of their unwillingness to take the circumstances or character of the applicant into due consideration. He refused relief (Nov. 27th, 1829) to Samuel Spencer, knowing him to have received a legacy of 400/. within two or three years before the application. The man applied to the bench in petty sessions, where Dr. Webb produced to them an extract from the will (proved 1826), and the assurance of the executor that he had paid the pauper money since proving the will, to the amount above-mentioned. Notwithstanding this, they made an order of relief; and the man (able-bodied) has been from time to time on the rates ever since. 1 have conversed with several magistrates on the subject of the magisterial control ; and some I have found disposed to take the same view of it as Dr. Webb ; though certainly none so confi- dently and unequivocally. Amongst these 1 should mention Mr. Metcalfe of Foulmire, a most active and intelligent magistrate, to whom this county is indebted for the introduction of the improved system of parish account keeping, given in the Appendix to Mr. Pym's Evidence before the House of Lords, in 1831 *. The greater part, however, are rather disposed to recriminate and cast upon the parish officers the charge of an insufficient and inatten- tive discharge of their duties. They complain that whereas the magistrates feel every disposition to inquire into the circumstances of every application for relief, it is quite impossible to get over- seers to attend the bench, and follow up their own refusals for relief with the ])roper zeal and regard for their parishes; that very often surliness of behaviour, and even cruelly towards the poor, is combined with great extravagance and recklessness in their expenditure. There is probably a great deal of truth in these statements on both sides of the question : certainly, between the two, afiairs go on very ill in this county ; but whatever portion of the blame of mismanagement attaches to either, is probably due rather to the nature of the respective functions, than to the j)ersonal mis- conduct of those who discharge them. Under the continually increasing pressure of the rates, the viciousness of the system * Observe the divisions of items in page 137 of this Report. from Cambridgeshire. 127 is making itself daily more felt and acknowledged in all quarters; and although every one has his favourite schemes of partial im- provement, these are announced rather with expressions of despair than hope, as regards any material and permanent success ; and so far as my inquiries have at present extended, I have reason to think that opinion points rather to total change of system than to partial and palliative amendments. That a sense of the necessity of some vital change in the ad- ministration of the poor-laws is becoming universal among the magistrates themselves, there cannot be a stronger demonstration than the following fact. At the time of the disturbances two years since, a general meeting of the bench of the whole county was convened at Cambridge for the purpose of deliberating on gene- ral measures. The meeting was very numerous, consisting, as my informant believes, of 28 gp-ntlemen. A part of the business transacted was the passing of a vote or resolution to this effect, " that the poor-laws are badly administered in this county." The vote passed with only one dissentient voice. The following is a copy of a printed scale of relief issued by the town magistrates of Cambridge. It exceeds the scale used in the rural parishes by half the quartern loaf (value 4|d. at this time) in each of the allowances. The country scales are also printed ; and, with the exception above-mentioned, the terms used in those I have seen, are precisely identical with the following: — Copy of a printed Scale of Relief . — Town of Cambridge. The churchwardens and overseers of the poor are requested to regu- late the incomes of such persons as may apply to them for relief or em- ployment, according to the price of fine bread ; namely — A single woman the price of 3^ quartern loaves per week. A single man ditto. . 4^ ditto. A man and his wife ditto. . 8 ditto. Ditto ditto and 1 child ditto. . 9^ ditto. Ditto ditto and 2 children. . . . ditto . . 11 ditto. Ditto ditto and .3 children. . . . ditto. . 13 ditto. Man, wife, 4 children and upwards at the price of 2h quartern loaves per head per week. It will be necessary to add to the above income, in all cases of sick- ness or other kind of distress, and particularly of such persons or I'anii- lies who deserve encouragement by their good behaviour, whom parish officers should mark both by commendation and reward. By order of the Magistrates assembled at the Town-hall, Cam- bridge, Nov. 27th, 1829. A. Chevell, Clerk to the Magistrates. 128 Mr. Power's Report The intrinsic mischief of such an invention is much aggravated by the bad effect which its pubhcation and the nature of the ex- pressions used^ must produce on the minds of the paupers, to whom it is exhibited on every occasion of dispute between them and the overseer. It certainly does seem to me calculated to suggest the notion of an absolute right to relief, independent of any circumstances beyond the mere application for it ; and to judge from the demeanour I have witnessed in petty sessions, that suggestion does not appear lost upon the pauper. The eyes of the county magistrates have been for some time open to the impolicy of this proceeding ; and I have not seen any scale of theirs dated later than 1821. The present town scale, it is seen, bears date 1829, Which of the two set the example I do not know, but the gentlemen of the county seem to have repented first. MODES OF RELIEF. With regard to the modes of relief used in this county. I have found very little variation to })re\ail in the different parishes Avhich have been the objects of my investigation ; none certainly ■which present any important feature for remark. The practice of payments out of the poor-rates, in direct aid of the wages ot men employed by individuals, I have not met at all at present. That, however, of making allowance for the famUies of persons in full employ, is by no means uncommon : that of roundsmen, I believe, exists nowhere at all within the county. It was once very general in that part of the county which adjoins Bedford- shire ; but the only instance, I believe, now remaining in that neighbourhood is Tadlow, a small parish, little burthened with rates ; but here the roundsman is paid full wages by the indivi- dual who employs him. The conflicting interests and jealousies of the different classes of rate-payers, rather than a sense of its illegality, have caused the disappearance of this objectionable practice. The grand items of disbursement in the heavily burthened pa- rishes are found to be these : — 1 . The permanent weekly pay, as it is called, to the aged, the impotent, and widows. I have found that widows universally, in town and country, get their three shillings a week without reference to the amount of their earnings. The admission of this as an unquestioned title to relief is one of many premiums on mar- riage. 2. Paupers ivorJdng for parish. — There is often difficulty in getting at the true amount of this, from the surveyor's rate either merging in that of the overseer's, on being applied to the employ- from Cambridgeshire. 129 ment of paupers at parish wages, and consequently no work done ; a clear perversion of this fund, out of which fair wages ought to be paid for real work done, under strict superintendence. For this reason there is no dependence on any of the rate-returns made yearly to Government ; this kind of relief being often very considerable in its amount, and usually omitted in the returns. This item is almost always clear loss, except so far as some im- provement of the roads is effected *. 3. Occasional and casual poor. — The amount of this item is always very great in proportion to the rest, but it has little to do with the casual poor in the legal sense of that term. It is prin- cipally applicable to cases of temporary infirmity, real or pre- tended sickness in parishioners, and to the maintenance of the families of men in individual employ, and full pay ; — " making up the incomes" is the expression used in the scale. There is no species of relief, however, recommended by the circumstances to which Item 1 is applicable, which does not become, when systematically administered, highly objectionable in a moral point of view; as removing every active motive for economy and good habits, and greatly enhancing the ordinary temptations to vice which attend a time of prosperity. But the operation of Items 2 and 3, combined with the working of the magistrates' scale, seems fraught with transcendant mischief, whether morally or politically considered. One very pernicious effect is that arising from the interested preference shown by the employer to men with families, whereby the young men are thrown upon parish work — so ruinous to all habits of industry ; and every motive suggested for an early and improvident marriage. When the farmer employs the young single man, it is seldom or never by the great, as it is termed, but at daily wages, little above those of parish employment, which as easier work, and often no work at all, he prefers. A still worse preference, though equally natural, is that which distinjjuishes between the destitute person, and the person possessed of the present means of support, postponing, of course, the claims of the latter ; whereby the disposition to save earnings is not only discouraged but actively thwarted, and the gifts of fortune become a sure inducement to idleness and ruin. More than one case was mentioned to me of persons who, having been detected in the possession of property, the result of former eco- nomy, were refused, not relief, but even employment, until they had rendered themselves worthy of their hire, by wasting in idle- ness their previous accumulations. * On this point see the following ease of Gamlingay. K 130 Mr. Power's Report LITTLINGTOX PARISH. TITHES. On visiting the parish of Littlineton I found, by examhiation of the rate-books of the later years, that the advantages of a strict administration had not been able to check a rapid increase of the rates. The population, it should be observed, had increased, by natural process alone, from 505 in the year 1821, to 622 in 1831. The rates for the three years preceding 1830 stand thus : — POOR-RATE. 1S27 . . . ^138 1S2S . . 116 1S29 . . . 124 In 1830 the expenditure rose to 213Z. deducting the county rate ; for 1831, it was 227/. During several years preceding 1830 they had had little or no surplus labour ; at the present time they had nine able-bodied men doing parish work. My informant, Mr. Kimpton, the overseer, a considerable occupier, told me that Dr. \\ ebb's mode of management was, no doubt, very beneficial to the parish, but that they had every prospect of the rates con- tinually increasing. That the land within the parish was amply sufficient to emploj' all the labour, if fairly cultivated ; but that owing to various causes, much of the land was in a verj' low state, and matters were yearly becomins; worse. Amongst those causes he particularized the low stale of profits, the consequent decrease of capital and spirit, and the particularly hard pressure of the tithes upon this parish. It is a light chalky soil, naturally poor, but capable of a very high degree of cultivation by the aid of arti- ficial manure. That the taking of tithes in kind was a great restraint and impediment to the cultivation of land of this charac- ter, — he spoke from the effects produced b)'^ it on his own prac- tice, and that of his neighbours. Some time before the inclo- sure, Dr. Webb let the tithe to Mr. Dickerson, an occupier within the parish, and bound him by an agreement to allow every occu- pier to have his own tithes at a fair valuation, if he wished it. Some years after, on a disagreement between Dickerson and the tithe-payers, Dr. Webb insisted on the fulfilment of this contract; and Mr. Watford, an eminent surveyor at Cambridge, was em- ployed to make a valuaiion. The difference of Mr. Watford's estimates on different small occupations of land, lying inter- mingled together in an uninclosed state, Mr. Kimpton describes to have produced a strong impression upon his own mind and those of the other occupiers, as to the inexpediency of outlay upon land of this description, when subject to a tiuctuating amount of from Cambridgeshire. 131 tithe. The difference of these estimates was owing altog^ether to the difference of cultivation, the natural quality of the land being the same, and requiring constant supplies of artificial manure to make it productive and keep it so. The land in the occupation of Mr. Dickerson himself, the tithe-occupier, at this time, was remark- able for its high state of cultivation ; a crop of turnips on one acre of it, Mr. Watford assured me himself he considered, worth nearly the fee-simple of an acre adjoining, in some other person's occu- pation. Had the former been exposed to valuation for tithe at this time, not only might the profits of so expensive an outlay have been absorbed for this turn, but the punishment would have en- dured during the whole term of the composition. Whether, there- fore, the crops be subject to tithe in kind, or to composition for certain periods, the occupier of lands of this description must feel himself greatly fettered in its cultivation. In some cases the indisposition to cultivate seems to have arisen in part from irrita- tion of mind on the subject ; a Mr. , occupying 300 acres, abandoned the cultivation of his land almost altogether, being a person of capital, and independent of farming profits. GAMLIXGAY. Probably the countv furnishes few worse examples of oppres- sive rates, aggravated by extreme mismanagement, than the parish of Gamiingay, in the hundred of Lcngstow. It contains something more than 40S0 acres, of which ISSO are uninclosed arable land, 1500 inclosed ditto and pasture, 700 waste. 40S0 The present population is 1319. The advantages afforded by the waste land in a supplv of fuel, and the permission to build cot- tages on it*, have attracted the poor from the neighbouring pa- rishes ; and a vast quantity of settlements have been made by the farmers letting their land during a part of the year to be dug for potatoes at high rents. As many as thirty families have been introduced in this way. The eldest of my informants (all occu- piers) remembers the poor-rate amounting to only 50/. — that was sixty vears ago : the expenditure of the year ending March. 1832, was 1427/. The annual value as assessed in 1815 was 2945/. ; an estimate of the present actual rental, furnished me from the best authcritv, states it at little more than 2000/. The rates. * Lords of the Manor, Mertoa College, Oxford. K 2 132 Mr. Power'' s Report therefore, have already approached to very nearly 15s. in the pound, and the constant decrease of capital and cultivation threatens a further augmentation. The increase of the last over the preceding year was 100/. The disbursements of the last year stand thus : — Aged, impotent and widows .£318 Paupers working for parish . 615 Materials, tools, &c. . 54 Occasional casual poor relieved fori „, ^ sickness, &c. , j Medical attendance . . 54 Law expenses, removals, &:c. . 17 Bastardies . . 10 The wages paid to men employed by individuals are about 6s. a-week to single men, to married men with children from 9s. to 10s., further allowance from the rates according to the number of the family. The parish is regulated by the bread scale in use in this part of the country, otherwise called the Magistrates' Scale. The result is as follows : — A single man ^0 3 Man and wife 5 Ditto with one child 6 Ditto with two children 7 Ditto with three children . 8 Ditto with four children . 9 There are at this present time between seventy and eighty men and boys (not counting old men) employed in parish work : they began with eight or ten immediately after the harvest, and the number has been rapidly increasing up to this time. The average throughout the whole year is understated at forty; and so it should appear, from the actual disbursement applicable solely to this item last year, viz. 615/. The sole employment is that of collecting stones from the surface of the land, for which they are paid at the rate of 2(/. ])er bushel, until they have earned the sum allowed by the bread scale, they then do as they please for that week. This account of the stone-gathering seemed rather a puzzling one. In the first place it must soon fail as a source of employ- ment. 2dly, If it did not, the actual value of the stones would be \ld. per bushel to sell in this country, and by keeping the men at work in this way the parish would lose nothing. 3dly, I was told it was rather an injury than a benefit to the land. 4thly, 1 found on the receipt side of the balance sheet the item, " Pro- duce of work done by paupers," 11/. 10s., to be set against 615/., the expense of their employment, it seemed to me, from Cambridgeshire, i33 therefore, on the whole that this employment could be little else than a nominal one ; but I was not fully satisfied on the point, until leaving the village, after finishing my inquiries, I encountered a group of boys and men^ eight or ten in number, from the age of sixteen to twenty-five, about a stone heap, busily employed, some with their hands, some with large sticks by way of bats, in returning the collected stones to the impoverished acres. My interview with the overseers (the appointment I had made with them having become known) was voluntarily attended by about six of the other principal occupiers. The external appear- ance of these men betokened a want of agricultural capital ; and they spoke of their parochial burthens in a despairing and almost reckless tone. They could not help themselves. They had in vain attempted several times to share the whole labour of the parish amongst themselves, according to the extent of each man's occupation ; a strong practical objection was found to this in the quick recurrence of Saturday night, whereas the rate collector called upon them only fourteen times in the year. It had been attempted to employ the surplus labour in the drainage of the uninclosed lands ; but so partial an appropriation was strongly protested against by the rate-payers in respect of land inclosed. They showed me the fragment of a proposition to set the paupers to spade-labour on the parish account ; it failed for want of una- nimity in the vestry. An inclosure which w^ould give them great temporary reUef, and better them permanently to a certain degree, was opposed by Merton College, Oxford, in which body lay a great part of the proprietorship, as well as the tithes : a kind of property w"hich few owners are willing to commute for an allot- ment of land ; yet that is a condition upon which both cultivator and rent-owner usually insist. Under these circumstances they seemed to have abandoned all thought of mitigating their burthens by a strict and proper administration of parochial afl'airs. Such, in fact, was the abandonment of public principle in the parish officers, that, while employing paupers on the parish account at the expense of 015^. a year without any return, they are at this very time called upon to defend an indictment at Quarter Sessions for the infamous state of their roads. On this point I am bound to say, that, if the evidence be properly arranged, they must suffer a verdict. DKCREASE OF FARMING CAPITAL. It is the opinion of Mr. James King, of Tadlow, an active and enterprising farmer, who knows the parish of Gamlin- 134 Mr. Power's Report gay perfectly well, that this enormous superabundance of labour arises, in great measure, from want of capital in the farmers to employ the quantity of labour which the land deserves. He should allow three or four men to each hun- dred acres ; whereas, he believes, about one man is the propor- tion actually employed in that parish. ]\Ir. King himself farms 1100 acres (and has done so for many years) under Downing College ; he pays for his labour about 18/. a-week ; he considers that, in bad times, it is necessary to the interest of the farmer to grow the more corn, if he can find the money to do it Avith. Mr. King is much confirmed in this account by the universal complaint in this part of the country, that substantial tenants can- not be found at the lowest assignable rents. I subjoin a few facts on this subject, which have fallen under my personal observation. The parish of Hatley St. George in this neighbourhood con- sists of iOOO acres ; there are only fifteen labourers in the parish, whereof seven able-bodied men are now employed with parish pay upon the roads. Mr. Ingle, the overseer, my informant, occupies himself 306 acres, and has in vain attempted to bring the other three occupiers to an agreement to share the labourers according to the number of acres. The great objection here, as in Gamlingay, was to the Saturday-night payments. Very re- spectable occupiers of land find it necessary in these times to take a great part of the manual labour upon themselves, assisted by their sons. Mr. Quintin, of Hatley St. George, proprietor of a great part of that parish, and a gentleman of considerable landed property in the county, tells me, that he has a farm situate in Little Gransden for which he cannot get a tenant. It has been thrown upon his hands for two years past ; he is willing to let it on a short lease for 5s. an acre ; that it is land from which he has himself obtained, during the war, from twenty to thirty bushels of wheat per acre. Downing college has a property of about 5000 acres in this country, lying principally in the parishes of Tadlow, East Hatley, Crovdon, and Gamlingay. It is found impossible, notwithstand- ing the lowering of the rents to an extreme point, to obtain men of substance for tenants. Several farms of considerable extent have changed hands within the last five years, from insolvency of the tenant in some cases ; in others from the terror of that pro- spect. The amount of arrears at this present time is such as only a collegiate body, situated as Downing college is, could bear. The estates are large, a[)plicable, for the present, in part to the college stipends, in part to a building fund ; the latter, of course, suffers. I draw from authentic sources in this case, being myself a fellow of the college. from Camhrldgeshire. 135 The answer given by IMr. Withers ofWimpole, land-agent to Lord Hardwick, to query 28, No. 2, of the Commissioners' que- ries, deserves attention on this subject. He says, " Diminishing rapidly (s{)eaking of farming capital). A great dealer in artificial manures (such as oil-cake, dust, bone-dust, malt-dust, &c.) told me lately, that the farmers in Cambridgeshire purchased of him no more than 2000/. worth of such manure last year, (1831,) whereas the usual annual amount has been 4000L ; consequently the soil must deteriorate." The deficiency of agricultural capital, arising from Avhatever causes, is no doubt one great cause of the present extended pau- perism ; it is also certain that in a very great degree that defi- ciency of capital is itself reacted upon and aggravated by the evil it assists in producing ; and where this latter effect has resulted to any great extent, it is difficult to conceive how, under the most favourable circumstances, capital can he well reclaimed into the channel it has deserted, — those impediments remaining unabated which drove it from its course. A vital change in the poor-law system must precede, in such cases, the return to a sound state of agricultural speculation, INCLOSURES. The Commissioners must be familiar with the two principal obstacles which oppose themselves to the obtaining acts of inclo- sure, in those parishes which would receive very great benefit from the adoption of such a measure, viz. the great addition which the expense of obtaining the act makes to the other considerable expenses of the inclosure, and the difficulty of arranging satis- factorily to all parties with respect to the tithes. I shall there- fore only say upon this subject, that in the several parishes so situated in which I have made the inquiry, uniformly these two obstacles have been put forth as impeding the arrangement. I can mention Shelford, Melbourn, Gransden, Gamlingay as places so situated, in which I have locally received this information ; and I believe it to be equally true of a vast number of parishes within the county of Cambridge *. On this head, the parish of Gamlingay already described as * Dr. Webb, himself a great promoter of inclosures, effected on behalf of the college a rescue of the tithes in the case of Littlington above-mentioned. Again, at Duxford, a parish in this county, inclosed some years since, the struggle about the tithes is said to have been very severe. They were owned in part by Clare Hall, and partly by another college in Cambridge ; the other proprietors were obhged at last to yield the point ; but such was the spite against the tithe-owners, that instead of assigning them, as they wished, separate divisions of the parish, they have compelled them to take each their moiety from every individual field. 136 Mr, Power's Report containing, out of 4080 acres, 1880 acres uninclosed arable land, and 700 acres of waste, deserves further remark. 1 have no doubt, and, in so saying, 1 am giving effect to better opinions than my own on this subject, that the present miserable condition of this village is owing, in great measure, to the want of a sufficiently interested or a sufficiently wise proprietorship of the land. It is shared, with a slight exception, between the colleges of Clare-hall and Downing, Cambridge, and Merton college, Oxford. The first of these has a small proportion, — the last by much the greatest part of the ownership, besides the manor and the tithes. With respect to the proportion now enjoyed by Downing college, the ownership remained in abeyance for many years during a chancery suit, in which the heir-at-law contested his right. At this period I am told that great part of the mischief accrued. The objec- tions entertained by Merton College to an inclosure of the parish, as stated by them very lately in answer to a general proposition to that effect, are grounded on these two reasons : — 1. '' The general expenses of the inclosure, and the improba- " bility of a return for the outlay. 2. " An unwillingness to abridge the little benefits which the "poor parishioners derive from the waste land in its present "state." As to the first objection, better judges, probably, than the fel- lows of Merton college, assure me that it is far from being justified by the circumstances or the character of the land : as to the second, they are probably at too great a distance from the spot to know, that at some seasons of the year there are 100 labourers out of employ, and that the average throughout the year is more than 40 ; a mischief arising in great measure from "the little benefits " which the poor parishioners derive from the waste land in its " present state ;"* and a mischief which the inclosure would for a certain time almost altogether remove, and diminish permanently to a very great degree. SITUATION OF THE RURAL PARISH-OFFICERS. The tone assumed by the paupers towards those who dispense relief in the oppressed agricultural districts is generally very inso- lent, and often assumes even a more fearful character. At Great Gransden, the overseer's wife told me that two days before my visit there, two paupers came to her husband, demanding an in- crease of allowance. He refused them, showing at the same time that they had the full allowance sanctioned by the magistrates' scale. They swore, and threatened he should repent it; and such * This is true twice over : the liUle l)cnefits brmiglit thein there, (as is seen bcibrc,) and they arc tou little to do them any good, couipurcd with the effect of an inclosure. from Cambridgeshire. 137 was the violence of their temper and demeanour, that when they left the house she ran after them, and called them back, fearing they would do some mischief, and prevailed upon her husband to make some further allowance. Mr. Faircloth came about two years since into the occupation of a farm in the parish of Croydon, where the rates amount (in- cluding surveyor's rate) to about five shillings in the pound. He immediately took on himself the parochial management, and partly by adopting a stricter system of relief, and partly by the additional employment, which, being a man of capital, he intro- duced into the parish, he reduced the rates from 435/. in the year ending March, 1831, to 342/, in the year ending March, 1832, being a saving of nearly 100/. His improved management, how- ever, of the relief^ made him very unpopular amongst the labourers of the parish, into which he was introducing employment in the place of pauperism ; and a few weeks after last harvest, they gathered in a riotous body about a threshing-machine which he had upon his premises, and broke it all in pieces. The Rev. Mr. Dawes was on the spot a short time after ; and before the party had dispersed, he tells me he heard the following expressions : — " It's almost as good as a lire !" " He's not going to lord it over us any longer^!" and similar demonstra- tions of personal resentment to Faircloth for his conduct as overseer. At Guilden Morden,* in the same neighbourhood, a burning took place three weeks ago of Mr. Butterfield's stacks, to the amount of 1500/. damage. Mr. Butterfield was overseer ; and the magistrates havQ committed for trial, on strong circumstantial evidence, a man to whom Butterfield had constantly denied re- lief, because he refused to do work for it. The evidence against him partly consists of previous threatening language and his be- haviour during the fire, at which he exulted, saying, " Butter- field ought to be in it." A fire occurred about six weeks since at SwafFham, on the other side of Cambridge, in the direction of Newmarket. Messrs. EUice, Gibbons, and Chambers, the principal occupiers appointed to meet together for the purpose of coming to a joint resolution to reduce the wages to 9s. instead of 10s., at which point they had been artificially maintained since the harvest. The object of this meeting having transpired, a threatening letter was sent them ; and on the morning of the day on which they were to have met, Mr. Gibbons' ricks were set fire to and consumed. * There was a fire at this place in November, 1831, on a Mr. Westropp's premises. There was no clue to the motive, further than the circmnistance that he paid low wages. 138 Mr. Power's Report I have found, and it is not to be wondered at, that the appre- hension of this dreadful and easily perpetrated mischief has very generally affected the minds of the rural parish officers of this county, making the power of the paupers over the funds pro- vided for their relief almost absolute, as regards any discretion on the part of the overseer. LINTON. Gamlixgay, oppressed and ill-managed as it is, is not the vorst place in the county. At Linton the rates press more heavily on the rental, and the administration is, if possible, worse. The two cases, however, present very distinct, and even opposite, features. Instead of an impoverished race of farmers, as at Gam- lingay. screwing down a miserable, ill-lodged, and ill- fed popula- tion to the very letter of the bread -scale, and with difficulty pro- ducing their rates at fourteen instalments in the, year, we find at Linton a substantial set of farmers, giving a fair degree of culti- vation to the land, producing their four shillings in the pound (like rent) four times a year, for the purpose of maintaining, to the extent of just one shilling above the incomes laid down in the bread-scale, the best fed and most comfortable and thriving population of paupers in the county of Cambridge. I had only been half prepared for this the day before at Fulbourn, where they keep their parish-pay at GcZ. above the bread-scale in all its departments. The recommendation of the magistrate is pleaded, but there is no new scale. Some considerate landlords must be suffering for this. The present population of Linton is 1678. The assessment in 1815 was 3,120/. The whole number of acres is 3,600, of which 600 are inclosed and the rest open field. The following is a copy of their balance-sheet for the year ending March, 1832. DISBURSEMENT. £. s. d. 1. Relief to aj^ed, impotent, and Widows ... 793 2 2. Paupers working for parish527 6 3. Medical attendance, fune- rals, vent, &c. . . .107 C 4. Occasional & casual poor 688 1 7 5. Tools, materials, clothing, 2121 fuel, food, &c. ... 108 18 6. Law expenses, orders, &c. 65 2 7. Bastardy expenses . . 63 6 8. Count}' rate .... 41 5 Constable's expenses, &c. 12 1 Militia I 18 RECEIPT SIDE. £. s. d. Rates during the year, viz., 4 rates at As. in the pound 2108 7 4 For work done by paupers By re-payment of loan . . 18 Recovered for bastards . . 8 17 For rent 3 2 6 114 10 9 2i 1 8 Deduct 2428 13 11 2121 Balance due to overseer . 307 13 11 from Cambridgeshire. 139 With respect to Item 1, I can only say, that its amount is monstrous, and utterly unaccountable, in a population of 1678 persons, except from what has been already remarked on the pro- fuseness of the relief. I am possessed of some explanation of Item 2. There is no return from it on the receipt side, the only employment alluded to havin": been bestowed on the roads, which for some years have been in a state of excellent repair, and therefore little work wanted. About three years since, at the suggestion of Mr. Fisher, the very amiable and intelligent rector of the parish, spade cultivation has been tried on some of the private farms. About 10(J acres a-year have been since dug in this manner. The farmer pays Id. a rod ; this, although 13*.-. an acre instead of 10.9., the cost of ploughing, is no loss to him, except that his horses are idle : the parish pay the pauper 2d. per rod for the work, if a single man; if a married one, 2^d. or 3d. according to his necessity. The officer told me that 70/. a-year was thus got by the parish from the farmer in aid of the rate ; but although it fur- nished severe employment, and thus drove away many a[)plicants, it did not produce in any other way a saving to the parish ; for that the single labourer would earn more than his Is. a-day by this work, and they always gave him a greater allowance than "when doing nothing on the road ; and even thus it was often necessary to stop him, lest he should earn too much. Then Avhy not put it to him at Ihd. per rod ? The answer to this question, by a person who paid 391/. for rates last year, was given with great naivete — "^ Well, Sir, there is something in that to be sure ! " The 70/. above-mentioned is not made a part of Item 1. A further fact is, that of sixty men now unemployed, a smaller portion only are agricultural labourers ; the remainder are artizans, labouring mechanics, &c., Linton being the emporium of the local trade of this part of the country. These men earn through- out a great part of the year from iSs. to 1/. Is. a week, and in winter regularly fall upon the rates. They detest the spade labour; and it is obvious, that were relief given to them only through that, and at low wages, they would save their earnings for the winter season. The excuse made, however, for not ])ressinii: them in this way is, that they are a desperate set, and would not bear it, and would not mind what they did. They have, in- deed, given some tokens of deserving this character. In 1830 two men were hanged for burning the stacks of Mr. Chalk. It was in evidence on the trial, among other things, that they had uttered threats against Mr. Chalk, for some offence given them by him in vestry. The outrage committed, about three weeks since, in the streets of Linton, upon the persons of Lord Godolphin and 140 Mr, Henry Stuart's Report Mr. Adeane, acting there as magistrates, is probably known to the commissioners. Mr. Adeane's hfe has been only within these few days considered out of danger. The same remark applies to Item 4 which I have made on Item 1, with this addition, that the farming wages for all per- sons here are 9.s. ; and that a great part of this item goes indi- rectly in aid of these, that is to support their families, or " make up their incomes," as the magistrates express it. I have the honour to be. My Lords and Gentlemen, Your obedient servant, Alfred Power. My Lords and Gentlemen, Dec. 12, 1832. In compliance with your request, communicated to me by your Secretary on the 4th instant, to be furnished with a detailed account of the administration and practical operation of the Poor- Laws in some of the parishes 1 have visited, for the information of Lord Melbourne, I have now the honour to send you a par- ticular account of four parishes in which the poor-rate is admi- nistered entirely by the parochial authorities, and of an incorpo- ration of forty-six parishes, where it is controlled by a Board of Directors and Guardians, The administration of the Poor-Laws by corporate bodies pre- vails to a considerable extent in the county of ISuftblk, and seems to me to be attended with advantages which deserve attention. 1 have the honour to be. My Lords and Gentlemen, Your faithful and obedient servant, Henry Stuart. To the Commissioners for Inquiring into the Administration and Practical Operation of the Poor-Laws. SUFFOLK. FRISTON PARISH, IN PLOMESGATE HUNDRED. Acres, 1500. Population, 1831, 466. Expenditure on Poor, 1829, 607^., and since increasing. TiiK rale-payers of this parish devolve the whole administration of the poor-laws on an assistant overseer. The vestry is so ill attended, that when a meeting is called to make a rate, it fre- from Suffolk. 141 quently happens thai no more are present than the churchwarden and assistant overseer. The annual meeting for electing parish officers and auditing accounts is better attended ; but the vestry take no active interest in the affairs of the parish. There is no resident clergyman or gentleman, and divine ser- vice is only performed once a fortnight by a curate who lives some miles off. The only school in the parish is a Sunday school belonging to a dissenting chapel. The assistant overseer was appointed merely to save trouble ; and as he is not backed by the authority of a vestry, he admits that his services are of little avail towards the good management of the poor. He is a blacksmith, and seems to be a man of good sense; but the qualities which chiefly recommended him for the office are, great personal strength and undaunted resolution. He collects the rate, and disburses it without either assistance or control. Relief to those who are out of work or who are unable to work is administered according to a scale, which is understood to be sanctioned by the magistrates ; and the amount in money varies with the price of flour. The scale in use, when 1 was in the parish, allowed to s. d. A single man, per week . . 4 Man and wife . . . .56 And for each child under 14 . . 10 When above that age they have 3s. a week on their own account till they come to be considered men. Whenever a lad comes to earn wages or to receive parish relief on his own account, although he may continue to lodge with his parents, he does not throw his money into a common purse and board with them, but buys his own loaf and piece of bacon, which he devours alone. The most disgraceful quarrels arise from mutual accusations of theft ; and as the child knows he has been nurtured at the cost of the parish, he has no filial attachment to his parents. To men who have work an allowance of Is. per week is made for each child over three ; but where the man is understood to be earning good wages, it is attempted to avoid this payment. The rate of wages in the parish is 1.9. 8c/. when employed by the day, and a stout and willing labourer may earn 2s. 4:d. at piece-work. The women and children are sometimes employed by the farmer, but more frequently they are hired by men, who contract for hoeing wheat and such work at a price per acre, which is considerably under what a labourer could undertake it for. These contractors give constant attention to their gangs, and some have accumulated money. 142 Mr. Henry StuarVs Report In administerino; relief an attempt is made to ascertain the amount of the applicants' earnings, but no attention -whatever is paid to character. Although the assistant overseer is a man of courage, yet he admits that relief is frequently given under the feai% that if it was refused it might expose his person or property to secret injury. No labour whatever is required in return for relief. There is a poor-house, with about two acres of land attached to it, which is given to a man with a large family for the purpose of keeping him off the parish. He is bound to receive any one that may be sent to it^ and is paid 3.s. a week for the maintenance of each. The only inmate is an old man who is a cripple. The rent of cottages is occasionally ])aid by the parish, and the rates are not collected on cottages occupied by labourers. There are a few labourers who still own the cottages in which they live; formerly, there was a great number who had grants of land on the common, but they have gradually parted with them for the purpose of completing their title to the parish fund, and have sunk down to pauperism. Before the importance of keep- ing off settlements was known, a great many were made by hiring and service by farmers, who employed labourers from adjoining parishes. The pressure of the poor-rate is ascribed to an excess of popu- lation, and to the want of sufficient capital, preventing the farmer employing so many men in cultivation as is required, aggravated by negligence in attending to parish aflkirs. 1 was informed by the principal farmer, that he had frequently attempted to rouse his neighbours to a sense of the necessity of taking a part in the business of the parish, but with so little success, that he had given it up in despair. The population have the character of being the greatest poachers in the neighbourhood ; and being near the preserves of several noblemen, they have every opportunity of carrying on their depredations ; which they j)ursue without any fear of being ex- posed to want, as they are always sure of maintenance from the pai-ish or in jail. STRADBROKE PARISH, HOXNE HUNDRED. Acres, 3000. Population, 1831, 1527. Expenditure on Poor, 1629, 2020/. 16.s-. and since then increasing, Therk are only two farms in this parish so large as 160 acres. A great prof)Ortion of the land is in the hands of small occupiers of from 50 down to 10 acres, many of whom are owners of the farms which they cultivate. » from Siiffolh. 143 The vestry does not take any efficient part in the managenient of the poor, neither do they appoint any committee for that purpose. The clergyman of the parish is resident, but there is no landed gentleman within the hundred who lives on his estate. There is n endowed school in the parish for the education of seventeen boys. The master also receives scholars who pay fees, but very few come to him. The rector has frequently endeavoured to unite the parishioners in some plan for the employment of those out of work, either by distributing them among the occupiers, or by hiring land on which to set them to work ; but, although when assembled in vestry no opjjosition was made to the proposal, and the advantages which might be expected to result from it were fully admitted, yet, after using his best exertions, he has never been able to carry any plan into execution. The administration of the poor-rate rests entirely with the parish officers, who have the assistance of a clerk in keeping the accounts. The relief given to the aged, the infirm, and otherwise help- less, who are considered constant pensioners, is paid at the village sho[)s. This mode of payment is preferred by the paupers, as it gives them credit for any little necessaries which they may require before the pay-day comes round. The parish officers declare that they are are always ready to protect them from any imposition which may be attempted; and 1 could not learn that the system "Was considered objectionable. The relief to those out of employment, or Avho are suffering from sickness or any other casualty, is distributed every Satiuday morning by the overseers and churchwardens. It is regulated by a scale which allows the value of a stone of flour each to husband antl wife, half a stone for each child, and 6ri. a head for other necessaries to the parents, and 'Sd. a head to the children. The practice of taking flour as the standard for ascertaining the sum required for maintenance, completes the degradation to which compulsory relief has brought the lower orders, as the price of all the other necessaries of life does not invaririably follow the price of that article. At this time it ha[)pens that the reduction in the amount of allowance, which followed the fall in the price of flour, has abridged the comforts of those who depend on parish relief. The pauper, therefore, does not, and cannot thank God for an abundant harvest, although he may be ordered to do so. It is the practice to deduct any earnings, which can be ascer- tained, from the allowance. Sucn deductions do not apjiear to be regulated by the sum earned, but by the number of days on which work has been obtained. A case was mentioned to rae, of 144 Mr. Henry Stuart's Report nine men who had been able to earn 15.9. each by task work in three days, who came to the parish for the other three days of the "vveek during whicli they had no employment. The overseer being aware of the profitable work in which they had been engaged, offered ].?. a day for the lost days instead of Is. 6d., which would have been their allowance according to the scale. This the men re- jected, and left the work which they then had, and went to a magis- trate to complain. The magistrate did not make an absolute order, but sent an open note by the complainants, appealing to the hu- manity of the overseer, and recommending a favourable consi- deration of the case. The men being acquainted with the con- tents of the note, backed the recommendation of the magistrate with such threats of violence, as induced the overseer to pay the demand through bodily fear. Besides relief in money, it is common to give shoes and other articles of clothing to those who require them. There is a poor-house belonging to the parish : the number of inmates averages about thirty ; no work is carried on in it, and it is merely a receptacle for the aged, the orphan, and bastard chil- dren, and for others who are without a home. Although the parishioners do not take any general interest in the management of the poor fund, they are constantly complaining of the amount of the rates. The parish officers, for the purpose of exonerating themselves from all suspicion of malversation, have for the last two years published quarterly a detailed account of their disbursements ; with the names of those who have received relief within that period, distinguishing the cause for which it is administered. From the account for the quarter 17th March to 17th June, 1832, it appears that there was disbursed within that period, £. s. (I. On account of sickness and other misfortunes, requiring temporary assistance . . . . , . 65 12 2 For the permanent list of the aged, and otherwise impotent 118 3 1^ For unemployed labour ...... 328 18 4 512 13 71 The total number of names on the list among whom the above sum was distributed, is . . . . . . , . 212 The number of cliildrcn ....... 327 Of the 212 lliere appear to be 104 married men. Their wives , 104 Number of persons receiving relief G43 This does not include those in the poor-house, or the expense of maintaining them. from Suffolk. 145 The extent of pauperism in this parish is attributed to a super- abundant population ; the inconvenience of which would not be so much felt, were it not that deficient capital on the part of the farmer, together with the low price of agricultural produce, pre- vents the employment of so many labourers as the proper cultiva- tion of the soil requires. For the purpose of getting rid of a por- tion of the unemployed labourers, forty-six persons were induced to emigrate, in 1830, at the expense of the parish. Of these forty-six persons, fourteen were married, eight single, and twenty-four child- ren. This emigration has not, however, been sufficient to afford any perceptible relief; for so crowded was the population, that the cot- tages which were vacated by the emigrants Avere immediately tenanted by married persons who had lived doubled up in houses with other families. The accounts received from the emigrants express satisfaction at the change they have made; and the parish is endeavouring to raise means to send out others who are de- sirous to remove. Only one of the first party has come back. He is a man of a dissolute and abandoned character, who imme- diately returned to his station on the pauper roll. Besides the inconvenience produced by the superabundant popula- tion, there are other causes which contribute to increase the number of paupers, and to add to the amount of the ex- penditure. The circumstances of the small occupiers are described to be .such as to place them on the very verge of pauperism : besides, they all have relations who are absolutely in that state. Those who are in this condition do not hire labourers at the ordinary rate of wages, but obtain such labour as they require, on low terms, from those who are receiving parish relief This they conceive to be not only to their own advantage, but doing an act of kindness to their friends, as well as keeping up a system to the benefits of which they may soon be obliged to have recourse themselves. It is well known to the parish autho- rities, that underhand employment is given to a great extent ; and for the purpose of checking it, they oblige all who are out of work to show themselves daily at a fixed hour to the overseer. This, however, has no effect ; as leave of absence is very easily obtained to enable them to pass muster, and to receive the reward of their knavery from the parish. The poor-rate is considered by the lower orders as a fund in which they have an absolute property, and they do not scruple at artifice, fraud, or violence, to establish their right to it. This feeling contributes more than any other cause to the progressive increase of the poor-rate, and to the general demoralization which prevails in the lower ranks of society. It exists to a great extent in the parish of Stradbroke, to which the enormous and increasing expenditure on the poor bears witness. 146 Mr. Henry StuarVs Report WICKHAM MARKET, PARISH, WILFORD HUNDRED. Population, 1831, 1202. Expenditure on Poor, 1829, 543/. 7^. and since then increasing. The great road from London to Yarmouth passes through this parish — and although it is not a market town, yet, being centri- cally situated, it is a place of considerable resort — besides, a num- ber of the inhabitants have their settlements, and give their labour, in the adjoining parishes. There is a select vestry, and an assistant overseer, under the 59 Geo. 3. The vestry meets once a fortnight for the purpose of receiving applications for relief, and transacting other business connected with the administration of the poor fund. Regular minutes of their proceedings are kept, and entries are made of such circumstances as come to their knowledge as may be useful in regulating the allowances of those who are already in receipt of relief, or of those who may thereafter come to require it. These memoranda are found to be extremely serviceable. The assistant overseer pays the poor according to the orders of the select vestry, and any relief he may have administered on his own responsibility during the interval between the meetings of the vestry, is carefully inquired into at the next meeting. The certainty of this investi- gation keeps him constantly alive to his duties. The clergyman is resident, and takes an active and judicious part in the business of the parish. It has vmfortunately happened, that one of the inhabitants, who is a tradesman of property in the village, has taken umbrage at some of the proceedings or persons of those who compose the vestry, which he displays by creating disturbances at their meetings, which have become so unpleasant, that the clergyman and many of the most respectable members have withdrawn themselves from that regular attendance which they were in the habit of giving. If this continues, the worst con- sequences must result from it. There are no able-bodied labourers who receive parish relief ex- cept in cases of sickness, and some small occasional assistance which is given during winter to such as are getting advanced in life. There is a good understanding among the occupiers, who keep the labourers themselves, their wives, and children in constant employment. A sort ofagieement exists among them, that each shall employ a certain number of men, according to the extent of their occupations: this agreement is not very scrupulously adhered to ; but although some do not employ so many as they have en- gaged to do, yet sucli of their neighbours as are in a condition to employ more than the number allotted to them, contrive among from Suffolk. 147 them to find work for such labourers as would otherwise fall on the parish for support. This parish was formerly included in the incorporation of the hundreds of Loes and Wilford, which was dissolved about six years ago, and being then deprived of a workhouse, they have not found it expedient to build one for their own use. There are several cottages belonging to the parish, which are given rent free to old and infirm people ; and for those who cannot be accom- modated in this way, lodgings are provided, or board and wash- ing is found for them. No complaints reached my ear in this parish of superabundant labour or deficient capital. The vigilant management which has been established is to some extent accounted for by the active part taken by one of the inhabitants, who, having been very for- ward in bringing about the disincorporation of the hundred, has exerted himself to prove, that the workhouse system has no effect in lightening the burthen of the poor rate, or in bettering the condition of the lower orders. This man possesses energy and judgment, and by his influence with his neighbours, the affairs of the parish are conducted advantageously to the rate-payers and beneficially for the poor. Within the last two years the expenditure on the poor has in- creased. This is accounted for by the typhus fever having carried off a great number of people, which not only occasioned a great immediate expense, but has left many widows and orphan children chargeable to the parish, Avho will continue a burthen for some years to come. Before this load is removed another similar casual affliction may occur and prevent its being diminished, or it may even add to its weight. Even when the ruinous practice of giving relief to the able-bodied from the parish funds is avoided, by the rate-payers keeping them in employment, the most exten- sive evils arise from the certainty of support which the poor-laws afford, when sickness or old age come on. The dependence which all have on that provision does away with the necessity of providing by their own industry and management for a season of calamity, and the parish is exposed to demands which can neither be foreseen nor prevented. LITTLE LIVERMERE, BLACKBOURNE HUNDRED. Population, 1831, 1S5. Expenditure on Poor, 1829, 209^. 10s. This parish is the property of one gentleman, and is farmed by one tenant, who concentrates in himself all the powers of vestry, churchwarden, and overseer. l2 148 Mr. Henry Stuart's- Report The system of bread allowance prevails in all the surrounding parishes, -which, at the present price of flour, >» 5> >» >> »> >» »> 5> »» »> »> s. d. 2 8 160 Mr. C. P. VilUers-s Report In this year a select vestry was established, and a paid over- seer appointed. The vestry elected a permanent chairman ; a governor and matron were appointed to the workhouse, and, in cases of orders made by the magistrates in opposition to the judg- ment of the vestrv, relief was only jjiven in the house. The meetings of the vestry have been weekly, and the attendance of the members and chairman peculiarly regular. The result of their vigilance \m\\ be seen by the following statement: — POOR RATES. Year end ing at Lad Y Day, 1821 1822 1823 1824 1825 1826 1827 1828 1829 £. s. d. 1647 3 7 1420 17 9 1155 17 1 1043 8 2 1026 14 6 1035 11 6 1000 7 10 1046 4 911 19 2 An increase of the rates observed in the returns for the years 1S30 and 1831, was attributed by the chairman to unusual sick- ness and distress, occasioned by a typhus fever. There has not been any charge of cruelty or oppression against the select vestry or the overseer. In this borough, a paid officer of police was appointed in the year 1820, whose services are found extremely useful. The labourers bore a good character: there were riots in the neighbourhood, but not a man from this borough was suspected. Population, 3488. This borough is the only place in the division not subject to the jurisdiction of the county magistrates, and the only one where it is said the rate-payers are not dissatisfied. As illustrative of the mode in which the poor-law is admi- nistered in this division, a case was mentioned of a magistrate reproaching an overseer, the father of the witness, for his folly in not relieving a worthless fellow who had summoned him, as, from the nature of his character, he might fire his stacks! As ihustrating the opinion which prevails of the mode of dispensing relief in this division, my attention was requested to an applica- tion being then made to an overseer of one parish. The ap- plicant, a strong, able man, aged thirty, who had walked from Birmingham in the morning, stated the times to be so hard that he could not live — he wanted some assistance from the parish. On being asked as to his intentions if this was granted, he ex- pressed his desire to become a " green-grocer." On being further from WarwichUre — Worcestershire. 161 questioned as to his views if it was refused, he stated the necessity he should be under of coming entirely upon the parish, and bringing his mother with him. The accommodation was refused, on the ground of its having been discovered, two days only before, that his mother, who had been receiving Is. a week for the whole year from the parish, had an elder son, who had a good house, a coal wharf, and several men in his employ at Birmintrham. WORCESTERSHIRE. OLD SWINFORD. This parish is managed by a select vestry. The governor of the workhouse receives a salary and is required to pay the poor. The attendance of the vestry is extremely irregular. The accounts were in great confusion, the workhouse was in a filthy state, and little order or discipline maintained. There had been a case of affiliation by one of the inmates on the day upon which the house was inspected. A debt of 700/. was then due from putative fathers; sixty-seven bastards were on the books; one woman had borne seven, and had received pay for each. The parish itself was in debt to the amount of 500/., the residue of a debt of 1100/. The rates are not collected from between two and three hun- dred cottages, which belong to the manufacturers, who stop the rent out of the wages of their men who occupy them. A gentleman in this neighbourhood had lent the overseer, who had not the means of paying the poor, between three and four hundred pounds, to prevent his distraining upon these cottages, as the occupiers would then have thrown themselves entirely upon the parish). Rents are also occasionally paid, to prevent this. It has been the practice here to relieve men with families, with- out inquiring into the amount of their earnings, and not to refuse relief unless they were shown to exceed 25s. a week. The people are chiefly engaged in the manufacture of nails. A large family is considered to be a source of profit. Women object to marry till they are pregnant. If the trade is good, there is em- ployment for women and children ; if bad, they are supported by the parish. The trade not having of late been good, a man had deserted his family, consisting of a wife and nine children ; the place of his resort was known, but it was considered better eco- M 162 Mr. C. P. Villiers's Report nomy not to bring him home and punish him, as the parish would, in either case, have to support the family. The character of a large portion of these people is noto- rious in the neighbourhood, and it appeared that no person, either vestryman or county magistrate, would venture to take an active part in the control of the parish. The annual expenditure for the poor in the parish, from what could be collected from the books, and from other evidence, must amount to, if not exceed, 2000/. The condition of the people is said to be deteriorating. Annual value of the property in 1815 . . ^£5514 Population iu 1801, 3766 ; in 1831, 6490. KIDDERMINSTER. The mode in which the affairs of this populous parish are ad- ministered will best appear by the following extracts from a re- port drawn up and published by a committee, appointed by a vestry, to inquire into the management of the poor, and the ex- penditure of the money raised for their relief, dated 6th April, 1832 :— '* The committee attended at the pay-table at the poor-house several successive weeks, and the result of their observation was a discovery of various instances of imposition : — first, pensioners re- ceiving 35. Qd. a week, to whom the overseer had thought it right to refuse relief, subsequently received, by virtue of an order of ma- gistrates, 2s. (^d. a week from the' ])arish, making, with their pen- sions, 6.S. a week, whilst to paupers in likecuxumstances as to age, health, and number of family, the total amount of weekly relief was only 3.s. 6c/. ; secondly, instances occurred of relief intended for a family having been given to (he head of it: one, two, and, in one case, three members of that family applied for relief them- selves, at different times of the same day, and obtained it ; thirdly, persons representing themselves as having no employ- ment, when on inquiry they had full em[)loyment at that time. " The committee next directed their attention to the books and accounts. The year fixed upon was from that ending Lady- day, 1830, to that ending Lady-day, 1831. It appeared that the whole property rated for the relief of the poor, consisted of 2826 houses, ivhiht 525 only paid rates ; the remaining 2o01, which ought to have produced a sum not less than 2383/., had in fact paid nothing ; that thereby one-third of the value of the proj)erty rateable is exempted, to the manifest injury of those persons upon whom a grievous burden is made to fall ; and further, upon from Worcestershire. 1G3 careful comparison of the assessment upon different productive properties, it appears that such properties are unequally assessed. " The committee next examined into the management of the poor-house, and ^vere here struck with an allowance made to pau- pers in the house of twenty-five per cent, upon their earnings, thereby, with their food and clothing, placing them in a better si- tuation than the independent poor; moreover, the earnings of pau- pers were not regularly accounted for. That land, which had been purchased some years since by the parish, contiguous to the house, had been cultivated by the plough and the expense of team hire, instead of the spade, notwithstanding the difficulty of finding employment for paupers ; that private advantage had been derived by the governess of the workhouse by keeping fowls and making carpets ; that a practice, which appeared of long standing, prevailed, of paupers disposing of portions of their food, in order to spend the money at the ale-house ; that the expense per head in the house was 3s. \d., not including the produce of the land, and after deducting their earnings and various items sold; that the weekly relief to paupers in the parish was 3128^. VSs. *dd. ; that upon questioning the governess as to the admis- sion of paupers in the house, her answer was, ' that if the circumstances of the in-door paupers were examined closely, the result would be that at least forty would be turned out ;' that the paupers were not kept in regular employment. '^ That a practice had obtained of labourers being engaged at half or even one-third of the usual rate of wages, upon an under- standing with their employers that the difference Avould be made up to them from the parochial funds. " With a view to prevent some of such practices in future, the committee beg to recommend that the magistrates be respect- fully requested to take into consideration the propriety of not ordering such relief to pensioners as shall place them in a better situation than paupers in equal necessity ; that overseers be re- quested to deliver relief to the heads only of families ; thirdly, that the manufacturers be earnestly requested to inform them- selves as to the necessities of their workmen. But, without the slightest reflection upon any individual, the committee beg to state, that without an extensive superintendence beyond what any overseer can give, practices of injurious tendency will take place, and needless expenditure be incurred ; and should the great pro- portion already stated, of the property of the borough, which is at present wholly unproductive, continue so, the committee are decidedly of opinion that many of those ivho have hitherto paid rates ivill be compelled to leave tlic town, or become paupers them-' selves. M 2 164 Mr. C. P. ViUiers's Report " For the above reasons, the committee earnestly recommend the appointment of a select vestry, under theSOth Geo. ill. The committee have reason to doubt the necessity for a standing overseer. '^ The committee have taken into consideration the propriety of making a new assessment, and an application to parliament to regulate the affairs of the ])Oor, but as this would cause much delay and expense, they think it best not to advise either until the select vestry shall have been tried." Previously to this inquiry, the parish had been managed by an assistant overseer, with a salary, subject to the jurisdiction of the borough magistrates. One of these authorities was a linen-draper, having considerable property in small houses ; the other a manu- facturer of bombasin and carpet, having many workmen in his employment. The workhouse is capable of holding 300 persons ; about 135 are inmates at present, apparently subject to little restraint, and without any classification : one woman, living in the house with her husband, was observed far advanced in pregnancy, and had borne other children there. A select vestry has since been appointed. The overseer, who is an vipholsterer, stated the disbursements^ since his appointment, have amounted to 100^. a week out-pay, exclusive of the house and other expenses, and the whole annual expenditure would nearly reach 10,000/. Value in 1815 . . .£13,960. Population 1801 . . 6110 1811 .. . 80.38 1831 . . . 14,981 The population is chieflv employed in weaving carpets, and they have heretofore earned high wages ; the increase of their numbers and their general improvidence have occasioned a great fall in wages, and much distress. BENGEWORTH, SAINT PETER, EVESHAM. In the year 1815 the parish adopted the provisions of the 22d Geo. III. 'i'hree guardians and a visitor were ap[)ointed, and also a governor to the workhouse. The overseers only collected the rates. No relief was given without the sanction of a guar- dian. One of the guardians, elected in 1815, was continued in office for fifteen years. This gentleman united in himself the several offices of magistrate, guardian of the poor, surveyor of roads, assessor of from Gloucestershire. 165 taxes, and was besides a medical man. He resided in the parish, and was constant in his attendance at the meetings. He became acquainted Avith the circumstances and character of the poor. His various offices enabled him to detect as well as to punish frauds whenever they occurred, and thereby prevented many from being attempted. He was re-elected guardian each year, and was uninterrupted by his colleagues in the execution of his duties. The following reduction in the rates is said to have resulted from his management : — Amount of Rates, for the Year ending Lady-day, 1812 . ., „ loio . 1814 . 1815 . „ „ 1816 . 1817 . Gradual reduction until the year 1824, when it was 1824 . A variation in amounts until the year 1830, when it was 1830 In the year 1800 the amount of the rate was 35U. 65. lOd. Population, 1801 . . 672 | Population, 1831 . . 965. The utmost number of inmates in the worlihouse has been eighteen, the least twelve. They have been fed, clothed, washed for, physicked, and kept warm for six hundred and fourteen weeks, at 26'. b^d. a head per week. £. s. d. 547 5 H 649 19 I 797 19 8 703 6 8 508 2 2 456 340 304 1 7 GLOUCESTERSHIRE. STOW-ON-THE-WOLD. This parish has no land attached to it. The poor are managed by the overseers, annually elected, and the accounts are said to be inspected at an open vestry. Able-bodied labourers apply here to the overseer for employ- ment, who is unable to provide any. They are then sent round to the householders to emjiloy them, at the Avages they choose to give, and if insufficient, the difference is made up out of the rates. Others are paid 2s. 6d. or 3s, a week, no work being required of them. Others obtain work in the neighbouring parishes, and 166 Mr. C. P. Villierss Report apply to the overseer for relief, who has no means of ascer- taining their earnings. Single men only are refused. People recently married are sometimes relieved, and also upon the birth of their first child. An instance was mentioned of a man who had lately lost all his children, saying publicly, that it was a sad thing for him, as he had lost his parish pay, and that^ had all his children lived, he should have been well to do. The establishment of a w'orkhouse, desired by some of the in- habitants, is successfully opposed by some of the tradespeople, who let houses for the use of the poor. Riots and destruction of property were carried to great lengths in this neighbourhood. Some of the magistrates raised their scale of relief upon this occasion, and went round themselves to the farmers, to insist upon their giving higher wages, and making larger allowances to men with families. The influence of the magistrates' interference on the conduct of the paupers is much complained of. The following returns show the prospects of the parish : — Amount of Rates for the Year ending Lady-day, 1826 . 1828 . 1829 The only return received from the parish oflicer was for the year ending Lady-day, 1832, which was 500^. Annual value of the property in 1815, 687/. Population, 1240. £. s. d. 366 13 417 19 418 14 472 9 DEVONSHIRE. HARTLAND. Population . . . 2193, chiefly ap,TiculturaI. Annual value of property in 1815, 9091/. This parish is managed by twenty-four persons, who style them- selves the " Elders :" they are self-elected. They take the oflice of overseer in turn, and appoint some of their own body to keep the accounts, which are allowed annually by the magistrates They meet once in the beginning of the month, and dine at the parish expense, asking friends to dine with them. Some time after dnnier, the paupers who cannot get work are brought in one by one, are put up to auction, and the elders bid according to the from Devonshire, i67 value they fix upon them, the difference Avith what is necessary for their subsistence being made up from the rates. The soil is poor in this parish, and some land is gone out of cultivation. The chief employment for the surplus population is on the roads ; the magistrates order the paupers to be paid at the same rate as other labourers : they do not seek for work out of the parish. The rates here are levied by the " elders," and the inequality of the assessment is much complained of. One property, worth 20,000/., is said to be exempted altogether, which is ascribed to the influence of the proprietor with the ''elders ;" while their own properties are also unfairly rated. Those who complain are afraid of appealing against the rate, on account of the expense, and of making enemies in the parish. Some of the small farmers have lately emigrated, and settled in Upper Canada. NORTH MOLTON. This is the largest parish in the northern division of Devon, comprising an extent of 19,000 acres, principally pasture land. The population in 1831, 1937, chiefly agricultural. It is managed by the overseers annually chosen, and by one with a small salary. The ticket system, allowances for children, and relief of dif- ferent kinds to men in the employment of individuals, have long obtained here. In the commencement of this winter the farmers sent back all the men who had been billeted upon them by the overseer, stating that they could not afford to employ them, and the overseer, upon two occasions lately, has been unable to pay the poor, in conse- quence of the rates not being collected. An agreement has, however, been entered into between the parish and the farmers, at a vestry holden for that purpose, for the latter to pay the billet men Id. a-head, and to take one for every 8/. of rent; the rest of their wages to be made up out of the rates ; and that this should be continued throughout the winter. The farmers used to pay a larger proportion of the wages. Much of the land in this parish is notoriously neglected, and the farmers state that their rates are so heavy that they have not the means to cultivate it properly. Thq assessment is made on two-thirds of the actual value, 3997?. £. s. d. Rates ending Lady-day, 1828 . . 865 17 1829 . . 868 14 168 Mr. C. P. Villiers's Report. The fol- The average payment for every month during the last year has been 100/., making for a whole year, 1200/. The population m this parish is greatly redundant, lowing items appear in the monthly charge for October To Robert Gould's wife in child-bed Emanuel's, do. Catherine Nutt, extra trouble in child-bed Mary Bawdon, for delivering Ann Nutt Do. W. Bawdon's wife Ann Lewis, in child-bed Mary Bawdon, for delivery of Ann Lewis Ann Lewis and child .... Ann Loosemore's necessities Returned Billets .... Six heads, at 9s. each Monthly pay to John Allen and wife, aged and 49, (two children). . Monthly pay to Robert Blackford and wi aged eighty and seventy (infirm) Eighty persons, between the ages of 20 and 50, receive regular monthly pay, chieHy for children. Small farmers here are much disposed to emigrate. The bro- ther of the overseer, a farmer, had lately settled in America, and was prospering. The farms in this parish are generally small ; an answer in this case to the notion that large farms have occasioned pauperism. There were considerable riots in 1830 in this division of the county. £. s. d. 5 . 5 8 6 . 2 6 2 6 . 16 2 6 . 4 6 3 . 12 10 2 14 ';^'] 1 10 ^'■^'} 10 Mr. Wilson's Report from Durham. 1G9 My Lords and Gentlemen, In some parts of the district assigned me, the radical vice of the poor-law system has not hitherto shown itself in practical operation. In others, its existence is but indistinctly traceable. In all, its growth and development as yet bear no comparison with the height which it has reached in the southern counties. By radical vice, I wish to be understood to mean the maintenance of the able-bodied out of local, often inadequate, funds, whether or not administered on a regular allowance-system*. Compara- tive exemption from this evil in the northern counties has been imputed by some as a merit to their inhabitants. They ascribe it to good management. I ascribe it to good fortune. In the northern division of Northumberland, comparative thinness of population, attributable in some degree to the hinding system of hiring labourers — in the district of the Tyne and Wear, employ- ment given by collieries, &c. — in South Durham, indeed through- out the county, recent public works have deferred the evil day of pauper maintenance. Let any one of these causes cease to act in its present extent (and the last of them at least is of a manifestly precarious nature). What ensues? — The process of the southern counties — a process hitherto escaped in many places by mere accident — a process actually commenced in the southern part of this favoured region. I proceed to offer a few instances illustrative of these remarks. I have the honour to be, My Lords and Gentlemen, Your most obedient servant. Temple, January ISth, 1833. John Wilson. DURHAM. DARLINGTON. Darlington is the first place in which I have happened to find subsisting the provisions of the 22d Geo. III. c. 83, and in which the affairs of the township are administered by a visitor and * The township of Winlaton, near Newcastle, affords a strikins: instance of the intolerable burthens often thrown on narrow localities by casualties impossible to jjrovide against. The failure of tlie iron-works of Crowley, MiUington, and Co. in 1815, raised the rates in that township at once to IG*. in the pound on the rack-rent, while the adjacent townshijjs remained at 2*. or 3*. It also, in a manner, compelled the adoption of the allowance-system, which Winlaton township lias never since been able to throw oil". 170 Mr. Wilson's Report guardians, according to that act. It is the first place also in which I have found the allowance-system avowedly and regularly established. Allowances to able-bodied labourers in this township are gra- duated according to the numbers in their families ; and whenever the wages of any class of labourers (for example of the linen- weavers, who have latterly been the most distressed) fall below the amount appointed by this scale, the difference is made up, as a matter of course, by the parish. The scale awards 2s. a head a week to heads of families, and Is. (3c?. for each of the children under twelve years of age. This is the minimum of allowance paid by the parish in all cases. A further sum is occasionally granted to deserving objects ; and presents of sums of money are often made by the parish for special purposes. But I am now speaking only of the regular allowance. Suppose a single man to earn 2s. a week, he could put forward no claim to relief*. Sup- pose another, earning the same wages, but possessing besides a wife and six children. Then 2s. a head for himself and his wife, and is. ^d. a head for each of his children, give a total amount of 13s. weekly. In this second case the family-man has a recog- nized claim on the parish for an allowance of eleven shillings weekly, making up his earnings of two shillings by the above- mentioned graduated scale. This, it may be said, is an extreme case. I answer, it was only selected by way of illustration. A case, however, of ordinary occurrence, is that of a labourer earning 5s. or Qs. a week in the employ of an individual or of the parish. He must content him- -self with these wages — if he is a single man. But if he has shown foresight sufficient to provide against a rainy day, by getting a wife and six small children, his income rises from^ue or six to thirteen shillings weekly, seven or eight of Avhich are paid by the parish. " As a principle," the parish set their faces against paying rents. But although they do not profess to pay their pauper's rents, Mr; Laidler (a guardian) told me that they often give them money to pay their rents with. (This is doubtless better than taking houses for them, and thereby giving encouragement to the most sinister sj)eculations.) Entries often ajiriear in the pay- books of sums of 1^. and upwards, given for purposes of the kind above-mentioned, by order of the parish committee. * I merely mean to state that 2.s'. is the utmost weekly pension, or allow- ance, gratuitously given to a single able-bodied labourer. An applicant of this description, if he said that he could not live on his wages, would probably be taken into the poor-house, or set to work by the parish at, perhaps, 5*. a week. But he would not receive for doing nothing more than 2s. a week, while the sums which a married labourer receives for doing nothing increase with the birth of every additional child. from Durham. 171 On the shortest interruption of work, were it only for a couple of days, the weavers, who (from the competition of linen woven at Irish wages) are the class most constantly burthensome to the parish, immediately make application to have their average, as it is termed, made up. Som.e remarkable instances of this occurred on Wednesday, January 9th, at the meeting of the parish committee who, in this township, discharge much the same functions as a select vestry. One applicant owned he had earned 2ls. during the last fort- night ; but because he had not applied within the last month to the parish, and his average during that period had not been made up, (he had four children,) he now applied to have the deficit made up, which was done accordingly. Another man was earning 9i-. a week. He had six children ; 4s. were handed over the table to him immediately. A third had seven children, with himself and his wife making nine in family. He stated that his average CEirnings were \)s. a week. Last week he had been out of work for a day or two, and consequently had only earned 5s. The parish had found two days' work for him, which made up his earnings to 7s.; 7s. Gd. addi- tional were handed to him over the table. I need not report a dozen similar cases which were despatched like the foregoing, in my presence. Yet do people in this dis- trict talk as glibly as any of the abuses of the poor-laws in the south I The improvident and reckless spirit practically generated under this allowance-system, cannot be better exposed than in the fol- lowing passage, extracted from a pamphlet addressed to the working classes, which, though anonymously printed, is ascribed to eminent practical authority in this town : — " In further considering the subject, I am inclined to believe, that youth is far more uniformly the happiest period of life amongst you, than amongst those of greater worldly riches. The well- behaved apprentice has a light heart and many sources of enjoy- ment ; and if he be not so unwise as to marry immediately he is out of his time, these sources of enjoyment are greatly increased by more freedom and more money. He can probably earn as much for himself as his shopmate must make serve for a family of half-a-dozen ])ersons. This cannot be denied ; and yet how rarely do we find the youth of twenty-three with ten pounds in his pocket! " *' Somehow he always contrives means to spend what he gets. It might often create one's pity to see how the hard-earned money of a young man's prime is wasted with a few drunken com- 172 Mr. Wilsoiis Report panions, \\\\o will hang upon him as long as he has anything, and then desert him ; or his imprudence gets him into various and nameless scrapes ; or he spends his money in foolish extrava- gances or fashionable clothing, not so serviceable by far as that of a more gommon description ; as if, by outvying his masters in the quality and cut of his coat^ he is in any degree raised above his real standing. However, the last means of expenditure is in- finitely better than the others, and is some little evidence of re- s[)ectability, as the arrant rake commonly rakes on till he has hardly a coat of any kind to his back." 1 was informed by the same gentleman to whose pen is attri- buted the pamphlet, from which the foregoing passage is an ex- tract, that eight shillings a-week would amply cover the single working man's weekly expenditure in the necessary articles of lodging, washing, and board. Nevertheless, wages of eighteen or twenty shillings and upwards disappear with uniform celerity, and leave- the workman liable, on the first *' turn of trade," to be thrown partly or wholly on the parish. BARNARD CASTLE. Barnard Castle, a town which has always been reckoned rather heavily burthened, is the second case of a fixed and avowed sys- tem of allowance. The standard of allowance, fixed and enforced during the last year by order of the magistrates, is as follows : — 2s. 6d. each for the father and mother of a family, \s. for each of the children under twelve years of age ; an aged or infirm person,, incapable of earning anything, sometimes receives as much as 'Ss. The parish is at liberty to exact such an equivalent as it can get by putting able-bodied paupers to work ; and a stone-quarry in the nei";hbourhood furnishes work for a certain number. But, such as it is, even this compensation is out of the question in cases where the workman is in full employ at inadequate wages. By inadequate wages, I mean wages which do not come up to the magistrate's standard. 1 put the case to an ex-assistant overseer, to whom I had been recommended as the most intelli- gent man in his station. Suppose a man has ten children, and receives 9s. a week wages, that is to say, 6s. short of the stand- ard set up by the magistrates, would the parish be considered obliged to make up the deficiency ? He replied, it tvould. I asked, whether that clause of the 43 Eliz. empowering the assess- ment of relations for the support of paupers was acted upon frequently. He said, that since 1827, when he first became town-clerk, till May-day last, when he quitted office, he only could remember one or two instances in which orders had been made from Durham. 173 upon relations ; the leaning of the magistrates was against it. The select vestry were necessarily better judges of the character of applicants than the magistrates could be. Wlien the vestry knew the real state of a man's affairs, they were always disposed to he '' good to him." When a difference occurred between the overseers and the magistrates, the former had five miles to go to justify or explain themselves. When any remonstrance was made by them on account of the applicant's bad character, the reply of the magistrate commonly was, that the children must not suffer for it. Sometimes a sort of contract is made between the overseers and the pauper, that the latter, in consideration of a certain ad- vance from the parish, shall not trouble it again within a term agreed between the parties. The usual duration of this term is a quarter or twenty weeks, and as much as 3/. or Al. is sometimes advanced in this manner. These advances are laid out perhaps in articles of pottery, in order to commence a petty trade. Some- times the contract is broken, and in any case the pauper does not forget to come at the expiration of his term, to negotiate a new one, or obtain an allowance on some other footing. The fruits of this system of allowance to able-bodied labourers are exhibited in a practice adopted in this place by the master- manufacturers in the carpet-weaving line, which forms a principal occupation of its inhabitants. The masters take a number of boys into their employment on the footing of apprentices, not, however, bound by any indenture. These they employ just as long as they like, with wages fourpence in the shilling lower than those of regular journeymen. While business continues pretty brisk, they keep the journeymen in work along with these boys, but whenever thev sret what is termed a bad order from their London correspondents, the journeymen are turned oif imme- diately. They are thus thrown on the [)arish at every moment of stagnation. Weavers are frequently known to get their web out (finish their web in the loom) on Friday or Saturday, and come for relief to the parish on INIonday night. " In Barnard Castle," my witness said, '' this system is becoming horrible." He added that " the parish was made use of like a depot for soldiers ;" meaning, that workmen were billeted on the parish whenever they were not required on active service. Some of the masters, who do not give into this mode of em- ploying boys, from time to time put their men upon stint, that is to say, allow them to perform a certain quantity of work and no more. The carpet-weavers of this town are between three and four hundred in number, and of this number occasionally fifty or sixty are out of work. Some of these exert themselves to look 174 Mr. V^ilson^s Report out for work elsewhere, but their more usual habit is to come upon the parish. On an average, half of the whole number may be reckoned as being kept upon stint. This method of putting workmen upon stint, it is said, is adopted in order, at a time of slack work, to avoid turning hands entirely out of employ, lowering the rate of wages, or glutting the market with over-production. These appear sufficient reasons ; yet it does not seem the less an abuse, that the hands thus half dismissed from active service should have half their was:;es made up by parish allowance, and should thus be in some sort quar- tered on the public, till it shall suit their commanding officers to call out their whole effective force. Property in Barnard Castle has been losing its value for some years, a circumstance ascribable in no small degree to the accu- mulated burthens of poors' rate, highway rate, church rate, tithe, &c. Land which has been taken into cultivation of late years, is likely to go out of cultivation again at present. The following is an instance of the fall in the value of property. A jiortion of land was left to the parish some time back, called Sanderson's Charity, for the maintenance of two poor men. It has generally been let by the parish officers for a term of three or four years. Four years ago it let for 221. ; last spring, no more than seventeen guineas could be got for it. REMARKS. After describing a state of things like that which exists in these townships, the question very naturally suggests itself — Who is to blame ? For somebody to blame we always hope to find when we trace abuses. The answer seems at first sight quite inevitable — the magistrates and master-manufacturers. In Barnard. Castle, these two classes of persons seem to divide the honour of figuring as the proximate cause of the ills of the allow- ance system. In Darlington, the master-manufacturers have it all to themselves, without intervention of magistrates ; the })rovisions of the 22 Geo. III. having enabled the parish authorities to regulate their workhouse system, &c., at their own discretion. So strong was my impression of some sinister interest lurking at the bottom of this system of allowance, that while on the spot 1 spoke of it in no very measured terms, as a system which could benefit only the master-manufacturers. The first suggestion which rather shook my preconceived opinion, was made to me by Mr. Mevvburn of Darlington, who pointed out that in a town divided by religious sects, partialities would be shown, or at least would be sure to be suspected, in the distribution of parish relief to each from Durham. 175 denomination of applicants, were it not for the establishment of an invariable standard, notorious and applicable to all. So much in excuse of the fixed and graduated scale of allowance. In the second place, I beg to direct attention to the opinion stated in one of the returns made to the central board by Mr. Walters (of Darlington), whose sentiments deserve every atten- tion, as those of an mtelligent and most respectable tradesman, many years employed in parish offices, and now in no shape in- terested in any sort of abuse. In replying to Queries 21 and 22, in the second set of queries for rural districts, which run as follows :■ — 21. " Can you state the particulars of any attempt Avhich has been made in your neighbourhood to discontinue the system (after it has once prevailed) of giving to able-bodied labourers, in the employ of individuals, parish allowance on their own account, or on that of their families ?" 22. *' What do you think would be the effects, immediate and ultimate, of an enactment forbidding such allowance, and thus throwing wholly on parish employment all those whose earnings could not fully support themselves and their families ?" Mr. Walters affirms, that " An enactment forbidding such allowance, under present circumstances, would operate to the injury of the parish ; and were relief withheld when the trade is, as at present, depressed, many women and children would be deserted, by the husband leaving them to go in search of ivork." Here is an instance of apprehended abandonment of children (apprehended be it remembered by excellent practical authority), encouraged, it may fairly be assumed (in the words of my instruc- tions), " by the father's reliance on their being maintained in his absence by the parish^* Mr. AValters's short statement seems to me to make it abun- dantly obvious, that so long as the radical vice of the system, parochial maintenance of families, shall legally continue to exist, its natural offspring, the allowance system, illegal though it may be, will in some cases present the milder alternative, in a choice of evils. Take the case of any manufacturing town, like Darling- * A eross instance of children being deserted by the father, in well- grounded reliance of their support by the parish in his absence, met my eye in the vestry minutes of Gateshead : — " Joseph Mitchell has left his family to seek work. His wife and five children are on Jhe parish. Ordered five shilliuiis a-week.'' This man, as the vestiy clerk informed me, was an able workman, but so indiilerent in liis character that he never could long retain employment. His desertions of his family, it seems, recur periodically. Mis wile is supjiosed to have an understanding with him on that subject, and always to part amicably on such occasions. 176 Mr. Wilson's Report ton. Let a manufacture, linen or woollen, have flourished long enough to collect around it a whole population of operatives, who Avith their families contrive to acquire settlements. A disastrous " turn of trade" takes place, disabling the employer from affording any longer to his workmen the rate of wages requisite to decent subsistence. What is to be done ? Common sense, in a sound state of society, would dictate — If the concern is a losing one, close it — if you have too many hands, turn some of them off. But it is not lawful, under the present system, to follow the advice of common sense. What is to be done then ? The recipients of short wages present themselves as applicants for parish relief. General principle recommends that they throw themselves wholly 0)1 parish employment. But it is not jjossible, under the present system, to comply with the demands of general principle. The idea of abandoning even a losing manufacture, which employs its hundreds or thousands of hands, would strike the rate-payers with horror. The whole support of the workmen, or if the workmen absconded, of their families, thrown on a populous and already burthened township, would be absolute ruin. It seems better to the rate-payers that the manufacture should go on, though at some loss to the parish, and probably with little profit to any one concerned in it, and that, by means of the allowance system, ap- plicants for relief should continue at least to contribute to their own support by their usual labours, than that, through the aboli- tion of that system (be it illegal or no, I do not stop at present to inquire), the whole weight of their maintenance should be thrown upon the {)arish, compensated only by such proceeds as are com- monly netted from parish labour I NORTON. The following is an extract made from the returns of John Cart- wright, Esq., from the extensive agricultural parish of Norton near Stockton : — " For some few years past this parish and the surrounding neighbourhood have been peculiarly circumstanced, — large public works hnve been proceeding, and the best of the labourers have been employed on them. As the work is usually by contract, the • spirit and industry of such men have improved. Otherwise altera- tion, for the worse, I think, would have been perceived." Mr. Cartwright made the following viva voce remarks on the same subject:- — " During the last few years, public works (railways, &c.), have employed all our best labourers, and the inferior hands, who at Other times would have difficulty in finding employment, and from Durham. 177 would be reduced to go round the [)arish as house-row labourers, are now the only labourers left for common agricultural work." Three years ago a considerable number of labourers were thrown on the parish, and sent round with the overseers' tickets as house- row labourers. Mr. Cartwright said that he paid those who were sent to him the current wages, and did all he could to discourage the practice of making up wages by parish allowances. He added, that in presiding at petty sessions, he always refused to pass parish accounts which bore on their face such items of expenditure. But on afterwards inquiring of an old inhabitant of the parish, for many years a member of the select vestry, 1 found that at the period referred to, the vestry, in agreeing on the value to be placed on each individual's labour, and on the proportion of hands to be allotted to each occupier, had also established a re- gular scale of allowances to be paid by the parish in proportion to the numbers in a family. Mr. Cartwright made a remark which seems to corroborate the view which regards the allowance-system as a symptom, rather than source, of the evil. It was this, — that the practice of making up short wages from the poor's-rate, which he checks as illegal whenever it comes before him in a direct manner, may easily be carried on indirectly, without any positive breach of law. For example, if a pauper is ostensibly thrown on parish employment^, there is nothing to prevent the overseer from setting him to work under a third party, the said party paying the man's wages to the overseer, and the overseer making up whatever amount above those wages may be necessary for the labourer's subsistence. As an example of the difficulties and hardships attending re- movals, Mr. Cartwright stated the following case : — " A family of four or five children becomes chargeable to the parish by the father falling sick. Having taken the sick man's examination, I make out an order of removal, and suspend it till he is able for the journey. Now, if his parish happens to be Stranton, a place at nine miles distance, and I remove him thither, he would find there, at this very moment, the farmers paying Sc?. and ^d. a day for the work of an able-bodied labourer, and making up whatever further sum might be required for his subsistence from the parish rates. A labourer removed under such circumstances will probably return again to Norton, as I (said Mr. Cartwright) have no means of putting an end to his contract with his land- lord here. He sickens again, and becomes thus again chargeable. The law says, ' Send him to the House of Correction ;' but in the meantime what is to become of his family ?" " There is a case," continued Mr. Cartwright, " in this pa- rish, of a woman, the mother of two bastard children — children N 178 Mr. Wilson's Report namely begotten during the lifetime of her husband, but under circumstances occasioning the sessions to decide, on an appeal, that they should be bastardised. The husband died. The woman was again found with child. Her two already existing children were within the age of nurture. The mother and children could not be sent to the House of Correction together ; nor could the mother be separated forcibly from the children. This woman persisted in keeping herself concealed in a neighbouring village, intending to come, at the last extremity, clandestinely, and lie in at her old lodgings in this parish. 1 got her sent to her parish at last. The overseer there gave her a guinea to induce her to go away again, and look for shelter elsewhere, that the birth of the child might not bring a burthen on the parish. The woman induced a wandering vagrant here to say he would marry her. Banns were published, and lodgings taken. The fellow was be- heved to have two or three wives living already. The marriage was prevented, or the child would have been born here in spite of all that could have been done to prevent it." LONG NEWTON. In Long Newton, a small agricultural township, containing be- tween three and four hundred inhabitants, the house-row mode of employing labour is practised, and the wages are habitually made up from the rates. I regret my inability to give any par- ticulars regarding this parish at present, as on the day on which I visited it, the acting overseer, in whose custody were the parish accounts, was unfortunately out of the way. Notwithstanding its small population, and the charitable efforts of the rector, Mr. Faber, this parish gives more trouble to the justice-bench at Stock- ton, with pauper applications, &c., than many of much greater extent. I asked Mr. Faber how it happened that the recently opened sources of employment on the railways, &c., did not draw off the surplus labour. He ascribed it to the want of spirit and enterprise in the people, who would rather hang on the parish at home than seek for subsistence elsewhere. HURWORTH. This township suffers from its vicinity to Darlington, and from part of its population being of the same depressed description- weavers. Here also peeped out more of the s])irit of the south than 1 have ha[)pened to meet witii in other parts of this district. Threats of an incendiary kind have been held out against ob- noxious individuals; and Mr. Raine, an acting magistrate, in- from Durham. 179 formed me that in one instance in which he had summoned two youths for a slight trespass, some of his young trees were cut down and strewn before his windows, by way of earnest of what he had to expect in proceeding further. Mr. Raine very properly visited the offence for which the lads were summoned with the severest penalty of which the case would admit. A similar spirit was displayed on the dismissal of the assistant overseer : the far- mers, who chiefly compose the select vestiy, grudging, with an ill-judged economy, the payment of the salary of that officer. His dismissal was so pleasing to the rabble of the township, that they broke into the church and rang a merry peal on the joyful occasion. The parish accounts are kept in such a slovenly and confused manner, that nothing was to be learned from a cursory view, which was all I could give them. I could not even ascertain distinctly from the overseer what was the number of houses rented parochially for paupers, which, Mr. Raine informed me, was one of the great abuses in the management of the parish, which is destitute of a workhouse. Certain persons have speculated in purchasing houses to let to the parish, or paupers who have their rents paid by the parish, a practice which not only raises the rents of lodgings on the working class, but inevitably opens the door to jobs of the grossest description. Mr. Raine has promised to supply the commissioners with the results of his local experience on these and other subjects *. Extracts from the Vestry Minutes, L ordered to be employed whenever work can be got for him, and at other times that he receive 6c?. a day, and that he be decently and sufficiently clothed. H. J. has a wife and family ; lives at Yarm ; had 3s. a week former winters ; allow the same when he cannot get work as a fisher ; pay his rent as usual. Dixon, one of the overseers, mentioned to me the case of a young man, seventeen or eighteen years of age, who is wholly de- pendent on the parish. When farm-work can be found for him, he has his food for sole wages. Two young men have been sent for a calendar month to the House of Correction for refusing to go to work upon the roads : 6d. a day is the wage allowed for that description of work ; Is. a day is generally given to old men. The house-row mode of labour is habitually practised ; and a * Since the above statements were written, the promised returns have been made from Hurworth, and generally go to confirm the facts which I have mentioned — in particular the speculations in houses by tradesmen and others. N 2 180 Mr. Wilson's Report gentleman with whom I conversed has sometimes had men em- ployed on his grounds receiving \s. a day from him, and perhaps another from the parish. At the time, he said, he considered himself relieving the parish by this proceeding, but should not repeat it, now being convinced of its illegality. To the greater part of the matter of the foregoing pages, I have been favoured with the following instructive, and in some degree encouraging contrast, in the shape of a letter from Mr. Little of Stanhope, a populous and extensive parish in the lead-raining district of Durham. In the returns already received by the commission from that gentleman, occur the following remarkable expressions : — " It may seem harsh to say that I fear great harm is done to the labourer by the public contributions from the rich. The free school, the lying-in hospital, the soup-kitchen, the distribution of grain, &c., in times of scarcity, and many other similar institu- tions, all tend to make the labourer look to others, and feel no anxiety to save for such emergencies. These public charities create the necessity they relieve, but they do not relieve all the ne- cessity they created He adds, Avith a true dignity of character which almost guaran- tees soundness of judgment: — " I have for twenty-five years had the management of several hundreds of labourers, and during that period have attentively observed their habits, /or roAzcA observation I had til e peculiar advantage of having been one myself till I ivas twentij years of age." It is chiefly to Mr. Little, who is an agent of the Lead Com- pany, that are owing the exemplary parochial reforms introduced, within the last ten years, in the parish of Stanhope. The follow- ing letter was written in reply to my request for further details on several points Avhich had come under discussion in conversation between myself and the writer : — Stanhope, 28th Jan. 1833. My Dkar Sir, Yours of the 25th came to hand yesterday, and I hasten to meet your wishes in the best manner 1 am able. The resolutions of the Select Vestry, having reference to the relief of able-bodied labourers, are as follows : — " &h April, 1830. — No relief shall be given in aid of wages ; but whenever a person shall have constant employment, he shall maintain himself ;md his family upon his wages, whatever they may be. When however sickness, old age, or other infirmity shall render him unable to perform full ivork, a small assistance from Durham. 181 may be given as casual relief ; and also where his wages are proved to be verij low, and some extraordinary sickness prevails in his family. *'* No relief shall be given to pay any rent or debt, nor (except in case of sickness) so long as the person asking it shall have any property, cattle, or furniture, beyond what is absolutely necessary in a poor man's house. " The letting' of the workhouse shall be so managed, as to en- sure that full and constant work be provided for all its inmates, and that they be compelled to work." You will perceive, that upon the management of the workhouse must depend our power of acting on the other resolutions. It is let at Is. lOcZ. per person per week, with a salary to the master of 10s. per week, and he has all the earnings of the paupers. With this stimulant, he takes care to liave at all times plenty of work — quarrying, draining, breaking stones for roads, &c. &c., and any pauper refusing to work as much as he is able is sent to the tread-mill as idle and disorderly. An indolent labourer (and they are always the first in want) comes with his family, on the vestry refusing him relief, and in- stead of finding himself relieved from labour, is compelled to work harder than before, and he soon applies to the vestry for a few- shillings to go and seek work ; and on obtaining it, by the parish aiding in the removal of his family, they get rid of him altogether ; and the lesson is not lost upon others, who would have come in like manner had he seemed comfortable. I Avill mention a case which has occurred since you were here. A young man, named Lowes, (who never liked hard w'ork, as I well know, having once employed him,) with hisAvife and two children, had gone to work at the collieries, and after a short trial Avas removed from hence to ISIiddleton (Teesdale) on the plea of ill- health. He Avas kept by that tOAvnship for several Aveeks doing nothing, though no one could perceive that he ailed anything, Avhen they discovered that he belonged to this parish, and removed him accordingly to us. The felloAV instantly Avent back to his former emj)loyment at the collieries, and Ave have heard no more of his illness. Query, Avho Avere his best friends — those Avho would have kept him a pauper for life, or those Avho compelled him to exert his powers and support himself and family ? The opinion I so strongly ex[iressed to you upon the propriety of throwing the able-bodied labourer upon his OAvn resources has been formed by observation of a great number of similar cases. From the accounts shoAvn to you it would be apparent, that we do not neglect the means of supporting our present paupers 182 Mr. fVilson's Report. cheaply. But this is with us a secondary object,^ — the prime one being to prevent others from becoming so. Pauperism we con- sider nearly as infectious as small-pox, and without constant vigilance it would soon overspread the whole parish. I state fearlessly that even our north-country labourers do not, as a whole, perform more than three-fifths of the work they might, without detriment to their health. And the great object should be to encourage them to exert their full powers. This cannot be done directly by the legislature, but it should boldly sweep away everything having an opposite tendency. All pay- ments for doing nothing — all interference with the application of wages — everything calculated to make them depend upon any person but their immediate employer ; and on the other hand by facilities for inclosing commons, making rail-roads, and other public works, endeavour to increase the sources of beneficial em- ployment. I assume it as certain that no man will work hard without the hope of thereby bettering his circumstances, and also that without such hope there is no hold upon the labouring classes. I may in proof refer to the apparently anomalous circumstance, that the Irish labourer, without poor laws, and the labourer of the south of England, under a lax administration of them, seem to be nearly in the same moral condition, which I ascribe to the want of the all-moving stimulus of hope. They are so situated that neither can look to improve their condition by any exertion or good con- duct of their own, and becoming reckless and degraded in feeling, they give a loose to their appetites and passions without thinking of consequences. Hence indolence, habits of dissipation, impro- vident marriage, turbulence and crime — everything in short which leads to misery and pauperism. The greatest boon the Commissioners can bestow upon this and the adjoining lead-mining parishes, is to recommend that a residence o^ five or seven years (the person not being a pauper) should supersede all the present modes of obtaining settlements. At present, in these parishes, the labourers remaining are mostly employed on rather better wages, and the poors' rate is not increasing ; but I fear that the demand for men at the collieries in the eastern part of this county has ceased, and that many of our labourers will be returned upon us in the spring. What is then to be done, 1 cannot understand. In the mines they cannot be em- ployed, and the land is unable to maintain them in idleness. I see thousands of acres around me totally barren, which might be converted into excellent pasture, and the land now in culture is capable of being made twice as productive. But the difficulty is to get the superfluous labour applied to such improvements. Messrs. Pilkington' s Report. 183 With the spirit of industry and independence which so generally pervades our vvorkmen, I will not, however, despair. It is a much harder task to create such spirit where it has unhappily been extinguished. I am, my dear Sir, truly yours, Joseph Little. My Lords and Gentlemen, In compliance with your request, that a selection should be made of a few parishes most strikingly exhibiting circum- stances connected with the administration of the poor-laws, within the districts which Ave have jointly examined, we beg to notice the following : — Leicestershire, Hinckley and Loughbo- rough ; Derbyshire, St. Werburgh, in the town of Derby, and Shardlow. In making this selection it is intended to illustrate, by the pa- rishes taken from the Leicestershire report, the effect of the worst administration of the poor-laws in full operation. By that of St. Werburgh, in Derby, a parish is intended to be shown *' that has been bad and is improved," or the counterac- tions produced by better principles and management. By the comparative statement of a few points of the parish of Chesterfield with the same points in that of St. Werburgh, it is proposed to mark the different results where only ordinary care is opposed to the ever-springing evil. Having no striking instance to adduce of an improved parish relapsing in any marked degree, we would only beg to observe that the occasional fluctuations in many have appeared to us to be in exact proportion to the relaxation of the antagonist muscle, or as the principle of non-admission of any right of dependence whatever on other than individual exertion, is adhered to or de- parted from. The parish of Shardlow is given, as instancing the power of supporting a better principle through the means of an effective workhouse system. We are, my Lords and Gentlemen, Your very obedient, very humble servants, Henry Pilkington, Redmond Pilkington. Kensington, Jan. 10, 1833. ^84 • Messrs. PUhington's Report LEICESTERSHIRE AND DERBYSHIRE. HINCKLEY, LEICESTERSHIRE. 1801. Population. ISU. 1821. !S31. 5070. 6058. 5835. 646S. Manufacturing- and agricultural. Size . . • 3500 acres | Population . • • £. 6491. s. d. Poor's rates 1829 1830 1831 • • -31 . -32 ft • 3009 4107 4127 4 4 5 From the accounts exhibited by the overseers, it appears, that the rates amount to nearly I5s. a head, on the Avhole population ; that they increased lOOOZ. on a comparison of the year 1829 with that ending 25th March, 1830 ; and that they continue to increase annually. The following cases, taken without selection, will point out the weio'ht of the poor-rate in this parish : — Mr. Preston, on 155 acres, paid . . if. 165 5 Mr. Bonner 60 „ . . . 60 Mr. Sanson 70 „ . . . 108 15 Mr. Cheekland 36 „ . . . 42 7 6 Mark Blakeman 100 „ . . . 60 This evidence was obtained from the small proprietors and farmers, who sought us, desirous of pointing out the present state of the parish, and expressed it to be their opinion that the poor's rates were likely to continue to increase. In addition to the poor's rates, there are county, highway, and composition rates, — the three last making together a serious addition. Likewise tithes, which the proprietors and farmers said " hinder us making the best use we can of the small capital which remains to us." There are from twelve to fifteen tenpenny rates made in the year for the poor — seldom less than thirteen — and about two for the church and county rates. The land is generally valued at about one-half the ruck rent, in some instances at two-thirds, and in some near the town at about one-third. The houses generally at one-third. In 1829 there were 1160 occupied houses in Hinckley, and from Leicestershire and Derbyshire. 185 90 empty ones ; since that time the number has increased. Of these only 406 paid rates ; and consequently there were 763 which did not pay, they, however, in consequence of the local act, are now charged ; these houses belong to both landowners and tradesmen, but the greater part to tradesmen. The proprietors and non-proprietors in this parish are changing places, the proprietors doing little more than holding their land for the benefit of others, as the poor's rates, in many instances, consume three-fourths of the rent of the lands. On the general distress of the agricultural part of the country very many farmers, among whom were all those above-mentioned, stated that there could be but one opinion. Their capital had been long declining, and total ruin must ensue, not only to farmers but to landlords themselves, unless government should take their case into con- sideration, and that speedily, and make an alteration in the poor laws. The wages of the manufacturing people were necessarily so low that from the most laborious exertions they could hardly procure a subsistence ; between 6s. and Is. being the extreme weekly earnings of an industrious man ; and he must work 14 hours a day to get that sum : Mr. May, a master manufacturer, stated that he had known the time when a stockinger could earn 1?. per week ; they had only one sort of manufacture — the " plain frame." Mr. May gave us the following scale of the possible earnings of a manufacturer and his family — Man, if industrious and steady, working from 14 to 16 s. d. hours a day . . . . .66 Woman sometimes as much as a man ; but then she must be a very good hand ; and either have no children or household affairs to attend to, or entirely neglect them. Children, 8 years of age, per week . . 6d. to 9d. 5>iA„ . . . , 10 »> ^^ 55 • • • . ^ 6 The above wages are calculated as clear earnings, independent of the outgoings — as rent of frame, winding, &c. We found that the following might be something near a statis- tical account of the population of the parish of Hinckley : — Population . a49l{«t^,^. ^ 186 Messrs. Pilkington's Report MALES. Labourers employed in agriculture . , 97 Agricultural labourers not employed . 21 Occupiers of land employing labourers . . 32 Males employed in manufacture . . 692 „ „ retail trade . . . 367 Labourers in trade . . . . 120 Other males differently employed . . 116 Wholesale merchants and capitalists, and profes- sional persons .... 57 Male children of all ages and manufacturers out of employ . . . . . 1607 3109 Of this population there were 420 able-bodied persons re- ceiving relief, 360 were regular and 60 casual. A short time since 1000 persons were receiving relief. The payment of rents for the paupers amounts to 101. a-week — 520^. a-year. The relief for bastards has amounted of late to 150/. a-year. The amount recovered from the putative fathers does little more than meet the expense attendant upon the recovery. The com- mon allowance is l.s. 6d. a-week. The relief given in the workhouse is confined to the aged, infirm, and children : the inmates at present amount to 85. Aged and infirm men . . 35 „ „ women . 20 Boysl of ages from . . 19 GirlsJ infancy to eleven years . 11 The expense of maintaining in the house is 2s. 6d. per head for food alone. There is but little work given to the inmates of the poor-house. The manufacture of hosiery had been tried, but had been almost entirely abandoned owing to the loss which had accrued to the parish. The overseers themselves were manufac- turers of hosiery, and may have disliked the competition with their private interests, which arose from the goods made in the workhouse entering the same market with their own. Hinckley suffers severely by the settlement laws, in conse- quence of the number of boys who, when trade is brisk, come in from the neighbouring villages to be hired as apprentices. Many of the adjacent villages are thus getting rid of their own surplus population, and are not paying more, some not so much, as 2s. 6d. in the pound. The parish accounts are very irregularly kept, and it was very from Leicestershire and Derbyshire. 187 difficult to obtain them. The overseers keep the accounts in private books, and frequently omit to tranfer them to the parish books. There is an assistant-overseer. A select vestry of 21 members, also churchwardens and overseers. Two overseers are elected annually. They do not act at the same time, but for separate por- tions of the year ; and as the office is never held more than one year by the same individual, the overseers generally leave office even before they become acquainted with the business. The overseer collects the rates, and the assistant-overseer distributes the allowance to the out-poor, and visits them at their houses to ascertain their wants. Of the magistrates great complaint was made ; by injudicious conduct towards idle imposing paupers, they have greatly in- creased both the amount of pauperism, and the feeling in the paupers of their right to aid from the parish funds. The magis- trates very seldom know the paupers, and yet on application for relief, they are in the habit of sending them with a recommenda- tory letter to the vestry. Experience has shewn that it is very dangerous to resist these recommendatory letters. Mr. Atkins, a hosier and overseer, refused to comply with the recommendatory letter of a magistrate, the mob assembled and threatened to pull down his house if the order was not obeyed. In case of any tumultuous rising, the town would be entirely at the mercy of the mob ; there is no resident magistrate, there are only two constables, and they are not at all qualified to be of any service ; the five headboroughs would not act during any dan- ger ; the only reliance in case of any real tumult, therefore, would be on such military as might happen to be quartered in the neigh- bourhood. When we asked some of the rate payers, whether they had any knowledge of the causes of the incendiary fires which had taken place in the neighbourhood, they made very little reply ; indeed, they seemed to shun the question. One of them said, " It would not be over safe to have all we have talked about to-day men- tioned in open air." AVe observed at several other places a simi- lar disinclination to speak on this subject. It was generally stated by all with whom we conversed, that "■ they could expect no relief but from an alteration, not only in the laws relating to the poor, but in the mode and spirit in which those laws are to be administered ; and that if one or more ma^is- trates with a salary were a[)ponited by Government, with a good and effectual police under them, who should have the entire superintendence of the poor laws, such a measure would be of the greatest benefit, and do more to repress the daily increasing 188 Messrs. Pilkington's Report spirit of pauperism, than all their own combined efforts put together, situated as they were between two fires, — the magistrates on one side and the poor on the other." LOUGHBOROUGH. Mr. Mott, one of the overseers of this parish, told us that he considered pauperism to be increasing. He said, poor infirm people often get relief who have children of their own able to take care of them. Relief is continually given to able-bodied men without their beins set to work ; and the knowledge which the paupers have that the magistrates will order them relief, makes hundreds apply who otherwise would make a shift to provide for themselves. Mr. Cartwright, another overseer, said, a workman has very little incentive to work, because, by going to the magis- trates, he can do much better for himself, as they will order him from the parish much more than he can make by his earnings. The magistrates, Mr. Cartwright observed, continually grant re- lief after it has been judged right by the overseers to refuse it. He further remarked, " The only shield which the overseers have against the magistrates, is threatening to take the pauper into the house." The magistrates are not particular about character, as in the instance stated to us of William Orford, who having been flogged in the market-place for theft, upon applying for relief, stating that he was only earnino;4s. 2d. per week, had been refused by the over- seers ; this man upon applying to the magistrates received an order to the overseers to make up the difference to him between 4s. 2d. and 6s. (id. Mr. Cartwright also stated, that they have now an ob- stinate reprobate on the parish of the name of Charles Chester, who a short time back was in possession of three cows and 60/. in money, Avhich had been left to him. He soon spent all, and has now come upon the parish for relief, and sets them all at defiance : he has even, as he himself declares, " to spite the parish," by increasing their burthens, married a woman from another parish. Mr. Mott said, " In case of a bad character applying, w-e do as well as we can with him : we generally threaten to take him into the parish-house, or the man and the magistrates together would beat the parish." '^ Was it not for fear of the magistrates," he added, " we should much oftener refuse relief than we do : some rascals quite beat us. A fellow of the name of Lockwood mar- ried a very worthy woman of this parish. He has five children by her, whom with his wife he refuses to maintain. We have sent him to Leicester gaol for the last three months, but he still refuses ;" solely from the reliance he has that by the aid of magisterial interference he shall beat the overseers. s. d. 3 2 2 1 4 1 9* 2 /rom Leicestershire and Derbyshire. 189 The magistrates' scale of allowance is, For a man .... woman .... children under eight • children eight and under fifteen children fifteen and above . Bastardy cases, Mr. Cresswell stated, were very numerous — they had sixty-two on the list at present. Magistrates order Is. 6d. Thev have several ag-gravated cases. Three sisters of the name of Dalby, all with child by one man, and he a married man, were passed from another parish, in which they resided, to this, which was their settlement : all had Is. 6d. allowed to them by the ma- gistrates. Two of the sisters again with child by the same man : these two have been sent to the house of correction. Mary White has had eight bastards by six difl^rent men : now married, and receives Is. Qd. for her last child : for former children nas re- ceived for two at a time. Total expense of bastards for the last year, as follows : — 1st quarter . . . 2d quarter 3d quarter . 4th quarter Recovered from fathers To this loss should be added the expenses of recovering from runaway fathers^ which is always considerable. ST. WERBURGH, DERBY. A judicious alteration in the management of this parish, seems alone to have counteracted the evil tendency, or natural opera- tion of the existing law's and usages. Its history is this. From the year 1821 to 1826, the average assessment was 3500^. per annum ; from 1826 to 1831 the average has been 1800Z. The population in 1821 was 5317 ; in 1831 it had increased to 6341 ; thus exhibiting decreasing rates with an increasing- popu- lation. In was in 1826 that Mr. Mozley was appointed overseer. He found it under the manajrement, or rather misman32:ement of a general vestry, the chief evils of which were in operation, namely, £. s. d. 56 6 2 54 3 62 9 4 53 8 10 226 7 4 152 74 7 4 190 Messrs. Pilkington's Report the defencelessness of overseers on appeals to the borough magis- trates. The indifference or inattention of all to the concerns of the parish, the whole management being committed to the over- seers for the time being ; the influence or representation of any, or every, respectable tradesman causing numbers to be placed on the poor-book, each providing in this way, without apparent ex- pense to himself, for some favourite or dependent. Under these circumstances, the above gentleman was induced to exert himself in order to procure its being placed under Mr. Sturges Bourne's Select Vestry Act ; which after much difficulty he effected, being opposed alike by the borough magistrates and the poor themselves —the former jealous of the control being thus taken in some measure out of their hands, and the latter disliking the interfering of a select vestry with their appeals to the magistrates. He found a long list of pensioners in various parts of the king- dom, to whom, through the overseers of the different parishes in which they resided, very considerable sums were annually paid, and many of whom, as may be supposed, were very improper characters to receive it. He wrote immediately to all the over- seers to inform them, that after a certain time no further payments would be allowed on their account, but that if any paupers in those several places could not subsist without parish relief, they must come and seek it in the workhouse of their own parish — " nine-tenths of these he never heard of again." He appointed a new governor and matron of the workhouse, also an intelligent assistant overseer, choosing a stranger to the town, with conse- quently neither friends to serve, nor acquaintance to favour. This person, Mr. Moody, was also soon after appointed overseer of the roads, having thereby not only a better opportunity of giving employment, but being a judge of the quantity of work to be expected from ordinary labour, the plea of inability to perform such quantity, as, paid by the piece, would procure to the labourer the magistrate's allowance, was not available : if such quantity were not done he paid them accordingly, and if appeal were made to the magistrates, he ordered the complainant into the workhouse. On examining the workhouse, and seeing its incomplete condi- tion, and inconvenient arrangement for the proper accomplish- ment of the purposes required ; and knowing at the same time the advantage to which it had been instrumental, we could not but be struck with the superior importance of the principle which guides the management than the perfection of the means. The relief of the impotent, and the repression of pauperism was the double object to be attained ; the different effect therefore of the same circumstances on the j)roper and the improper inmates of a workhouse were deemed most important to be kept in view. from Leicestershire and Derbyshire. 191 The order, regularity, cleanliness, and confinement (for none were allowed to go out without an order) which are indifferent to the one, are insupportably irksome to the other ; such regulations therefore were minutely framed, and rigidly exacted ; and it was found accordingly that what in fact contributed to the well-being and comfort of the former, the latter were quickly induced to fly from ; and such it was remarked seldom returned ; and although stating, before they entered, their inability to find work, were soon after quitting the workhouse observed to be employed — in the latter case it was presumed they sought for employment, in the former not. The parish allowance of diet was alone permitted ; and no pre- sents of tea, sugar, or tobacco suffered to be made. Relief out of the house was considered objectionable in prin- ciple, and resisted as much as possible, and only given on strict investigation. On relief being ordered by the magistrates, the whole family were in preference sometimes taken into the work- house, the moral effect being deemed of more importance than the increased expenditure. A, getting relief at his home, B in- evitably demands it ; but A, going into the workhouse, deters B from the application : it is the difference of using either end of the magnet. An instance was adduced by Mr. Mozley of an order, on appeal, for 3s. 6d. per week being made by the magis- trates — the family were ordered into the house, and on their refusal no allowance was made : the magistrates surprised at such conduct, inquired if such sum were considered too large. Mr. Mozley's answer was, " he found no fault with the sum, but the principle." The silk-throwster, in whose employ the family had been, and who was displeased at the conduct pursued, confessed soon after, that the family were doing very well with- out parish pay ; indeed, that they were more comfortable and respectable than before : their dependence was gone — except upon themselves. All relief to able-bodied men in the employment of others was refused : the overseer, employed them wholly or not at all, pay- ing by the piece. The workhouse children even were not allowed to be employed at the mills, but at the same wages as the more respectable poor (those not claiming relief) would accept for their children : the effect of a contrary })ractice was thus instanced. A poor person, not on the parish, offered her child to work — " At what wages?" inquired the employer ; " 2s. per week ;" " 2s. I ! why I give but Is. 6d. to that girl both older and bifjger" — the older girl was a pauper. The consequence of the withdrawal of pauper children from the mills was thus stated by Mr. Mozley : " for every 5s. thus lost by the parish treble the sum was gained 192 . Messrs. PilkingtorCs Report by sustaining the wages of the respectable poor, and preventing their requiring parish relief also." No houses were exempted from rates — the landlords being charged in respect of houses of 6/. per annum and under^ and who generally, therefore, compounded, paying half the assessment up to Al. and two-thirds from 4^. to 6/.; on these terms the houses were paid for whether occupied or empty. The accounts are now kept correctly in a simple and intelli- gible form — they are passed half-yearly at a general meeting of the parish, and printed and distributed annually, together with the names of paupers, both regular and casual, stating the relief paid to each — the names likewise were given of those within the work- house. The mothers'* names of bastard children were in like manner stated, and those of the fathers who were in arrears with the parish. As illustrating the effects of different management, we beg to place a few points of the above parish in juxtaposition with the same points in another parish, in which reversed results might have been expected. Township of the Borough of St. Werburgh's Parish in the Chesterfield. Borough of Derby. Population, 1831, 5700. Population, 1831, 6349. Total assessments in the years Average of five years' assessment, 183 L and 1832, 2645/. 1800/. Resolved not to act under Sturges Adopted Sturges Bourne's Act. Bournes Act. Relief give?i to a.h\e-hod\cd without No relief given to able-bodied work. without work. No employment for able-bodied Employment found for the able- men, bodied, who are paid by the piece. A commodious workhouse. Inconvenient workhouse. Paupers only employed in sweep- Paupers not allowed to go out but ing the streets and running by special order. errands. Poor in the workhouse October, Poor in the workhouse, October, 1832, 30. 1832, 42. Out poor, October, 1832, 149. Out poor, October, 1832, 88. Rates not collected in the year No houses exempted from rates. ending Lady-day, 1832, 113Z. 9s. Landlords charged for houses of 6/. and under.. from Leicestershire and Derbyshire. 193 SHARDLOW. The following account of the parish of Shardlow we beg to offer, as illustrating the effect of workhouse management administered by houses of industry under Gilbert's Act. It is taken principally from the examination of ^Ir. Dowles, the governor of the House of Industry, and also from a corre- spondence with which we were favoured by one of the visiters of the house. The origin of the house in question w-as thus stated by the governor : — " The relief ordered by the magistrates being according to a certain scale, the paupers used to set the parish at defiance. It was a case of this kind that first set on foot the establishment in 1812. A man of the name of Roberts, of Shardlow, with seven children, had one pound per week ordered by the magistrates, against the sense and representation of the parish. Findingthem- selves without remedy, the parishioners, assisted by a gentleman of the name of Flack, took advantage of the act 22 Geo. III. (Gilbert's Act), and associating wnth four other parishes, built this House of Industry, whereby, if they cannot make a bargain with the pauper, to accept such relief as they think right beneath the magistrate's allowance, they avoid the necessary compliance therewith, on the appeal of the pauper, by offering to receive him into the house, and providing w-ork for him therein." An instance of the effect of such offer occurred a short time ago : — A woman, Mary Savage, complained that she was ill, and totally unable to do anything for herself; she accordingly kept her daughter at home, as she said, to nurse her, and demanded 6.V. a week of the parish, on account of the unavoidable loss of such sum, being the weekly earnings of the daughter. The parish refused ; the magistrates ordered it on her appeal ; the offer of the house was then made ; this was declined however — and the following; mornino; the mother was washing at her door, and the daughter was gone out again to work. T-» • Previous to the establishment of this house, the average rates of the parish of Shardlow were 570/. — since that period they have been reduced full one-third. In the year ending 1832 they were 344/. 2s. The population in 1811 were seven hundred and fifty — in 1831, one thousand and ninety-one. Forty-two parishes have since joined the association. Spoiidon, the last (1830) associated, saved 292/. lOv. (^d., the price of their admission, in the first year, being one-half of their previous assessment. o 194 Messrs. Pilkingtori's Report. Sutton Bonnington joined in 1816 ; its rates were then 690?. ; they have since fluctuated between that sura and 400/., giving an average annual reduction of 150/. The comparison of this parish with the neighbouring one of Kegworth, in Leicestershire, not incorporated, is thus made in a letter addressed by the governor of the house to the overseers of the parish of Matlock : — '' They are similar, or nearly so, in extent^ population, and employment, both agricultural and ma- nufacturing; while the rates of the former have decreased., those of the latter parish, which, prior to the date above-mentioned (1816) were less than those of Sutton, have been progressively increasing, and at this present time are nearly double the amount." Though intended as a house of industry, the old, and those unable to work, are admitted upon sufferance, the rooms not being otherwise engaged ; and such indeed, at the time of our visit, formed one-half of the occupants. The number of inmates at that time were ninety — accommodation can be afforded for one hundred and fifty. The employments provided are manufacturing hemp, grinding corn, framework stockings, making list shoes, whip-cord, wind- ing cotton, list carpeting, running lace, seaming and sewing, working in the house and kitchen. Work twelve hours, including meals. By the governor's returns it appears that the able-bodied, last year, earned their subsistence, withm a fraction. The sexes are kept apart — except that husbands and wives are allowed to sleep together when rooms are at liberty. None are allowed to go out without express permission of the governor. The food is good and abundant ; expense 2s. (id. per head per week. We close this account with an extract from a letter with which we were favoured from one of the visitors : — " I will take the liberty of observing, that from the experience I have had since I was appointed visitor, the good effects of our system is shewn in the general moral im[)rovement in the habits of the poor connected with us. They know that if wasteful and improvident of their means they will in the end be driven into the house : they dislike it as being separated fiom their connexions, as a place of restraint, and where after all they must work as much as if they did so of their own accord at their own homes." Mr. Moylan's Report 195 STAFFORDSHIRE. My Lords and Gkntlemen, / In compliance with your request I transmit a very short ac- count of two parishes in my district, which appear to me the most remarkable. In Wolverhampton the increase of the poor's-rate in ten years appears to have been nearly one hundred per cent. ; and yet it is in my opinion difficult to find fault with the management, or to attribute the increase to any cause within the power of indi- viduals to mitigate. In Tamworth, too, the increase is great ; but there I did not find the same care as in Wolverhampton in keeping the parish accounts ; nor has it the advantage, like Wolverhampton, of the superintendence of a select vestry, and intelligent overseers. So far then, these cases are different ; but after all, I am com- pelled to say, that the difference between the best and the worst management is of comparatively slight moment. The evil, which is admitted on all hands to be great and growing, must be met, not by local palliatives, but some general and vigorous improve- ment of the whole system throughout England. No one can quarrel with the principle of so much of the 43d of Elizabeth — " relieving the lame, impotent, old, blind." Assist this good law by a simple and general law of settlement, which will at once put an end to perjury and litigation, with its enormous expenses, and take care that the administrative part of the system be committed to a more judicious selection of over- seers, chosen from a more intelligent and better-educated class, and freed from the control of the justices of peace. I would make the overseer a superior officer, and unite other duties with those which at present devolve upon him — the superintendence of the high roads in each district for instance, or the regulation of the police. And if ever it shall be deemed advisable to proceed ■with a bill once laid on the table of the House of Commons by the present Lord Chancellor, for " affording to the people of this realm the means of having their suits tried as speedily and as near to their own homes as may be for the avoidance of expense, vex- ation, and delay," 1 do not see why such an officer as is here recommended may not be found capable of fulfilling part at least of the duties of this local court. 1 subjoin the cases to which I have already alluded, giving it as my opinion, that almost all the abuses arise from the want of a proper law of settlement, and from intrusting the administrativQ o 2 196 Mr. Moylan's Report part of the system to the hands of the ignorant and the needy, freed too as they are from all real responsibility, — the control of the magistrates being in general, when not mischievous, wholly inefficient. I am, my Lords and Gentlemen, Your very obedient servant, Lincoln's Inn, Old Square, D. C. Moylan. Jan. 11. The parish of Wolverhampton is divided for the maintenance and support of the poor into the several townships of Wolver- hampton, Willenhall, Bilston, and Wednesfield. Of these, the principal is Wolverhampton, which contains 24,732 inhabitants; value of real property as assessed in 1815, was 33,000/. Since 1824, when the poor's-rate amounted to 3637/. it has gradually increased to the sum of 7573/., the amount expended by the over- seers for relief of the poor in the year ending 25th of March, 1832. In the current year it is also on the increase. The overseers estimate the probable amount up to next Lady-day at 8000/., be- sides 100/. granted out of these funds to the Board of Health. With every advantage calculated to keep in check the porten- tous evil, it is extending itself here. With a select vestry, regu- larly and efficiently attended, with a workhouse well conducted, and on the most economical terms consistent with the well-being of the inmates ; with overseers, all men of high character and active habits, and amongst them one of th^ principal iron-masters of the town, whose habits of business, joined with a wilUng devo- tion of his time to the concerns of his public office, fit him to detect any error in the management of the poor ; with two intelli- gent salaried assistant-overseers ; with a perfect system of keep- ing the parish books, — the evils of pauperism and poor's-rate are increasing in ^Volverhampton to an alarming extent ! Tuesday in every week is pay-day for the out-poor, and at half-past six in the morning I found the overseers at their work. It occupied them until near two o'clock. Upwards of 300 per- sons received relief. Tickets are given to paupers, and the amount paid at the workhouse every Tuesday to the bearer. Although in particular cases this may be unavoidable, it appears to me as a general custom liable to much objection. Indeed, I found afterwards on inquiry, that it enables the pauper often to anticij)ate iiis allowance, and raise money upon tiie ticket. In many cases it is lodged with the immediate landlord (where there is sub-letting), as security for the tenant's rent. The overseers, in answer to my inquiry as to their giving relief by way of loan, stated that, often when they feel a disposition to from Staffordshire. 197 do so, they are restrained by this consideration. It appears that persons to whom they had on former occasions extended rehef in this shape, exposed themselves, in their endeavours to turn it to account, to the penalties awarded by the Hawker's and Pedlar's Act (50 Geo. III. c. 41.) They even assured me, that they (the overseers) had actually, in more than one instance, to pay out of the parish funds the penalty thus incurred by paupers who had been relieved by way of loan. It may not be improper here to notice what appears to me a defect in the sec. of the 59 Geo. III. which authorizes relief by Avay of loan. I cannot imagine the reason for limiting the power of overseers in extending relief in this shape to such persons only as are most unworthy of it. Why exclude from this benefit the poor man, who, by unavoidable misfortune, and not his own fault, has become an object of charity ? The words of the act are, — " Whenever it shall appear to the overseers, to whom application is made for relief for any poor person, that he might, but for his extravaqance, neglect, or tvilful misconduct, have been able to maintani himself, Sec, it shall be lawful for the overseers, &c., to advance money, weekly or otherwise, to the persons so applying, by way of loan only, and to take his receipt for and engagement to pay every sum so advanced," &c. — sec. 29. The power of relieving by way of loan is, therefore, in most parishes, a dead letter. The overseer generally has discernment enough to appreciate the security which the law directs him to require for his advances, viz. — the simple receipt of this man of " ivilful misconduct" Amongst those whom I had an opportunity of consulting in Wolverhampton, there is I think a general feeling in favour of throwing the rate upon the landlords in the case of tenements un- der 6^., and I had pointed out to me an illustration of the impolicy of the law in limiting the power of vestries to houses of 6/. rent. An immense number of small houses occupied by poor labourers are let at the rate of 5^. 19s. il^d. On another point I found the same coincidence of opinion. I mean the effects of the New Beer Bill on the Avorking classes. It is not, perhaps, in a large town like Wolverhampton that these effects are most appalling. They are, in their worst form, found no doubt in small towns and villages, where this pernicious Bill (11 Geo. IV. and 1 Will. IV. c. 64.) has caused unspeakable misery and pauperism. In Wolverhampton, too, it has multi- plied the allurements which always before led those classes, least able to resist temptation, to squander their savings in such a way ; and stuely no arguments of financial expediency should weigh against these results ! 198 Mr. Moijlan's Report In the adjoining township of Bilston, forming part of the parish of Wolverhampton, there is a select-vestry and assistant- overseer, who is also governor of the workhouse. The annual value of this township in 1815, was 15,634/. The population in 1S'21, was 12,000 And in 1831 14,500 The amount of poor's-rate in 1829, was ^£'1554 „ in 1830 2145 „ in 1831 2532 And in the year ending 25th last March 2914 A very considerable increase is likely to take place this year, owing, no doubt, in some measure, to the fearful pestilence with which this town has been lately visited. TAMWORTH. The parish of Tamworth, which, for other purposes, comprises several surrounding townships and hamlets, is confined with regard to the support of the poor to the town, exclusive even of the Castle Liberty. It contains a population (in 1831) of 3537 persons. The population in 1821, was 3574. Shewing a falling off in the number of inhabitants of 37 persons. In the same period the poor's-rate has increased: In 1821 it was under . . ^1000. In 1829 1200. It had increased in the year ending the 25th March, 1832, to 1600/. And it is expected to exhibit this year a still further increase. The gradual increase in the amount of poor's-rate during the last few years in Tamworth may, })erhaps, be thus accounted for. It appears to have been formerly the practice for the great manu- facturers of this neiiihbourhoood to take apprentices for seven years, securing them thereby a settlement in the parish. When the {)eriod of af)prenticeship ex[)ired, these were replaced by more youthful iiands, who in their turn made room for others, and thus multitudes of children from London and other places were brought and settled in Tamworth. These individuals are now constantly returning from Notlinoham and Lancashire to Tamworth as their place of legal settlement, and it is likely for some years longer to be subject to this burden. Besides, the numbers who are now employed in the neigh- from Staffordshire. 199 bouring manufactories of Bonchill, Fazeley, he, all have their lodgings in Tamworth. The unfairness of conferring settlement by residence is here seen. Can there be any mode so unobjectionable as by birth ? The surrounding hamlets are not taxed in the same proportion as Tamworth. The labourers and artisans who "ive the benefit of their daily labour to those hamlets, lodge in Tamworth ; and iri sickness become chargeable there. The only workhouse in the district is at Tamworth. The sur- rounding hamlets contribute to the support of one in the distant parish of Roselston. The master of the workhouse is also assistant-overseer and vestry-clerk ; and to the duties of these offices, he adds those of police constable for the borough. Up to the present year, it had been the practice to afford relief in aid of w'ages, but it is now, as I was informed, discon- tinued ; though from what I could collect of the feeling of the overseers, it is by no means unlikely to be resumed before the winter passes. The overseers appear to have no better reason for its discontinuance than that no case has yet occurred for its exercise. Nothing, I think, strikes one more than the unfitness of the men who (particularly in small places) fill the responsible office of overseer. From the temporary nature of the appointment, it would, indeed, be difficult for them to acquire a sufficient knowledge of their duties ; to say nothing of the unreasonable- ness of expecting from men engaged in their own concerns, such a devotion of their time, without remuneration, as would qualify them for the discharge of those duties. It necessarily follows, that the assistant-overseer is often left in the exclusive management of the poor, and almost unlimited control of the parish funds. There being no select-vestry, the parishioners of Tamworth appear to give themselves little trouble in examining or auditing the accounts. In answer to my inquiries upon this pomt, I was assured in general terms, that they had always given satisfac- tion, — that he icho runs may read, — and though the accounts are not published, they are always accessible to such as may require to see them. The workhouse is an excellent and commodious one, in a dry and healthy situation, large enough to accommodate the aged and impotent paupers of the entire parish, if the various town- ships were consolidated 200 Mr. Moylan's Report. At present there are only 27 inmates : — 4 Males from 48 to 70 years of age. 9 Females 28 to 70 „ 6 Girls 1 to 15 ,, 8 Boys 4 to 10 ,, They have separate sleeping apartments. I found it impos- sible to learn the expense per head. There appears to be no separate entry in the books, for each pauper, to show the date of his admission or departure. Indeed the mode of keeping the accounts generally requires revision, and shows the want of some efficient su{)erintending authority. There were formerly several Benefit Societies and Silk Clubs at Tamworth. By bad management, and in some cases dis- honesty, the funds were dissipated, and the institutions dissolved. Time must elapse, and the tales of distress rehited to me be for- gotten, before anything like confidence in such societies can be restored. One upon Mr. Becher's excellent plan was established here lately, and liberally encouraged by the neighbouring gentry. Yet it does not prosper. Only 14 became subscribers at its foundation in February last, 6 in March, 3 in A{)ril, 5 in May, 1 in June, 1 in July, 2 in August, and none since. But there is a stronger and more deplorable cause for this apathy in the working classes. The English peasant no longer looks on [)arish relief as a degradation : such a feeling is extinct, and there is no more terrible etlect of the poor-law system than a general change like this in the national spirit. It does not appear that this parish has of late years spent much in litigation arising out of the poor-laws. But the hard- ship is felt of being obliged, in case of an ap[)eal, to send officers and witnesses to Stafford, or to Warwick, 2') miles ofl". This often induces officers to submit to an order which they believe to be illegal. The question of reform in the composition and jurisdiction of inferior courts here, of course suggests itself; but 1 shall reserve for my general report the remarks I have to offer upon this sub- ject. It is one that can never be lost sight of in framing an amendment of the poor-law system. 201 LONDON AND BERKSHIRE. My Lords and Gentlemen, In the course of my inquiries into the practical operation of the poor-laws in the MetropoUs, some points occurred which induced me to avail myself of an opportunity of visiting one of the agricultural counties, for the purpose of investigating different modes of administration and their effects, in the agricultural parishes and in those of less populous towns, and of comparing them with similar operations in some of the larger parishes in London. The cases of parishes which i have selected, in obe- dience to your request, I believe to be instances of the common opei'ation of the poor-laws in the districts which I have visited. I visited other parishes on the reputation that they were under peculiar management. Mr. Milman and Mr. VVinkworth had sent in answers to your queries ; but I went to the parishes to which the evidence chiefly refers, and took the examinations of the other witnesses without selection or previous information with relation to them : excepting that, at Windsor, a magistrate of that town, to whom 1 had applied in the first instance, referred me to the assistant-overseer, as the person the best qualified to give mo information ; but stated, that he thought I should find nothing of peculiar importance in the parochial management. The gentlemen to whom 1 first applied at Reading were not aware that any one parish within the district was deserving of attention more than another, if at all ; and I went to the workhouses on the chance of obtaining information. I consider the testimony of the two first witnesses (Mr. Hodges and Mr. Winkworth) to be exemplificative of the usual management of the out-door poor. The testimony of the governors of the workhouses at Reading exhibits the state in which I most frequently found the in-door paupers of the smaller town parishes ; though I have not met with a more striking instance of the profusion, ignorance, or wanton levity with Avhich the parochial business is conducted, than was apparent at St. Law- rence parish. Where the allowance to the pau[)ers in the work- house was less, as in most of the agricultural parishes, the condition of the independent labourers, as com[)ared with the general condition of the paupers, appeared to be much the same. 1 have not attempted to arrange the selection in any geogra- phical order; as the evidence given by several of the witnesses examined in the metropolis, related to other districts where they had also become conversant with the administration of the poor-laws ; and as 1 have added proofs and illustrations obtained from disconnected sources. Although the selection [ have 202 Mr. ChadwicFs Report made consists chiefly of fragments, serving to show the character of the mass of evidence collected, it is much longer than I desired to make it, but I trust that it will not appear dispropor- tionate to the importance of the districts visited, when it is con- sidered that the metropolis comprehends one-eleventh part of the population, and pays nearly one-seventh of the total amount of rates raised for the relief of the poor in Great Britain. 1 have the honour to be, My Lords and Gentlem.en, Your very obedient and very humble Servant, Edwin Chadwicr. London, Jan. 24th, 1833. Evidence of Mr. Charles Hodges, Assistant-Overseer to the Parish of Windsor. " The parochial affairs of this town are managed by a committee of twelve inhabitants, and by the parish officers. As the assistant- overseer, I receive a salary of 100/. When a poor person applies for permanent relief, I inquire into the circumstances of the case, and report to the committee. Casualties are relieved by ' the overseer in pay.' There are four overseers, and they each take it in turn, for three months, to pay all the parochial demands. Casual relief is seldom given without consulting me. Every shilling or sixpence of casual relief spent is now entered into a book, and the account is examined and passed weekly. I think it requisite, as a security, that all accounts, consisting of nume- rous items for small sums, should be examined at short periods. This practice has been adopted with us about two years, and has been productive of considerable saving. This saving has been accomplished partly by looking after the accounts, and partly by looking closely after the objects relieved. The practice of making short settlements, and rendering the accounts of each item to the board, is very serviceable to the latter object, inasmuch as gentle- men at the board frequently contribute useful information on the inspection of these items. If the actounts were for long periods, and the items very numerous, they would not be so frequently examined. In summer quarters the average casual relief may be about 7/. weekly ; in winter it may be double that amount." "We have no labour to give our paupers but work on the roads. They work from six o'clock in the morning in summer until five in the afternoon, and in the winter from seven until four. To single men a shilling a day is given. To married men with two children we give Is. Gc?. a day ; to men with larger families from London and Berkshire. 203 we give 2s. a day. About twelve men, with large families, have their rents paid by the parish. Generally I e.Kpect, when we are informed of an application for relief from a large family of eight or nine children, that two or three of those children are grown up and capable of work. Provisions are, I think, dearer somewhat here than in the agricultural parishes : the loaf is a penny or a halfpenny dearer here. We do not consider that 125. a week is more than sufficient in this district to maintain a labour- ing man and his family. Private individuals do not give more here than 12.s. a week to a day-labourer. No distinction is made by private individuals between married and single men ; they give them the same waijes." "Is the parish work here piece-work ? — It is not. " Then your paupers work less than other day-labourers, do they not? — Yes: they work less time. " And within that time do they do as much work ? — No, sir, they want a good deal of looking after : they are always on the look-out for me, or for any overseer. There is a superintendent, but he is in fact a pauper, and he is rather easy with them. " How much less time do your parish-labourers work than indus- trious labourers, who maintain themselves ? — About one hour daily, summer and winter. They have also opportunities of pick- ing up a shilling by odd jobs in the town. " Then a pauper with a family gets from your parish the same wa ores as an industrious labourer; they moreover cret their rents paid ; they have opportunities of picking up additional shillings, and they work less time, and do less work than the industrious labourer. And they are also relieved from the burthen of looking out for work ? — Yes, that is the case. Formerly we used to give labourers Is. 6d. per day, but they complained to the magis- trates that it was not enough to support them, and the magistrates recommended that more should be given. The paupers always, when thev think they have not enough, run to the magistrates, and this is a check to any strictness on the part of the overseers. " What is there to prevent the industrious and independent labourers who have large families throwing themselves on the parish, and placing themselves in the more advantageous situation of jiaupers? — Only the sense of degradation. " Is this sense of degradation diminishing ? — It is. " What is the characteristic of the wives of paupers and their families? — The wives of paupers are dirty, and nasty, and indo- lent ; and the children generally neglected, and dirty, and va- grants, and immoral. " How are the cottages of the independent labourers as com- pared to them ? — ^The wile is a very different person : she and her 204 Mr. Chadwick''s Report children are clean, and her cottage tidy. I have had very exten- sive opportunities of observing the difference in my visits; the difterence is so strikingf to me. that in passino- alono- a row of cot- tages I could tell, in nine instances out of ten, which were pau- ^pers' cottages, and which were the cottages of the independent labourers. " And what chance do you see of dispauperizing any of the paupers .'' — None, with the present generation of them, unless with very severe measures indeed. When a family is once on the parish, it is very difficult to cjet them otf". We have cases of three grenera- tions of paupers. If the overseers were to adopt severe measures to put a stop to the system, the paupers woidd run with piteous tales to the magistrate, who orders the relief and censures the over- seer. If overseers are strict, their conduct is also censured by the local newspapers. Tradesmen in these places Avill not make tiiem- selves martyrs. " What do you think of the expediency of withdrawing all appeal to the magistrates ? — I think it would be advantageous to give the final decision in all applications for relief to the connnittee for the management of the poor-rates. The thing desirable is, to remove the responsibility from individual overseers. If the deci- sion were with the committee they would be a satisfactory check to any imdue rigour on the part of individuals, and would at the same time know more of the merits of each case, and of the tes- timony, than can be known by the magistrates. One individual may be indiscreetly severe, but in a board selected from such a town as this, it is impossible that a whole board should sanc- tion it. " Within your experience, how many overseers b.ave been dis- posed to act with strictness? — In the course of about nine years 1 have observed about four individuals so disposed out of thirty- four officers *. * Nearly all the permanent parochial officers to whom I have put similar questions, have ^iven similar answers, as to the proportion of those who were disposed to act harshly towards applicants for relief It appeared from the individual instances which they adduced, that nearly all the persons so cha- racterised were men of inferior education, who had risen from the lower stations in society. Sometimes a tradesman, servinji; the office of overseer, will treat with harshness or neglect applications made to him for relief whilst he is cniraged in business ; but I'roui the testimony which I have received, it may be stated as a general rule, applicable to the ([uestions of making the decisions of elective vestries final on applications for parochial relief; that the chances amount almost to certainty, that in boards, com- posed of individuals such as usually serve parochial offices in the towns, there will always be a secure majority for the protection of deserving ap- plicants. Tliis is, indeed, admittcnl by every one of the few experienced witnesses who have thought magisterial interference necessary for the from London and Berkshire. 205 " Have you refused applicants relief unless they went into the house ? — Yes ; and a large proportion decline going into it, and we get rid of them. " Are there many charitable ladies in your district? — Many ladies very charitable indeed. Sir. " Now do these paupers, whose wages and residences you have described, receive in addition to their other advantages of rent-free cottages, easier work for shorter times than independent labourers, derive advantages from the attentions of charitable ladies ? " Yes ; the ladies are very charitable to them, and are cheated on all sides by them, and imposed upon by piteous stories. ^' How long do you think it will be, under these influences, before all the industrious and independent poor will better them- protection of the poor. The following is an extract from the examination of Mr. Carvill, the assistant-overseer of the parish of St. Bride's, in the city of London: — " I think the present mode of transacting parochial business a great grievance ; and that there should be one magistrate to attend to parochial business. I think there should be a magistrate to appeal to, as parish officers are sometimes disposed to be harsh towards the pauper. How many parish officers have you known as serving since you were in office ? — Twelve. Of that twelve, how many were characterised by undue severity ? — Two. What do you consider the general average proportion of men characterised by such a disposition found serving such offices? — I think about two in twenty ; indeed, I might say, not one in twenty. Were the men to whom you allude men of education, or men who had been raised from the lowest ranks of life? — They were men comparatively uneducated: they were the most uneducated. Nineteen out of twenty of the persons chosen as parish officers in the city of London, you would then consider as disposed to deal fahly and humanely to a pauper, whatever might be their interest in getting rid of his claim ? — Yes, I have no doubt whatever of that. And lean to the side of benevolence rather than of undue severity ? — Yes. And would pro- tect the fair claim of a pauper? — Yes. Are you contident of that? — Yes, I am confident of that. If then the final decision of a pauper's claim were left to a board composed of men, nineteen out of twenty of whom are disposed, as you state, to ' lean to the side of benevolence rather than of severity,' and to ' protect the fair claim of a pauper," whatever might be their supposed pecuniary interest in getting rid of that claim, do you think there would be any danger?— I have not had any experience of the working of a large board of officers." From the testimony I have received in other cases, I am led to believe that in most instances where an overseer who has risen from a lower station in so- ciety is " disposed to be harsh towards the pauper," it will be foundthat this overseer comes to a conclusion more quickly than his brethren, by judging from his own experience what frugality and industry may achieve, or from knowing better what a person of the condition of the pauper might do. This conclusion being usually enunciated without the reasons, and with uncon- trolled temper, has the pppearance of harshness and cruelty, though it may be substantially just. But be the explanatioti what it may, the whole evi- dence, which I liave received, proves that on all boards inditforently chosen from the middle classes, the deserving applicant will have a " secure ma- jority." 20G Mr. Chadwick's Report selves by getting large families and becoming paupers ? — I cannot sav. Sir. " On a further examination of this witness^ as to whether other paupers than those, the rents of whose cottages were paid by the parish, had not demanded similar benefits. He stated that they had ; and that the complaints from other paupers, " who did not see why they had not as much right as others to have their rents paid," had become so numerous, that the committee had determined that no nev/ applicants should have their rents paid, and that the practice should cease as the present possessors of the privilege died oif. " The witness, in answer to further interrofyatories, stated : — In Windsor we have often a o-reat number of artizans and labourers brought into the town by the works carried on at the palace. About five years ago we had three or four hvmdred addi- tional labourers. In cases of sickness, or of improvidence, we had sometimes to remove them to their parish. But, more frequently, the mechanics had clubs, and the parish was greatly relieved by their declaring on their clubs on such occasions. In consequence of a suspicion that Government wanted to get hold of their money, the labourers who had constituted clubs in this town broke them up. We had four clubs, we have now only one, and that wiU shortly be broken up. I never heard the regulations under the new act par- ticularly objected to. These clubs v/ere, when in operation, a great relief to the parisli, and their dissolution will be a severe misfortune to it. We have a savings bank in this town, but I cannot state what is its progress. Mr. Adams, the cai-penter, who employs about ten or twelve men, has instituted a fund among his men, who each contribute 2c/. a week to provide for casualties. In this way a considerable fund has accumulated, and from this fimd casualties have been provided for, and the parish has at various times been saved serious expenses. Mr. Ramsbottom, the brewer, has made up a fund of this sort, and when a workman is sick he is allowed from this fund the same wagfes as when he is in health and at work. In this instance, also, the parish has been saved from serious burdens. I tliink it would be of very material assist- ance to all parishes if the employers of workmen would patronize trade clubs of tliis sort, and take the trouble of them." " In tliis town there are various ancient charities, and we have had instances of people settling in the parish for the purpose of ob- taining a share of the produce of these charities." from London and Berhshire, 207 Evidence of Mr. William TVinJcworth, the Overseer of the Parish of St. Mary's, Reading. " In this town great advantages would be derived by an union of the parishes. There would be great gain derived from an union : first, in obtaining more etficient officers and administrators ; next, in systematic and united management; thirdly, in more econo- mical expenditure; and, fourthly, in finding things for labour, and in directing the labour of the able-bodied paupers." " The town, for example, wants draining. We have brick- makers and carpenters, and other labourers, on the parishes, re- ceiving relief; and the whole town might be well drained by the labour of these paupers, at the expense of materials only, bricks, wood, mortar, and sand. This, however, is a work which the parishes cannot, or wiU not, undertake separately : it is prevented by petty jealousies and dissensions, and the want of able officers to direct the work of the paupers. The owners of premises well situated and well drained, say, " Drainage is a benefit to the owners of the property, and we do not see why we should be called upon to contribute money for their benefit." The owners of the houses where the drainage is most wanted say, " We can get no rents to pay for the work, and the nuisances which are caused by the want of it must therefore continue." No account is taken of the necessity of finding work of any sort for the able-bodied paupers : nothing can be done with the separate parishes governed by open vestries, no cordial co-operation can be got, and the benefit of considerable labour is lost. As the sur- veyor of the road from this town to Basingstoke, and also of the road from hence to ShilUngford, I can state, from my observation of the several parishes (19 in number) through which these roads pass, that very considerable labour might be found, under good direction, in improving their private roads. This is an instance of the sort of work which might frequently be found for paupers. In some of the parishes the roads are kept in very good order, — but this is mere accident; whilst in the immediately adjoining parishes more money will be expended, and the roads will, nevertheless, be in so bad a state, that the parish is indictable ibr them. The most conspicuous examples of the skill used in one parish, rarely produce any imitation in the next parish. The farmers, in general, steadily adhere to their old practices, and never willingly conform to any improvements; they employ waggons where carts would serve much better : they throw down on the roads mate- rials totally inapplicable, and think they can mend them with big loose stones, winch stones would really be useful, if they were broken up." 208 Mr. Chadivick's Report " I have sometimes twelve and sometimes thirty men in my em- ployment as surveyor, but I have no paupers. I will not have them. I cannot trust them. They are so lazy and demoralized, that they cannot be got to do anything without constant goading and superintendence *. They require a superintendent to every half dozen of them. Sometimes one of them is appointed as a superintendent of the others ; but that is of very little use, as it requires some one constantly to superintend the superintendent. Small parishes have no officer who can be employed, nor can they pay any one who can be depended on, to see that the paupers do their work properly. Independent workmen, who have not been demoralized by being admitted on the parish, do not require the same expense of superintendence. " If several parishes were united, they could afford to pay for some one to direct the labour of the paupers lor the whole of them. " If provisions were supplied and all parochial work were per- formed by contract, excessive waste would be arrested. I think that it is only by the union of parishes, under a select vestry, that proper officers can be obtained, or systematic management be instituted. I am confident that a select vestry would save more * T found that the witnesses in all the parishes, town or country, agreed as to the superior value of non-parishioners as labourers. In examining one witness (Mr. J. W. Cockerell, the assistant-overseer of Putney) as to the operation of a birth settlement, and the removal of paupers from his parish to their settlements in the i-ural parishes, I asked him whether there were not many of the paupers who had applied for relief from his parish, and who had withdrawn their claims when they were told that they would be removed to their parishes in the country ? He stated that many had refused ; and in answer to further questions as to what became of these persons who refused to be removed, he stated (as all the other witnesses, who had the means of observing the subsequent conduct of the applicants, stated) that these paupers remained, and afterwards attained a much better condition than they had ever bei'urc attained while they considered that parochial re- sources were available to them on the failure of their own. He cited the cases of nine families who had applied for relief, but had refused it when they were told that they would be removed. Six of these families, he said, IukI not only been saved i'rom ])auperism, but they were now in a better situation than he had ever l)eibre known them to be in. In two instances particularly, the withdrawal of dependence on parochial relief had been the means of withdrawing the fathers from the ])ul)lic-houses and beer shops, and making them steady and good workmen. " Indeed," said he, " it is a common remark amongst the employers of labourers in our parish, that the non- parishioners are worth three or four shillings a week more than the parish- ion(;rs. This is because they have not the poors-rates to (ly to. The em- ployers also remark that the non-parishioners are more civil and obliging than the others." In this parish the usual wages of the singk; labourer are about 1 2.V. per week : and the deterioration of the labourer by the influence of the ])r('sc!iit system of aduiinisterint>- the poor laws, may therefore, accord- ing to the witnesses" statement, be set down as i'rom live and twenty to more than thirty percent. Other witnesses declare that the deterioration is much more considerable. from London and Berkshire. 209 than one-third of the expense in this district. The obstacles to the union of the parishes here arise chiefly from the weahhy and less burdened parishes, who object to the union on the ground of an apprehended increase of their rates from the greater burdens of the parishes chiefly inhabited by the poor. But I would meet this objection, by allotting to each parish only its own share of burdens; by allowing each to raise money as they pleased, and only uniting them for the purpose of expenditure." Some conception of the state of the out-door poor in some of the agricultural parishes may be formed from the fact stated by the Rev. Mr. Cherry, of Burghfield, who says : — " The difference between parish work and private work is exemplified by the fact, that in many instances single men in our parish have preferred six shillings a-week for working on the roads or in the gravel- pits, to seven or eight shillings a-week for working for the farmer." Mr. Clift, the assistant-overseer, gave stronger instances ; and stated that he had known instances where the men who received six shillings a-week from the parish, had refused nine shillings a-week from the farmer. The following^ extracts from the evidence of one of the assistant*- overseers of Lambeth parish, and from other officers of the Lon- don parishes, exemplifies the effects of the system in the metro- polis : — Mr. Luke Teather, Assistant- Overseer of St. Mary, Lambeth. " If you could get hard work for your able-bodied out-door poor^ so as to make their condition on the whole less eligible than that of the independent labourer, what proportion of those who are now chargeable to the parish do you think would remain so ? — On a rouo^h ouess, I do not think that more than one out of five would remain. " Can you state any facts to justify that conclusion ? — Yes ; — the instances of the proportions who have left us on their having had work given them. Some time ago, for instance, we had a lot of granite broken ; there were not above twenty per cent, of the men who becran the work who remained to work at all : there were not above two per cent, who remained the whole of the time during which the work lasted. Many of them, however, were not idle men ; but they found other jobs.'' Mr. Oldershaw, the vestry-clerk of Islington, states : — " It sometimes costs us more — (the grinding corn by a mill) — than the wheat ground ; but then it keeps numbers away, and in that way we save. When it became known that we could not get p 210 Mr. ChadwicFs Report work for the whole of our able-bodied, we had, in two or three days, one-third more of this class of applicants, and unless we had been able to provide work of some sort so as to keep the great body of the able-bodied employed, w^e should have been inundated with them." With the view of reducing the parochial expenditure of the populous parish of Marylebone, the stone-yard was discontinued, as it was believed to be conducted at a loss, and the able-bodied paupers receiving out-door relief were no longer employed. Soon after this proceeding, the able-bodied applicants for parochial relief increased in such numbers, that it has recently been found necessary to recur to the use of the stone-yard to stem the influx. Nine hundred of the applicants for relief were set to work : only eighty-five have continued at work. The average wages were fronj 10s. to 12s. per week, but some got as much as 18s. In the agricultural parishes I found that, although the circum- stances of an out-door pauper, as to whether he were or not in employment, and his capability for laboin-, were in general suffi- ciently well known ; and although the mischievous character of demands and allowances of parochial relief to out-door paupers was distinctly perceived by parish officers, yet they made the allowances under fear of personal consequences. In one parish, where the rates had been reduced nearly one-half, and the con- dition of the laboiu-ers improved by the partial adoption of a more strict system of administration, the progress of improvement was stopped by the farmers, who were paralysed with terror by the acts of incendiarism which prevailed in adjacent parishes. In the metropolis I have found this cause — the fear of violence from the out-door paupers — in direct operation, as an obstacle to retrenchment, in only three or four parishes. In most town parishes the chief causes of profusion are — first, an uncontrollable facility and temptation to fraud, which appears to be unavoidable in the administration of any out-door relief in towns, when not given in the shape of wages for labour ; next, the ignorance of the annual officers ; and often, the operation of interests on their parts at variance with their duties. The frauds conmiitted in consequence of the facilities which the system of granting out- door relief affords, are such as these : — parties receiving relief as beinof out of work, when they are in work ; parties wiio have received relief in consequence of being actually out of work, conti- nuing to receive relief after they have obtained work; parties who have received out-door relief in money on account of sickness, conti- nuing to receive that relief after they have recovered ; women receiv- innf relief on the ground that lliey have been deserted by their hus- from London and Berkshire. 2H bands, whilst their husbands are hvino' with them ; women re- ceiving rehef for themselves and families on the pretence that the husband is absent in search of work, while he is absent in full Avork; parties continuing to receive pensions for children or rela- tions, as if they were alive, when they are dead. The following extract from the evidence of an experienced and able parish otficer (Mr. Huish, assistant-overseer of St. George's, Southwark) will afford examples : — " The most injurious portion of the poor-law system is the out- door relief. I do not serve a day without seeing some new mis- chiefs arise from it. In the smaller parishes persons are liable to all sorts of influences. In such a parish as ours, where we administer relief to upwards of two thousand out-door poor, it is utterly impossible to prevent considerable fraud, whatever vigi- lance is exercised. " Has the utmost vigilance been tried ? — Suppose you go to a man's house as a visitor : — you ask where is Smith (the pauper) ? you see his wife or his children, who say they do not know where he is, but that they believe he is gone in search of work. How are you to tell, in such a case, whether he is at woi'k or not? It could only be by following him in the morning; and you must do that every day, because he may be in work one day, and not another. Svippose you have a shoemaker who demands relief of you, and you give it him on his declaring that he is out of work. You visit his place, and you find him in work ; you say to him, as I have said to one of our own paupers, ' Why, Edwards, I thought you said you had no work ?' and he will answer, ' Neither had I any ; and I have only got a little job /or the day.' He will also say directly, ' I owe for my rent ; I have not paid my chandler's shop score ; I have been summoned, and I expect an execution out against me, and if you stop my relief, I must come home,' (that is, he must go into the workhouse.) The overseer is immediately frightened by this, and says, ' What a family that man has got ! it will not do to stop his relief.' So that, unless you have a considerable number of men to watch every pauper every day, you are sure to be cheated. Some of the out-door paupers are children, others are women ; but, taking one with another, I think it would require one man's whole time to watch every twenty paupers, " Some time ago there was a shoemaker, who had a wife and family of four children, who demanded relief of the parish, and obtained an allowance of 5s. per week. He stated that he worked for Mr. Adderley, the shoemaker, who now lives in the Hicrh- street in the Borough. The man stated in applying for relief, that, however he worked, he could earn no more than 13s. per p 2 212 Mr. ChadwicFs Report week. A respectable washerwoman informed me, that the way in which this family hved was such, that slie was convinced the man earned enougli to support them honestly, without burthening the parish, and that it was a shame for him to receive relief. In con- sequence of this information I objected to the allowance : but one of the overseers, taking up the book, said, ' But here is the account, signed by Mr. Adderley himself : can you doubt so respectable a man ?' Still I was not satisfied ; and I watched the man, and found him going to Mr. Pulbrook's, in Blackfriars Road. When the man quitted the shop, I went in and asked whether the man who had just left worked for them. Mr. Pulbrook stated that he did work for them, and had done so during the last twelve months : that he was one of the best shoemakers who had ever worked for him ; that he earned only about 12s. a week, and that he (Mr. Pulbrook) regretted he had not more work for him. The man had left his book, which I bor- rowed. When the man came to the board, I said to him. Do you know Mr. Pulbrook, of Blackfriars Road ? ' Yes, I do very well.' Do you ever work for him ? — ' I have done a job now and then for him.' I then asked, whether he had not earned as much as 10.9. or 12s. a week from him. His reply was ' No, never.' I then produced the book between him and Mr. Pulbrook, from which it appeared that he had earned from lO.y. to 12s. per week for the time stated. This took him by surprise, and he had no answer to make. The relief was refused him, and he never came again; I afterwards ascertained, that, in addition to the 13s. a week which he earned from Mr. Addei'ley, and the 12s. a week which he earned from Mr. Pulbrook, his wife and himself worked for Mr. Drew, the slopseller, living at Newington Causeway, and earned 7s. a week from him. On the average of the year round they did not earn less than 30s. per week. The man was afterwards spoken to about the loss of the parish allowance, when he said, — * I did not like to lose it : it was a d — d hard case ; it was like a freehold to me, for I have had it these seven years." " No inspector woidd have found out such a case except by con- stant watching or favourable accidents. It might be supposed strange that a shoemaker could have earned no more than 12s. a week ; but his answer was, that his bodily infirmities were such, that he could not sit long enough to enable him to earn more than such a Sinn. This morning, 1 said to a man of the name of Tay- lor, a tinman, who is receiving 4s. a week, — 'Taylor, how can you come here and wnste 3-ourtimcto get your lazy shiUing, whilst, if you staid at home, you might earn your honest eighteen-pence, and set your family a good example?' His reply was, ' 1 have no work; I can't earn anything.' I answered, ' Why, every time I pass from London and Berkshire. 213 your house, except on relieving- days, I always find you hammer- ing.' ' Yes, so I may be, — penny or twopenny jobs : will you find me work V I replied, ' That I could not seek pans to mend for him.' He went away with his money. Had I positively chal- lenged this man, the first question with the annual officers would have been, ' What is your family ? ' ' There are six of us,' it would be replied. ' What a family for a poor man to maintain !' exclaim the overseers ; ' let him have the money.' The overseers are in perpetual fear of a man with his wife and family coming into the workhouse. They usually say, in such a case as this, ' We pay 4s. per head for their keep in the workhouse ; here is six times 4s. — what a dift'erence this is ! Let us keep them out at all risks.' We have had instances of sawyers leaving their work and paying men to work for them, whilst they came and got relief. Within these few days we found out the case of a cabinet-maker named Bayhs, working for a Mr. Edwards in Lambeth Walk, and at the same time receiving 6s. Qd. per week from us, under a pre- tence that he was out ol" work. In fact^ such discoveries are per- petual. " Does the practice of obtaining out-door relief extend amongst respectable classes of mechanics, whose work and means of living are tolerably good ? — I am every week astonished by seeing per- sons come whom I never thought would have come. The greater number of our out-door paupers are worthless people ; but still the number of decent people who ought to have made provision for themselves, and who come, is very great, and increasing. One brings another ; one member of a family brings the rest of a family. Thus I find, in two days' relief, the following names : — ' John Arundell, a sawyer, aged 55, his son William, aged 22, a wire-drawer ; Ann Harris, 58, her husband is in Greenwich Hospital ; her son John and his wife also come separately, so does their son, a lad aged 18, a smith.' Thus we have pauper father, pauper wife, pauper son, and pauper grandchildren frequently applying on the same relief-day. One neighbour brings another. Not long since a very young woman, a widow, named Cope, who is not more than 20 years of age, applied for relief; she had only one child. After she had obtained relief, I had some suspicion that there was something about this young woman not like many others. I spoke to her, and pressed her to tell me the real truth as to how so decent a young woman as herself came to us for relief: she replied that she was ' imehouse, states that a family might earn 100/., on which they could live, but not save. Hammersmith — a family might earn 49/. 8v., which would give them wholesome food, and they might and do save. from London and Berkshire. 235 The extract I have given will, perhaps, sufRce as a portion of the evidence tending to show the state of information on which rates of wages are determined, and adjudications are made on appeals against the allowances of parish officers. But on the part of those parish officers who come more immediately in contact with the labouring classes, and have the means of ob- taining better information to determine as to the absolute neces- sity of the relief, I commonly found, in the districts wdiere the allowance systems prevails, that they were daily acting in the teeth of conclusive evidence, constantly obtruded on their notice. At Newbury, for instance, on examining the books in the pre- sence of the assembled parish officers, I found that they gave relief in aid of wages. The officers ex[)ressed a decided opuiion that it was impossible for labourers of thot class to subsist without such assistance as they received from the parish. The following is an extract from my notes of the examination of these officers : — " Are those whose names appear in the books as persons re- ceiving relief in aid of wages, all the labourers of this class or of those conditions residing within the town ?" — The parish officers declared that they were only as a minority of those in the town. [Colonel Page, who did me the favour to assist me in the inquiry, observed that they did not probably form more than one-tenth of all the labourers in the parish.] " Do the rest of the labourers receive no higher wages than those Avho obtain parochial rehef ? — We believe that their Avages are the same." *' Amongst the large class of labourers who do not come for relief, is there not the usual proportion of married men, and many with large families ^ — Yes, we know there is." " And yet, working at the same description of work and receiv- ing no higher wages than the others, they maintain their families without asking aid of the parish ? — Yes, they do do it, but how they do it we cannot tell. They are above coming to the parish," " Is the fact that these independent labourers do live without receiving relief in aid of wages, any proof to your minds that others may live without rates in aid of wages ? Is the occurrence of the fact before you any evidence of its possibility ? " To this interrogatory I received no answer ; and I passed on to another head of inquiry. Similar answers were given by the parish officers of Bethnal Green, to similar questions with relation to the silk-weavers. In Bethnal Green it is pronounced impossible that weavers who have families can live without relief in aid of wages. In the adjacent parish of INIile-End, New Town, which is chiefly occu- 236 Mr. Chad wick's Report pied by silk-weavers, (he parish officers state that they give no relief whatever to workmen when at work ; and the workmen or this parish do not appear to be more distressed than the weavers of Bethnal Green, though working for the same market, and at the same average rate of wages. The evidence with relation to the labourers in agricultural districts which I visited appeared to establish these facts : that the labourers have now the means of obtaining as much of neces- saries and comforts as at any former period, if not more : — i. e., that their wages will go as far, if not farther than at any time known to the present generation : that, although the posi- tion of the agricultural labourers may be (as the subsequent evidence will show), relatively to others, one of great disadvan- tage, it is nevertheless a {)osition, from which they may fall still lower, and that the single labourers are aware, that if the facti- tious inducements to improvident marriages afforded by the ordinary administration of the poor-laws were removed, it would be their interest to remain unmarried, until thev had attained a situation of greater comfort and secured the means of providing for their offspring. The Rev. H. C. Cherry, the Rector of Burghfield parish, near Reading, stated tome, in his account of the discontinuance of the allowance-system in that parish, that " the whole of the single labourers, including those who were on the parish, as well as those who were independent, hailed the notification" (that rates would no longer be allowed in aid of wages) "with great satisfaction, as they considered that it would render wages in future more pro- portioned to their labour, and that single men would have a better chance." Mr. Cliff, the assistant-overseer of the same parish, stated, that '^whilst the allowance system went on, it was a com- mon thing for young people to come to me for parish relief two or three days after they were married : — nay, I have had them come to me just as they came out of church, and apply to me for a loaf of bread to eat, and for a bed to lie on that night. But this sort of marriages is now checked, and in a few years the parish will probably be brought about. If the former system had gone on, we should have been swallowed up in a short time, " Is your knowledge of the individuals resident in your parish such, that you can state, without doubt, that there are per- sons in it, now single, who would, under the influence of the system of allowing rates in aid of wages, have married, had that system been continued ? — I have no doubt whatever that several of them would have married : 1 know them so well that I am sure of it." biniilar effects had been produced by the allowance system in from London and Berkshire. 237 Swallowfield ; but, by the abatement of the cause, the effects have ceased. In these parishes every marriaj^e, and its chief circum- stances, was known to one or other of the parish officers. I thought this an opportunity to bring to the test the evidence which I had everywhere received as to the operation of the allow- ance system, and of the chief effects which its discontinuance may be expected to produce. I therefore framed a schedule under the following heads, and requested the Rev. Mr. Cherry, the minister of Burghfield, and j\Ir. Russell of Swallowfield, a magistrate and landed proprietor, to fill them up : — " State the number of marriages which have been solemnized in your parish during each year, from 1810 to 1832, or for as long a period as may be practicable. " State how many of these marriages, according to the best of your knowledge, have been improvident ; i. e. Avith so little pro- vision (even for persons of the lowest class of life) that it may be presumed the marriages would not have taken place, except on the assurance derived from the previous mal-administration of the poor-laws, that provision for the children would be obtained from the parish. " How many children have been born of parents so married ? *' The number of these children who have in any way become chargeable to the parish. •' The number of bastards born in the parish during each of those years." The following are the returns which liave been furnished : — 238 Mr. ChadivkliS Report BURGHFIELD. SWALLOWFIELD. Year. Is ■3 CO Childrpn from impvo v marriages. -6 S to pa en o »3 is •= 60 £'£ CO 11 1 a 1810 4 1 5 all 2 2 12 2 1811 6 2 7 do. 1 2 10 1 1812 7 1 5 do. 1 4 16 4 1813 9 2 4 do. 5 — 1814 4 do. 1 6 1 3 1815 7 do. 4 2 5 2 1816 2 — do. 3 3 — 14 3 1 1817 4 1 4 do. 1 1 4 1 1 1S18 8 2 2 do. 4 1 2 1 3 1819 3 do. 2 1820 10 2 10 do. 3 1 2 1821 6 1 4 do. 2 1 1822 3 do. 1 2 7 2 1823 6 2 6 do. 3 2 1 6 1 1824 7 do. 2 1 5 1 1825 4 do. 2 7 1826 4 1 3 do. 3 3 1 9 2 1827 6 2 Linkn awn. 1828 5 1 3 do. 4 3 2 5 2 2 ^^ [1829 8 2 1 do. 1 1 1 1 Vi\ 1830 1 1 1 ''^Hl831 2 1 Totals. . . . 115* 20 54 43t 32J 4 112 24 '^ It will be seen that in Bnrghfield, out of one hundred and fifteen marriages, twenty were improvident, and that fifty-four pauper children were the produce of these twenty improvident marriages. The allowance system has been discontinued in the parish only two years. In each parish the witnesses s])oke confidently of the effects produced, and spoke not from any returns, but from their own knowledge of the circumstances of every party in the parish. For tliis reason, I consider these returns to be much more satis- factory than any to be obtained from parishes of greater extent ; for in those the knowledge of the individual cases must be * Averages^ and a fraction per annum : reduction since 1829, CO per cent. •!■ Average 2 per annum : reduced 75 per cent. :!: Avcnij^e l.l and a iVactiou per annum : reduction 75 per cent, for last three years : reduction since select vestry GO per cent. from London and BerksJure. 239 indistinct in proportion to their number, and the distance of their residences. Mr, Russell states in a letter to me, in explanation of his returns,' — " The heading of column four, I have been obliged to alter from ' Paupers therefrom' to ' Number of families relieved.' Owing to the mode in \vhich relief is indiscriminately given in this county, under the name of ' bread-money,' the number of children that have become chargeable cannot be distinctly stated. All that can be done is to state the number oi' families who have received relief collectively by having their earnings made up by the parish to the amount of their ' bread-money.' Out of thirty- two marriages in the twenty-three years, twenty-four or three- fourths of the whole have received relief. In the course of the whole twenty-three years, there have been only four marriages in the parish that I consider as improvident; that is to say, as hav- ing been contracted under a manifest reliance upon parochial re- lief. No such marriage has taken place since the establishment of our Select Vestry in the spring of 1829; but I cannot under- take to say that any such would have taken place, if the vestry had not been established,* nor any improvement made in the way of managing the affairs of the parish. '* The difterence between the number of bastards set opposite the last five years in column 5, and the number given to the corresponding years, in one of my answers to the ' rural queries,' arises from this — that the present table states the number borUt and my answer, the number chargeable, in each year. " During the ten years, from 1813 to 1822, there were thirteen marriages, producing thirty-four children, and ten of those fami- lies received relief. During the last ten years there have been eleven marriages, producing forty children, and yet only seven of the families have received relief. '' During the four years preceding the establishment of our Select Vestry, viz. from 1825 to 1828, there were eight marriages, of which three were improvident ; producing twenty-one children ; and four of those families received relief. During the four years that our ves- try has been in action, there have been only two marriages, neither of them improvident, producing two children ; one only of those families has received relief, and that because both the husband and the wife had children by former marriages." * The other witnesses, who, from their situation in Ufe, are proLably much better acquainted with the labourers in the parish, spoke confidently as from a knowledge of the influencing circumstances of individual eases, that the decrease of cases of bastardy and a reduction of such marriages by one half, had been solely caused by the improved parochial administration. 240 Mr. Cliadwlck's Report "There has been no bastard born in the parish since the establishment of the select vestry. " The marriages included in the table are those of the agricul- tural labourers only." The Census for the parish of Swallowfield for ISOl, apparently in- cluded the population of another district vvliich is now separated from it. In 1811 the number of inhabitants was 363 1821 347 1831 390 Burghfield iSOl 738 ISll 791 1S21 881 1831 965 Cookham ISUl . . . . . 2239 ISll .... 2411 1821 2734 1S31 3337 In Cookham, from the number of the inhabitants and various other causes, the circumstances of a large proportion of the parties who marry could not be distinguished. But the removal of the bounty on improvident marriages afforded by the allow- ance system, has been attended by a marked check to the popu- hition. The Rev. Thomas Whately states in his evidence: — " I have examined the register of baptisms, and taken three periods of nine years each ; the last is that during which the new system has been adopted ; the other two comprise the eighteen years immediately preceding it." The respective numbers are 593, 706, 676 : hence, in the first period, the i;icrease was 19 per cent., and in the latter period the c/ecrease was 4-3 per cent., and this decrease of procreation was going on during a period in which the population was increasing at the rate of 222 percent. Very marked effects with relation to bastardy were produced in this parish by the adoption of the plan of allowing the mother only a shilling a week, and giving her the alternative of the work- house. Not only has the charge of bastards been diminished, from 184^. 17s. to 33/. 4s, 6c?., but the bastards have not been brought into existence ; as it a[)pears, by the register, that only one has been christened in each year for the last three years. It appears that previously the expense for bastards was 10 per cent, on the gross expenditure of the parish. The above plan Mr. Whately considered must produce a similar or greater reduc- tion all over the kinjidom *. * Mr. Whately t,'uve the following instance in illustration of the immoral tendency of the Ijastardy luv.'i ;— - " A man from London and Berkshire. 241 Hitherto I have iriven portions of the evidence tendins; to show the common effects of the mal-administration of the poor- laws. 1 now beij to submit portions of the evidence tending to develope those effects in combination with the effects of common systems of prison disciphne and penal administration ; for in all the more populous districts, I have found that the bad manage- ment of the workhouse and the bad management of the prison, react on each other, and that both exercise a pernicious in- fluence upon the morals and condition of the labouring classes. Mr. Hooker, one of the former overseers of Beihnal-green, stated that — " There are now about one hundred and fifty young able-bodied people, of bad character, thieves and prostitutes, who receive relief from the parish. When relief is not given to them imme- diately they apply, they proceed to Worship-street, and obtain summonses. They will go frequently when they have had relief; and we have reason to believe they have stated that they have had no relief whatever." Mr. Bunn, one of the present overseers of the same parish, stated, — '• It is quite common for the officers from the police-offices to come to our parish to inquire for bad characters against whom charges are made. The police-officers are well acquainted with their characters. It is the worst characters who generally raise tumuUs. They repeatedly tell me, that, by being sent to Bride- well, they are sure of getting plenty of food, and shall be sent out with clothes. I do not know what clothes are given to them there : but I have frequently seen them better dressed when they came out of prison, than they were when they were sent m. Ihey " A man (John Cartland) was engaged to marry a young woman named Bishop. The woman proved to be with child by a man named Hatch. Her disgrace, added to the lover"s disappointment, so ailected the young man's mind, that he attempted suicide ; and after some time offered to enlist for a soldier. At the expiration of two years, having gradually become reconciled to the young woman, he married her, (in spite of her bastard child,) and at a subsequent time, being distressed for money, he appeared before the whole assembled select vestry, and requested the loan of 40s., offering the weekly pay his wife received, for her bastard child, to the parish officers as secm-ity for the repayment of the money advanced. This man, whose feelings were at one time so acute that he could not bear to live— not because he was dis- graced, but because she was, — now stood before the assembled board of the respectable members of the parish, and without a blush or the apparent consciousness of shame, made his wife's disgrace a matter of bargain. Every instance of bastardy is an instance of the demoralizing effects of the bastardy laws." R 242 Mr. Chadwick's Report frequently dare me to send them to Bridewell. There is no diffe- rence between the girls and the men ; except that, of the two, the girls are the worst." Mr. Drouet, the governor of Lambeth workhouse, stated, — " The great want at present is, as I conceive, the means of a proper classification. We have the worst of characters in the house, which, in fact, constantly serves as a hiding-place for thieves : we have, I dare say, thirty thieves, all of whom have been in prison for robberies and various offences, and who, we have reason to believe, commit depredations whenever they are at large. It is a common occurrence to have inquiries made for particular characters at the workhouse, in consequence of offences supposed to have been committed by them. We also have, per- haps, from twenty to thirty prostitutes in the house. These, the worst characters, can always speak with the best cha- racters ; and the forms of the house allow us no means of pre- venting it. We cannot prevent the thief speaking to the young lad, or keep the prostitute from the young girl who has not been corrupted. There is, unhappily, a strong disposition on the part of such characters te bring others to the same condition. I have overheard a prostitute say to a young girl, ' You are good-look- ing; what do you stay in here for? you might get plenty of money ;' and point out to her the mode. Last October, as an experiment, we sent off eight girls to Van Diemen's Land: they were all brought un as workhouse children, and were incorrigible prostitutes. I have evidence that seven of these girls were all corrupted by the same girl, named Maria Stevens. Every one of these girls had been in prison for depredations. One of them had been three times tried for felonies, having robbed the persons with whom she was in service. Such was the influence which this girl had over them, that they would not consent to go until she consented, nor would they be separated from her, and she formed the eighth of the party. The old thieves teach the boys their ways : a few months ago I took one thief before a magistrate for having given lessons to the workhouse boys, whom he had assembled about him, how to ' star the glaze,' as they call it : that is, how to take panes of glass out of shop-windows without break- ing them, or making any noise. Li so large a workhouse as ours the youth are never without ready instructors in iniquitous prac- tices. In the spring many of the workhouse boys discharge themselves, and live during the rest of the year, we have reason to believe, in no other ways than dishonestly: we know it in this way, that the most frequent circumstance under which we hear of them is, of their being in prison for offences : but they do not from London and Berkshire. 243 care a rush for the prisons ; for they always say, ' We hve as well there as in the workhouse.' " Mr. Mott, the contractor, in givine; evidence on the means of employing paupers in the workhouse, alleges, as one of the great obstacles, the constant liability to depredation. " Even in these employments, however*, we are subject to con- tinual losses from mismanagement or depredation. One man we lately prosecuted at the sessions for stealing fifty-one shirts, which he was entrusted to take home, and he was sentenced to seven years' transportation, which, by the way^, I may observe, was a promotion to a place where he would obtain more food, if not more comfort^, than in the workhouse. " Are you sure of that ? " I am sure, from conversations which I have had on the sub- ject with the superintendent of convicts, that the convict receives more bread a-day than the pauper. Indeed, it is notorious at Gosport, where I have heard it descanted upon by many of the inhabitants, that the convicts receive one ounce of meat per day more than the soldiers set to guard them. I heard at Gosport, that the convicts being told to do something which they did not like, one of them exclaimed, in the presence of the military guard, ' What next, I wonder ! d — n it, we shall soon be as bad off as soldiers.' The convicts ridicule the soldiers ; and I have myself seen a convict hold up some food to the guard, saying, ' Soldier, will you have a bit ?' Yet the operation of this system in gaols and workhouses was pointed out years ago, and it still continues. The convict's labour is proportionably slight. *' Do you find this state of things, as to punishment, re-act upon the workhouse ? " Decidedly so ; and most mischievously as to discipline and management. The paupers are well aware that there is, in fact, no punishment for them. From the conversation I have had with convicts, it is clear, that confinement in a prison, or even trans- portation to the hulks, is not much dreaded. ' We are better fed,' I have heard them say, ' have better clothes, and more comfortable lodging, than we could obtain from our labour ;' and the greatest, in fact almost only, punishment they appear to dread, is being deprived of female intercourse. Some months since, three young women (well-known prostitutes) applied for relief at Lambeth workhouse ; and, upon being refused, two of them immediately broke the windows. On the moment, the three were given into custody to the police ; but recollecting that only two were guilty of breaking the windows, the beadle was sent to state the fact, and * Sempstresses, &c. 244 Mr. Chadivick's Report request from the overseer, that the innocent person might be dis- charged : she, however, declared that she would not be separated from her companions, and immediately returned to the house and demolished two or three more windows to accomplish her desire.'" Mr. Benj. Hewitt, keeper of the workhouse of St. Andrew's, Holborn above Bars, and St. George the Martyr, states, — " 1 have constant evidence before me that the diet in our house is as good as the majority of labouring men with families can procure for themselves when in work. I believe that the poor in our workhouse live as well as many of the rate-payers. It operates as a powerful stimulus to persons to come into the house. 1 also see constantly, that many of the labouring classes, having found out that the parish living is no frightful thing, spend all they can. They do not care to save anything for a rainy day; they have no thoughts of the morrow, for they are well aware, that when the rainy day comes, they will be sure to get relief, or admittance to a place of comfort superior to anything their irregular conduct has allowed them to inhabit. Bad character or conduct will not occasion their relief to be forfeited. We have now about one hundred bad characters in the house, many of whom have been the frequent inmates of prisons. " What is the discipline which you enforce in your workhouse upon these characters, or have you any specific discipline ? " There is great difficulty in managing the refractory paupers, in consequence of the ameliorated condition of the inmates ol gaols, where the allowance of bread is greater than in tlie workhouses. Manv of them have told me, ' Oh, we do not care about the prison ; that's where we want to go ; we get more bread there than we can here, and the allowance of meat is the same.' Those who do not say this, prove by their demeanour that they are well- persuaded it is so. " Have you ever known of any inquiry having been made into the mode of living of independent labourers, with the view of determining, by the comparison, what should be the mode of diet of paupers ? " I have never known any incpiiry of this kind made by any governors or directors under whom 1 have acted. I think it would be of great importance, that the condition of labouring people should be taken into account, and that a general uni- Ibrmity of diet should be established in all the })arishes. An uniformity of diet would prevent a large proportion of the paupers shitting about, and great expense of litigation. It is most im- portant, too, to diminish the inducement to labouring })eople cuuuug into the workhouse ; and hence the diet should be for able and refractory men, on the lowest possible scale. The progress from London and Berkshire. 245 of pauperism would be abated by proper regulations ; and I am certain that the expense of the present paupers maintained by the parishes might be reduced one-quarter for such classes. Similar attention to the diet of prisoners in prisons is requisite, as I con- ceive^ to enable us to maintain discipline in workhouses. " What influence has your diet and general mode of maintain- ing paupers had upon the rising generation of paupers or the paupers' children ? " Many of them have left the workhouse with great reluctance. They have frequently cried on leaving it ; and I have known them come back to it, when they have been sent out on liking to be apprenticed to respectable persons. They have been dissa- tisfied with the treatment which those respectable people gave them, as compared with the workhouse treatment. The proposed master has said to me, ' I cannot keep the child, for he seems so unhappy, that it is of no use keeping him.' About two years ago we reduced the diet of the unworthy paupers, amongst which is mchided the greater portion of the able-bodied. Previous to that time, girls for whom we got places in service were careless about keeping them, as they told their employers that they lived well in the workhous-e, and had not so much to do. The girls having thus thrown themselves out of work, were invariably taken into the workhouse again, on the recommendation of the magistrates, to keep them from running the streets. Even now instances of similar misconduct happen, but by no means so frequently. The diet is not at present so low as it might be for these classes." Mr. Huish, the assistant-overseer of the populous parish of St. George's, Southwark, states — " It is astonishing that we are so quiet in our workhouse, from what I have heard of the keep of persons in prisons, which is better even than of persons in the workhouses. A short time ago a man named Abbot was refused the amount of out-door relief which he claimed ; we told him, ' We cannot give you what you want.' He said that ' He must and tooidd have it.' We told him he must get work ; he said he could not get work, and would not seek work, he would sooner go into pri- son. I told him that if he did not take care he would get into prison : ' You have been in prison already,' said I, *.and you would hardly wish to go there again V ' Indeed I don't care,' said he ; '1 can live better there than 1 can anywhere out of prison.' ' But if you go on in this way you will get transported.' ' You are mistaken,' said he, '^ if you suppose 1 care for being transported. I know well enough that if 1 arrl, I shall be better taken care of, and shall live like a gentleman.' He proved that 246 Mr. Chadivick's Report he did not care for a prison, for he conducted himself so out- rageously, that we were compelled to take him before a magis- trate, who committed him to Brixton. This was the fourth or fifth time he had been at Brixton on our account. This man had been brought up as a mechanic, in a branch in which, had he been a man of good character, he might now obtain good wages. " Now this case, with others, affords an instance of what might be done byworkhousediscipline. Mr. Hayes, who farms the paupers of several parishes, is a very intelligent man, his mode of action is, to give the refractory hard work, and a spare diet. He will place a man by himself, with nothing but a dead w all before him : he then puts in his hands a certain quantity of oakum, and tells him, " When 3'ou have picked that your dinner will be ready for you, and not till then." We sent this man to Mr. Hayes, but he soon got tired of it and left it, and we heard no more of him. This morning I met him coming; in the direction of BilUngsgate with a basket of fish on his head, and apparently in an honest employment. We sent three refractory boys to this occupation, and two out of the three preferred going to sea." Mr. Chesterton, the able governor of the House of Correction for Middlesex, made, at my request, some inquiries into this sub- ject. He stated to me — *' I have made inquiries, and caused inquiries to be made of persons, as to their comparative condi- tions as independent and free labourers, as paupers, and as inmates of the prison. Some of them had been porters, others common labourers ; they w-ere all of them strong, able-bodied men, who would probably have the means of earning good wages for labourers of their condition. They seemed to consider that the allowance of food in the prison and in the workhouse was much the same in point of quantity. Two or three (out of about thirty, of whom inquiries were made) said that they found the prison allowance the best. They all acknowledged that they do less work and get better food as prisoners than as independent labourers: but taking into account the iiksomeness of the work and the restrictions of the prison, they said that they would rather be independent labourers, if they could get regular work at a shilling a-day. Generally, they appeared to consider that they could live upon a shilling a-day as free labourers. The restric- tions in the workhouses in which thev had been, were less than those in our prison, and they mostly preferred the workhouse." 'J'his prison, from what I have heard of it, I believe to be in many respects one of the best managed prisons in the metropolis. The statement of the prisoners will of course be received quantum valeat. It is a popular opinion, that " poverty is the mother of crime/' from London and Berhhire. 247 or, In other words, that our sfaols are filled bv " the distress of the times," and not unfrequently by the diiBculty of obtaining parochial relief. Previously, and subsequently to my acceptance of the post of assistant-commissioner, I have paid much attention to the subject of the connexion of pauperism Avith crime, and I can state that evidence is at variance with the popular opinion. The following is an extract from the evidence of Mr. Wontner, the benevolent governor of Newcrate : — " Of the criminals who come under your care, what proportion, so far as your experience will enable you to state, were by the immediate pressure of ivant impelled to the commission of crime? by want is meant, the absence of the means of subsistence, and not the want arising from indolence and an impatience of steady labour ? — According- to the best of my observation, scarcely one- eighth. This is my conclusion, not only from my observations in the office of governor of this gaol, where we see more than can be seen m court of the state of each case, but from six years' experi- ence as one of the marshals of the city, having the direction of a large body of the police, and seeing more than can be seen by the governor of a prison. " Of the criminals thus impelled to the commission of crime by the immediate pressure of want, what proportion, according to the best of your experience, were previously reduced to want by heed- lessness, indolence, and not by causes beyond the reach of com- mon prudence to avert ? — When we inquire into the class of cases to which the last answer refers, we generally find that the criminals have had situations and profitable labour, but have lost them in consequence of indolence, inattention, or dissipation, or habitual drunkenness, or association with bad females. If we could tho- roughly examine the whole of this class of cases, I feel confident that we should find that not one-thirtieth of the whole class of cases brought here are free from imputation of misconduct, or can be said to result entirely from blameless want. The cases of juvenile otlenders from nine to thirteen years of age arise partly from the difficulty of obtaining employment for children of those ages, partly from the want of the power of superintendence of pa- rents, who, being in employment themselves, have not the power to look after their children ; and in a far greater proportion from the criminal neglect and example of parents. " Does any, and what proportion of the average number of cri- minals who pass through your gaol consist of paupers receivino- parochial asisstance at the time of the commission of the oftence ? — Perhaps one-fortieth : I might say not one-fiftieth." Mr. Chesterton states, " I directed a very intelhgent yardsman, and one who had never I believe, wilfully misled me, to inquire 248 Mr, Chadwich's Report into the habits and circumstances of all in the yard (60 prisoners), and the result was that he could not point out one who appeared to have been urged by want to commit theft." It appears that, in the houses of correction, the proportion of prisoners who have been paupers is more numerous than in the other gaols. Mr. Richard Gregory, the treasurer of Spitaltields parish, who for several years distinguished himself by his successful exertions for the prevention of crime within that district, was asked — " We understand you have paid great attention to the state and prevention of crime ; can you give us any information as to the connexion of crime with pauperism ? — I can state from experience, that they invariably go together. " But do poverty — meaning unavoidable and irreproachable po- verty — and crime invariably go together ? — That is the material distinction. In the whole course of my experience, which is of twenty-five years, in a very poor neighbourhood, liable to changes subjecting the industrious to very great privations, I remember but one soUtary instance of a poor but industrious man out of employ- ment stealing anything. I detected a working man steahng a small piece of bacon ; — he burst into tears, and said it was his poverty and not his inclination which prompted him to do this, for he was out of work, and in a state of starvation. " Then are we to understand, as the result of your experience, that the great mass of crime in your neighbourhood has always arisen from idleness and vice, rather than from the want of em- ployment? — Yes, and this idleness and vicious habits are increased and fostered by pauperism, and by the readiness w ith which the able-bodied can obtain from parishes allowances and food without labour." The effects of the system are increased in particular districts by distress, but I have not found that they are averted by prosperity. It may not be improper to obser^•e in this place, that in America, where many of the circumstances which are here urged as specifics against the malady, such as high wages, and the liberal distribu- tion of land to those who are disposed to labour in cukivating it, are in operation, the poor-law system is attended with similar effects. By the report of the secretary of state of New York, Februarj' 9, 1824, it appears that in the state of New York — One person in . 220 is a pauper. Massachusetts, one in . 68 Connecticut, one in . 150 New Hampshire, one in 100 Delaware, one in . 227 from London and Berkshire. 249 In a report made in the year 1 825, from a committee on the poor-laws, which sat at Philadelphia, I find the following passages expressive of the conclusions of the committee : — " Upon the whole, your committee are convinced that the effect of a compulsory provision for the poor is to increase the number of paupers, — to entail an oppressive burden on the country, — to promote idleness and licentiousness among the labouring classes' — and to afford relief to the profligate and abandoned, which ought to be bestowed on the virtuous and industrious alone. That the poor-laws have done away the necessity for private charity — that they have been onerous to the community, and every way injurious to the morals, comfort, and independence of that class for whose benefit they were intended. That no permanent alleviation of the evils of the system can rationally be expected from the erection of poor-houses, or from any other similar expedient; and that the only hope of effectual relief, is the speedy and total abolition of the system itself. In this country, where there are no privileged orders, where all classes of society have equal rights, and where our population is far from being so dense as to press upon the means of subsistence, it is indeed alarming to find the increase of pauperism progressing with such rapidity." * * * «f W^e aj.g fast treading in the footsteps of England." In the fourth report of the Boston Prison Discipline Society, 6th edition, p. 252, there is the following passage on the subject, inserted under the head " Connexion of Pauperism with Crime :" " This is a subject, too, which we have introduced in this part of our report, because we have become acquainted with the evils of it in- consequence of what we have seen in Massachusetts. The state of Massachusetts appropriates, and has done it for many years, about 50,000 dollars annually as a state, besides what is done in the towns, for the support of paupers. In some of the larger towns, the places where they are kept are so constructed and managed that the poor-houses are most corrupt and corrupting. They are nearly as injurious in their influence as the old peniten- tiaries — not in the arts of mischief, but in the low and corrupting vices. There is sometimes not even a separation of the sexes. We might specify large and extensive establishments, which are now what the old alms-house in Boston was a few years ago. And we could give a detail of facts, which have been ascertained from careful examination of witnesses, to which we can only allude in this place, on account of the character of these facts. ,Sufl[ice it to say, that they are such as to demand immechate attention from the towns and the state. The people of the towns would not counte- nance such things, if they were known, and the state would not 250 Mr. Chadwiclcs Report appropriate its thousands annually for the support of establish- ments, which are nuisances as much as the old state prison. They are nurseries of vice; they are sometimes introductory to, and sometimes receptacles from the prison ; there is often an ahernation from alms-house to prison, and from prison to alms-house. We have not stated the facts in detail which are known to us, nor shall we do it in this place and at this time, but if the character of the establishment is not altered, from which these facts are gathered, they will be exposed in their naked depravity. Pubhcity will correct the evils, if other means fail." Mr. Edward Livingston, in his able introduction to the pro- posed penal code for Louisiana, recommending the establishment of a house of industry, says that, instead of confining the atten- tion of the legislature, as has been hitherto done, lo the means for the punishment of crimes already committed — " I draw the attention of the legislature to the means of pre- ventincr them, by provisions bearing upon pauperism, mendicity, idleness, and vagrancy, the great sources of those oftences which send the greatest numbers to our prisons. " Political society owes perfect protection to all its members, in their persons, reputation, and property ; and it also owes neces- sary subsistence to all who cannot procure it for themselves. Penal laws to suppress otfences are the consequences of the first obliga- tion ; those for the relief of pauperism, of the second ; these two are closely connected, and wlien poverty is relieved and idleness punished, Avhenever it assumes the garb of necessity, and presses on the fund that is destined for its relief, the property and persons of the more fortunate classes will be found to have acquired a security that, in the present state of things, cannot exist. "This truth has attracted the attention of most civilized nations, but always making the law of pauperism a distinct branch of le- gislation, never connecting it with penal jurisprudence, with which it has so intimate a connexion, has given birth to more bad theory and ruinous practice, tfian any other question in government." With the view of judging of the strength of the influence upon the labouring population of the mismanagement of workhouses and prisons, I have endeavoured to obtain detailed information as to the mode of livincr of agricultural labourers. In attemntino- to make personal inquiries of the labourers in the districts which I have visited, I found them regard me with so much suspicion, that it became necessary to obtain the information by means of persons with whom they were familiar. " This suspicion," an informant observed, I "ought not to be surprised at, as the inde- pendent labourers really believed that niischief commonly fol- lowed even well-intentioned interference with their affairs by the from London and BerJcshirc. 251 gentry, and they (the independent labourers) did not hke to be treated as ' poor,' or as persons to be taken care of hke paupers." I have succeeded in obtaining many accounts of their modes of hvino- and expenditure in different places. The following accounts of the actual incomes and expenditures of three agricultural fa- milies near Newbury approximate very nearly to the ordinary expenditure of families of agricultural labourers :— A man, his wife and six children, receive amongst them 13s. 6d., which is thus expended at the grocer's shop, paying one week under the other : — .1. d. 7 gallons of bread 9 11 1 lb. of sugar 6 2 oz. of tea 8 Soap 4 Candles 4 Salt, pepper, mustard, vinegar, &c. 2 2 lbs. of bacon 1 4 13 3 A man, his wife, and four children under two years of age, receive in wages 9s. and a gallon loaf from the parish weekly, and live rent free in a parish cottage : — 5 gallon loaves 5 7 J lib. of lard 9 1 oz. of tea 4 ^ lb. of sugar 2 2 faggots 9 Soap and candle 3 A lb. of bacon 4i ^ lb. of butter 6 S 9 A man, his wife, and three children, without parish relief; the man earns 10s. a week when in full employment; but occasional want of work reduces the earnings of himself and his wife together to lis. — 1 bushel of flour per week, present price 4 1 lb. of candles ditto 31 1 lb, of soap , ditto 4 Clothing Society 5 Needles, thread, &c 6 Butter, tea, and sugar 1 Firing per year ..,£3 Rent including house andl ^ ^^ ^ ^^^.^ .^ ^j^^ ,^ 1 of an acre ot land j ^ ' Carried forward .... 5 6 6^ 252 Mr. Chadivick's Report t. d. Brought up. 5 6 6§ Purchase of pig 17 Shoes for the family 2 6 8 13 Making, within a fraction, of weekly expenditure . .3 If 9 8i From these and several accounts from shopkeepers as to the quantity of goods which they supply to classes of persons, it appears that, supposing the children of the honest labourer eat meat, the quantity consumed by each individual does not, on an average, exceed four ounces each week. If the head of I he family consumes more, the children must eat less. Where higher wages are obtained, it appears, from the statements of the shopkeepers, that the labourers do not purchase a larger proportion of solid food *. The excess of meat consumed yearly in the small parish * On inquiiy into the modes of life of the labouring classes, I found some of them, "nitli comparatively high wages, living in va-etchedness, whilst others, with less wages, live in respectability and comfort. The effect of economy is more strikingly marked on comparing the condition of persons of other classes, such, for instance, as merchants' or la«"yers" clerks, with salaries of 50/. or 6()/. a year, with the condition of mechanics earning from 305. to 40*. a week. The one will be comparatively well lodged, well fed, and respect- able in appearance, whilst the other lives in a hovel, is badly clothed, and, in appearance as well as in reality, squalid and miserable. Many instances occur where a clergyman, or an oflicer on half-pay, maintains a family on less than 100/. per annum. I\Iechanics who, during nine months in the year, earn from .50*. to 3/. a week in the metropolis, are frequently in the workhouse with their families during the winter months. In the course of my inquiries as to the condition of the working classes, a grocer residing in the metropolis, in a neifrhbourhood chiefly inhabited by the lower class of labourers, observed, that they are the worst domestic economists, and that if they had the mtelligence, they have the means of greatly raising their own condition. He stated to me that the workinir men habitually purchase of him the smallest quantities of the commodities they want. They come every day, for example, for a quarter of an oiuice of tea for breakfast. This they do though in regular employment, and receiving their wages weekly. To esti- mate their loss on this mode of purchasing, he pointed out, that in a pound of tea they have to pay him, 1st, for the labour of weighing sixty-four quantities instead of one. To this loss miy by each Man. (In the House— No. 29.) Days of the Week. Bread. Meat. Vegetables. Cheese. Beer. lb. lb. lb. lbs. oz. Pints. 1 Sunday . . . 1 1 3 3 1 Monday. . . — — 4 3 Tuesday . . . 4 1 3 3 3 Wednesday . — 4 Thursday . . i 1 3 3 Friday . • . 1 — — 4 3 Saturday . . Total . . — — 4 3 7 n 3 1 9 21 The diet for females and children is exactly the same, except that the beer is only ten pints and a half per week, instead of twenty-one. The child has its ten pints and a half of beer and its two pounds and a cpiarter of meat, and its sev en pounds of bread, &c. weekly. In one of the parishes no meat whatever is allowed to the children, who nevertheless enjoy excellent health. In the course of an examination of one of the London workhouses, where an exces- sive allowance of meat is made, one of the young able-bodied paupers was asked whether they had a sufficient allowance of Ibod ? His reply was that they had not. He was asked what quantity of meat would suffice? He replied that he thought he could eat two pounds of meat a day. Having been bred up in a workhouse, with a stomach habituated in infancy to the diet of an adult, it is scarcely surprising that, when he became an adult, he had a craving and a capacity for a much larger allowance of food. "' But judge,'' said a witness, " what must be the etlect of such a diet upon the child of an agricultural labourer, who has never been permitted to taste meat ?" It appears, from all the evidence, as might be ex- pected from classes whose range of mental pleasures is not enlarged by education, that they avail themselves of sensual gratifications with th(' greatest avidity, and that variations indict exercise a most powerful iuUucncc over them. One ounce of meat a day more or WOMEN. CHILDREN, lbs. oz. lbs. oz, 4 3 3 6 111 . 7 7 11 5 6 10 8 u 5 3i pints 3 pints. lUi pints 7 pints. from London and Berkshire. 255 less makes all the difference between a " good " and a " bad parish," or a parish that will be sought or avoided by the regular paupers. I have thought it advisable to avail myself of an opportunity of examining the correctness of the statement made by Mr. Mott with respect to the relative diet of convicts and paupers. I find that the convicts' superiority is understated. The fare and general condition of the independent labourers in the country about Gosport is stated in the evidence of Mr. Drouet already quoted. The following dietary of the Gosport workhouse is believed to be nearly as low as that of an independent la- bourer : — WEEKLY ALLOWANCE. MEN. lbs. oz. Bread . . .') 0' . Meat . . 10. Vegetables . 8 12 Pudding . 12 Cheese . 10 Soup and Broth . 5 pints . Gruel, or Milk Porridge 11 pints The following is the dietary of the Go.sport house of correction, as stated in the Gaol Returns for 1831, p. 101 : — Gosport Bridewell and House of Correction. Best bread, daily, U lb weekly lOl lb. Meat weekly, 1 Soup from ditto Potatoes weekly 1 gallon. By the warrant for the pay of the army, clause 13, it is pro- vided that — " Soldiers at home, when in barracks or in stationary quarters, shall be supplied with bread and meat after the rate of three- quarters of a pound of meat " — [i. e. uncooked] — " and one pound of bread a day for each man, the cost thereof being paid by a stoppage not exceeding sixpence a day from the soldier's pay ; but if the cost of the bread and meat shall exceed sixpence, the excess shall be charged against the public." The following is a copy of the 21st article of the " Instructions to the Superintendent of Convicts in England," issued from the office of the Secretary of State for the Home Department : — " A daily allowance of provisions is to be issued to the convicts according to the following scheme of diet, a copy of which is to 256 Mr. Chadiiich's Report be kept constantly hung up upon each deck, so that the conncts may always know what they are entitled to receive : — Daily Allowance to every Contict on board Hulks in England. Day of the Week. Barley. Oatmeal Bread. Beef. Cheese. Salt. Small Beer. Soft. Biscuit. Sunday . . . lbs. oz. 4 lbs. oz. 3 lbs. oz. 1 lbs. oz. 4 lbs. oz. 14 oz. oz. Pints. Monday . . . 4 3 1 4 — 4 i Tuesday. . . i 4 3 1 4 14 — \ Wednesday .04 3 1 4 i — 4 4 Thursday ..04 3 1 4 , 14 — i Friday . . . i 4 3 10 4 — 4 k Saturday . . 4 3 10 4 14 — i Each Convict 1 per Week . j 1 12 1 5 7 1 12 3 8 12 3* 7 " You are to use every possible means to prevent convicts from selling any part of their allowance one to another, or to any other person, and you are to be careful that no other than standard weights and measures are used." Here within one small locality, we find the honest labourer the lowest in point of condition ; the indolent pauper the next step above him; the refractory pauper, or the petty delinquent the next step above the pauper, and nearly approaching to the con- dition, in point of food, of the soldier ; and the convicted felon rising far above the soldier, the petty delinquent, the pauper, or the industrious labourer. But it appears to be true, as declared by the refractory paupers, who proclaim their independence of all regulation, that if they get themselves transported for some more grievous delinquency, that they will receive even better treatment. I was informed by witnesses in Berkshire that several of the agricultural labourers who had been transported for rioting had written home letters to their friends, stating that they had never before lived so well, and solicitino- that their families miirht be sent over to them. I caused application to be made at the colonial office for the dietaries of the convicts abroad, when I received the followino- extract from the Hobart Town Calendar, for the vear 1829, under the head of " Assigned Servants " : — "By a Government notice, 10.^ lbs. of meat, 10^ lbs. of flour, 7 oz. sugar, 3^ oz. soap, and 2 oz. of salt, are laid down as the week's provision for an adult male servant j the supply of tea or from London and Berkshire. 257 tobacco being discretionary. The master is also required to fur- nish his servant at the rate of two suits of slop-clothing, 3 pair of stock-keeper's boots, 4 shirts, and a cap or hat, per annum. Also the use of a bed, 2 blankets, and a rug, all which are the property of the master. These being supplied, the Government disapproves the supply of money to the prisoner, under any cir- cumstances. " Female convicts are allowed, upon the same authority, 5^ lbs. of meat, 8^ lbs. of flour, 2 oz. of tea, ^ lb. sugar, 2 oz. soap, l^oz. salt, per week. The annual allowance of clothing being 1 cotton gown, 2 bed gowns, 3 shifts, 2 flannel petticoats, 2 stuff petticoats, 3 pair of shoes, 3 calico caps, 3 pair of stockings, 2 neckerchiefs, 3 check aprons, and a bonnet, not exceeding in the whole cost 11. ; also a bed as supplied to males." In the comparison of the dietaries, some allowances must be made for the want of completeness in the details, as to the strength of the beer and other liquids forming part of them ; but these are generally proportioned to the comparative magnitude of the allowances of solid food. The general effect of particular modes of living and gradation of dietaries may be best proved by the de- clarations and conduct of those who have tried them all. In consequence of the inquiries I have made on this subject, many of the inmates of the workhouses have been questioned as to their experience. Mr. Hewitt, the master of the workhouse of St. Andrew's Holborn and St. George the JMartyr, made se[)arate and close inquiries of several of the pau[)ers in that house who had been in various prisons, and workhouses, and on board the hulks. He has furnished me with several dietaries made up from the statements of the paupers, and I find that they correspond very accurately with the dietaries set forth in the othcial returns. From the statements and admissions of the paupers, it appeared that they usually knew to an ounce the dietaries of the metropo- litan prisons, and the hulks, and of many of the workhouses, of which some one amongst them had made trial. One of the paupers, named James Philby, a stout able-bodied man, (with the exception that he had a club foot,) had been fifteen times in the House of Correction for various misdemeanours. He also acknowledged that he had received relief from the parishes of St. James, Clerkenwell ; Chelsea; Bethnal Green; St. Giles, Bloomsbury ; St. Dunstan, Fleet-street; St. Andrew, Hol- born, above bars; the Liberty of the Rolls; Whitechapel ; St. Marv, Newinj^ton ; St. Andrew, Saff'ron-hill ; Kensing-ton ; and St. George, Southwark. He had resided in all these workhouses ; he had lived in one workhouse whilst he managed to s 258 Mr, Chadwick's Report get relief as an out-door pauper from others, and that too during the same week. He had also received ' sets up,' or grants of stated sums for stated periods, from the several parishes. He admitted that he had, at times, varied his occupation by steaUng a little. One instance was mentioned, where, after he had been liberated from an imprisonment for stealing a gentleman's great coat, he Avent to the owner, and as a favour, offered to let him have his own coat back a bargain. This pauper, after having received relief fraudulently from St. George's parish, Southwark, during twelve years, was prosecuted by them, and his sentence was four months' imprisonment. This sentence, according to his own statement, transferred him from the workhouse, where, as an inmate on a low diet, the allowance was only 134 oz. of food weekly, to a place where the allowance was 230 oz. From the statements of these persons, it appeared that the average dietaries of the workhouses in the metropolis was about 170 oz. of solid food, whilst in prisons the dietaries were from 200 oz. to 280 oz. of solid food weekly. They admitted that the labour in the prisons was very often little more than ' mere exercise ;' that they were always ' very kindly' treated ; but that, as they lived well enough in the workhouse, they preferred it, because they had more liberty there, and could get better society when they were out. ' As to regular work,' Philby said that he could at all times travel to any part of the country, and live better on the road than he could possibly do by hard labour. From the official returns it appears that nearly all the prison dietaries are twice as good as those of the agricultural labourers; and that many of them are much better than the workhouse dietaries. Although the able-bodied pauper does not generally receive so much solid food as the soldier, (he sometimes re- ceives much more,) the pauper is on the whole better kept, much better lodged, and does less work. The soldiers receive brown bread of the sort sold in the metropolis to valetudina- rians as '' digestive bread." In no workhouse have I found the paupers supplied with other than white or wheaten bread ; nor have I been able to learn that brown bread is used in any of the [)risons. Mr. Hewitt states that the convicts have held up some of their white bread to the soldiers in derision, using such ex[)ressions as "Look here! Brown Tommy" (the name of soldiers' bread) " is good enough for you, but it will not do for us." As white bread is supjjosed to go much farther than the brown, the allowances to pau[)ers and convicts are in reality greater than they appear to be from the dietaries. The family of the pauper is much better kept than the family of the soldier. lu very few poor-houses have I found any dis- from London and Berkshire. 259 tinction made between the diet of the males and females. In the great majority of the workhouses no distinction is made between the diet of the children and of the adults. From some of the official forms of contract for the transport of troops, it appears that females are allowed, sometimes, only one-half; but, usually, two- thirds the quantity allowed to the males ; and that children are only allowed one-half the quantity of females. The latter, probably, ap- proaches to the natural demand for food, and indicates the prevalent extent of waste in the parochial management of the workhouses *. In most of the prisons one fare is allowed to those who are suspected or unconvicted, and another fare to those who are convicted, the latter having a much larger allowance of better food ; usually on the ground that, as they work, or as they may be called upon to work, they need more foodj. But the work is * It is ver}- rarely that any parish otRcer would venture to enforce, or even to recommend, a reduction of these mischievous allowances. The workhouse- keeper of a large parish stated to me in e\'idence, — '• I once ordered one of the attendants on the paupers to pick up the crusts which he found lying about the dust and the places belonging to the females. In a few days he picked up about half a bushel of crusts which had been thrown away. I con- trived that the guardians of the poor should see them, tliinkin? it might sug- gest to them that the allowance was rather too high, but it produced no effect, and I did not trouble myself again about the matter." t The variations of diet in the prisons throughout the countiy appear from the gaol returns to be ver)' great. On referring to the convenient abstracts of the returns published in the Eighth Report of the Prison Discipline Society, (which, in addition to the parliamentary returns, appears to obtain its information from zealous correspondents in every part of the United Kingdom,) it will be seen that the cost of maintaining the prisoners throughout the country varies from 1*. 2d. to 5*., and even 7*. per week per head (p. 59.) In the Coventry city gaol, bread only is allowed, and there are 2i per cent, of sick in the year. In other gaols, where the prisoners are maintained at double and treble the cost, there is double and treble the pro- portion of sick. Where bread alone is given, the daily rations vary from one to three pounds. The variations of charge in the same county are also remark- able. In Suffolk, the food given in the county gaol costs 1*. 9d. per head per week (the food of those at hard labour costs 2^. l]d.); whilst at Woodbridge gaol the cost of food is 3*. 6d. : at the former gaol there were 1 per cent, sick ; at the latter, 1 8 per cent sick. The cost of food at the Wakefield house of correc- tion, Yorkshire, is stated (p. 77) to be \s. SkL, and 6 per cent, of the prisoners are sick in the year : whilst the cost of food at North AUerton is reported to be 5s. O^d.: and there ai-e 37 per cent, of sick during the year. In Surrey, the allowance to the prisoners in the Borough Compter costs Is. Od. per head per week : in Horsemonger-lane it is -s. for the unemployed, and 2*. 2d. for the employed. In both these gaols the amount of sick is only 2 per cent, in the year. The food given at Brixton costs 2*. 9rf. per week, and the sick amount to 7 per cent. At Kingston, the cost is 3.v. 6d., and there are 6 per cent, of sick during the year. In the Cold-Bath Fields House of Correction, which is in a smoky neighbourhood, the prisoners receive a diet of 174 ounces of solid food weekly, and the proportion of sick is 4h per cent, per annum. At the Guildford House of Correction, a diet of 230 ounces of solid food is given weekly, and the proportion of sick annually is 9 per cent. In general, s 2 260 Mr. Chadwick's Report declared to be much less than that of the agricultural labourer, and such as the prisoners do not care for as soon as they become used to it. The prison work is only ten hours a day : the agri- cultural labourer works, on an average, twelve hours a day. In one instance, a reduction of an expensive diet of prisoners was tried, but it was effected chiefly by the substitution of a diet a very large proportion of which was liquid, for the previous diets con- sisting chiefly of solids, and the consequences were injurious. The health appears, on the whole, to be better in those places where the diet is moderate, than in those where it is more abun- dant. Mr. Hewitt states that the reduction of diet mentioned by him, which was a reduction from a diet consisting of 1G9 oz. of solids weekly, to one of 134 oz., was productive of no bad effects : the paupers maintained on the low diet were as well, if not better after than before the change ; and few of them, com- paratively to those who had been accustomed to live on a more lull diet, suffered by the cholera. This witness and several others, in their evidence with relation to diet, call attention to the fact, that there are probably some millions of honest men in the three kingdoms by whom even brown bread is never used as food ; that the greater part of Scotland is fed with oatmeal, and that Ireland is fed with potatoes. And the witnesses ask, are Irishmen a puny race? Is the arm of the Highlander found weak ? Is the lesson still to be held out to the honest and independent labourers, that the food they are content with is not good enough for indolent and vicious paupers or even for felons ? The following table, drawn chiefly from official returns, will show more clearly, at a view, the comparative condition of each class, as to food, from the honest and independent labourer, to the con- victed and transported felon. For better comparison, the whole of the meat is calculated as cooked. it appears from these returns, (which, unless they are much more accurate than the returns to parliament on parochial matters, can only be depended upon for a rou^h comparative estimate,) that the smaller and closer the body havinor the superintendence, the worse is the management. It is in the small local gaols that the cost of the diet amounts to as much as 7*. per head per week : and it is stated that it is in tiiese that there has been the least improvement—" that most of the prisons attached to corporate jurisdictions are in a state so disgraceful as to corrupt all committed to them."'— Eighth Report, p. 91. from London and Berkshire. 261 THE SCALE. I. The Independent Agricultural Labourer — According to the returns of Labourers' Expen- diture, they are unable to get, in the shape of bohd food, more than an average allowance of oz. Bread (daily) 17 oz. = per week .119 Bacon, per week, 4 oz. Loss in cooking . . . 1 „ soiidFood. — 3 122 oz. II. Thb Soldier — Bread (daily) 16 oz. = per week . 112 Meat .. 12 .. 84 oz. Loss in cooking . . 28 „ — 56 168 III. The Able-bodied Pauper — Bread per week . 98 Meat 31 oz. Loss in cooking ... 1 „ — 21 Cheese 16 PuflJing 16 151 In addition to the above, which is an average allowance, the inmates of most workhouses have, — Vegetables ... 48 oz. Soup 3 quarts. Milk Porridge . . 3 . . Table Beer ... 7 . . and many other comforts. IV. The SuspjiCTED Thief — (see the Gaol Returns from Lancaster) Bread per week . 112 Jleat . . _ 24 oz. Loss in cooking ... 8 „ — 16 Oatmeal 40 Rice 5 Peas . . , 4 Cheese 4 Igl Winchester Bread per week . 192 Meat 16 oz. Loss in cooking ... 5 „ — 11 — 203 V, The Convicted Thief — Bread per week . 140 Meat 56 oz. Loss in cooking ... 18 „ — 38 Scotch Barley 28 Oatmeal 21 Cheese 12 239 \1, The Transpouted Thief — lOi lbs. meat per week . = 168 oz. Loss in cooking ... 56 „ — 11? 10:^ lbs. flour, which will increase, 1 910 qon when made into bread, ... J " ^ ^ 262 Mr. Chadwick's Report It is declared by the great majority of the witnesses, that any barriers which the vigilance, intelligence, and firmness of any parish officer may interpose between the indolent or the vicious, and the comforts which the present system of workhouse manage- ment affords to the worst characters, are almost always broken down by the interference of the magistrates. It is only in one police establishment in the metropolis, that the magistrates do not habitually interfere to order relief without reference to the characters of the applicant. The chief clerk at the Mansion- House, when examined as to the practice of the city magistrates, was asked, " Do you order relief to known thieves if they apply for it? — Yes, Sir, for we cannot let them starve!" " Do you ever refuse to order relief to be given to prostitutes who declare they are in want of it? — No, Sir; can we let them starve because they are prostitutes ?" Parish officers have, not unfrequently, been reproved by magis- trates at other offices for not promptly relieving characters whom those same magistrates have repeatedly committed to prison for felonies and various offences. But the mao-isterial decisions which have fixed on the parishes such numbers of the cha- racters as those described in the evidence already quoted, ap- pear usually to have been founded on the presumption, that calamitous consequences would ensue to the applicant from the refusal to make the order prayed for. Several magis- trates have stated to me, that their {)osition was really one often of great difficulty, from which they would willingly be extricated ; that they feared they did m.uch mischief by their interference ; but they also feared that they vvould occasion much more mis- chief by refusing to interfere. It will have been seen, from the pre- ceding portions of evidence, on what state of general knowledge of the means and condition of the labouring classes wages are fre- quently determined, and adjudications made on questions as to the allowances in aid of wages. Much of the other evidence appears to prove, that the practice in the appeal to the magistrate against the decisions of the parish officers, is not such as to put him in possession of the evidence which may exist in each case to ret)ut the presum[)tion on which the interference is usually founded. An overseer or a parish officer is compelled to act on evidence of which he is himself commonly the percipient witness and sole de[)Ository, — evidence, which, though sometimes slight, amounts to cogent proof, when unanswered by other evidence on the part of the claimant, l^ut in the usual mode of procedure, the parish officer is made a defendant ; his testimony is shut out, and he is often treated as a delinquent, on the mere fact of the refusal to yield relief immediately that it has been been applied for. \Vhere from London and Berkshire. 263 magistrates have taken part in the proceedings of parochial boards, they have usually concurred in their decisions; the con- currence being founded on similar knowledge of the facts, which in their position as members of the board were similarly presented to them. The following extract from the evidence of Mr. Waite, one of the parish officers of AVhitechapel, with reference to the effects produced by the refusal of Mr. Walker, and the other magistrates ofLambeth-street, to interfere with the decisions of the parish, will, with the other subjoined evidence, serve to exemplify the general statements of the witnesses as to the inherent defects and mischiefs of the existing appeal to the magistrate. Mr, Waite, in speaking of some applications for relief made by known impostors, stated, that under the former system of that office — '^ If relief were not immediately granted to them, they went at once to Lambeth-street, Avhich w'as close at hand, and they ob- tained summonses against the overseers to appear and show cause why they were not relieved. Summonses were usually given as a matter of course. One day I received fifteen summonses. An overseer cannot, usually, even in one case, get up evidence to disprove the statement of an applicant, however unworthy the character of that applicant may be, or however satisfactory may be the reasons which the parish officer has for rejecting the application. A large proportion of the applicants were well- known vagrants from other counties. How could we ascertain their past circumstances in order to disprove their statements before the magistrates ? For although w-e might detect their impos- tures at the board, yet they always went before the magistrates prepared with their stories. Thus, in examining cases of vagrancy at the board, we often found that they gave false descriptions of their routes, and told such contradictory stories as proved that they were impostors. One frequent story with paupers pretending to have come up the road was, that they had that morning come from Chelmsford. I made inquiries about the local peculiarities of these places, and would ask the vagrants, (if they said they came from Chelmsford.) whether they came over any bridge from that town? They frequently refilled, that there was no bridge, There is one stone bridge and one wooden bridge at Chelmsford, We have asked them how many churches there were in Chelms- ford ? Sometimes they would say there was not one, and at other times thev would guess it at two or three : the fact was, there was one church. By questions of this description we soon learned whether they were im|)Ostors or not. The impostor, when foiled at the board, went amongst the crowd of other vagrants, and was sure to find some one who knew the place, and gave him 264 Mr. Chadivick's Report minute information. He immediately availed himself of the instrumentality of the magistrate, and obtained a summons against the parish officer for refusing to give relief. When before the magistrate, the applicant would be so perfect in his tale as to baffle any skill the parish officer might have, and would make out his case to the satisfaction of the magistrate. Usually they ' explained' away the discrepancies of their previous stories, or stoutly denied that they had previously told the story reported by the parish officers. In order to have met them, it would have been requisite to have instructed a counsel in almost every case ; and even then some of the well-practised vagrants were so acute, that I believe they would have baffled any counsel. I may adduce an instance, to show the aptitude of the vagrants and paupers in making use of information and getting up stories. One woman, named Mary Shave, the mother of a bastard child, being refused her 'pension,' went to the police-office and obtained a sum- mons ; whilst waiting at the office door, she related her tale to the vagrants in waiting. When the case was called on, a woman made her appearance as Mary Shave ; I thought she was not the woman whom 1 had seen before: I said, 'Are you Mary Shave ?' ' Yes,' she said, ' she was the INlary Shave, who had the misfortune to be the mother of a natural child, and who had been ill used by the parish officers;' and she made out a circum- stantial case clearly to the satisfaction of the magistrates, who ordered her relief, which was immediately given to her. Soon afterwards, the real Mary Shave appeared and substantiated her claim, and she was relieved. The other had made off with the money. How much did the first or pretended Mary Shave obtain by the fraud committed before the magistrate ? — l.s. 6c/. Could she have had a larger sum in prospect ? — Not more than 2s. ad. "A few minutes after this second or real Mary Shave had been paid, a third woman made her appearance for the first time, and begged an order for relief from the magistrate : she said her name too was Mary Shave ; she was the mother of the original Mary Shave ; and she too, on making a good story, obtained re- lief, having been incited by the ease with which her daughter had succeeded. The entry of this last woman's character is in the following terms : — ' Mary Shave, the mother ; a widow, aged 36, a notorious impostor ; receives from several other parishes, and finds out every charitable institution, and has two children left in the workhouse : she was sent to Clerkenwell by the for- mer overseer.' Mary Shave, the daughter, was an able-bodied woman, but a bad character, and had been dismissed by the from London and Berlcshire. 265 magistrates several times, until she had a bastard child, and then she fixed herself upon the parish. These I adduce as instances of the sort of impositions uhich, though detected and defeated before the board, unavoidably succeeded before the magistrates. These characters, males and females, at the office doors were often so clamorous and desperate, that it became necessary to let me out from the police office by the private door. 1 have been pursued by them through the streets, and obliged to seek shelter in shops. During twenty-seven years at sea, I encoun- tered many perils in the waves, but these never hurt my mind so much as apparent perils amongst paupers. Had this system gone on, the expenses of our parish must have materially in- creased, notwithstanding the utmost labour that I or any other officer could have bestowed*. * Mr. Sergeant, assistant-overseer of St. Paul's, Shadwell, a parish in an adjacent police district, was asked — " You consider that the decision of the select vestry in matters of relief ought not to be final?" — " I decidedly disapprove of the practice adopted at Lambeth-street, of leaving the poor to the mercy of the parish officers." " How many cases have occurred during the last year, in which you may have refused relief to applicants, on the ground of their being bad characters, being drunken or undeserving, or, as you believed, not in real want ?" — " Perhaps about thirty." " Were those refusals grounded on a complete knowledge of the characters and cu-cumstances of the applicants?" — " Yes." " You only refuse in very flagrant cases, and do so in perfect assurance, from the evidence you have before you, that no mischiefs would result from the refusal?" — " Yes." " Can you give an instance?" — " Some days ago a coal-heaver, named Joseph Somers, applied for relief for himself and his family. I refused it, on the ground that he was in work, and was a general drunken character." " What was your endence that he was in work ?" — " I had seen him coming home almost every night with the fresh coal-dust upon his face, and with his pipe in his mouth, and frequently reeUng under the influence of liquor." " Did you state your ground of refusal to the magistrate?" — " Yes, I did; and that he was a drunken, dissipated character. ' " What did the magistrate say to this case ?" — " He told me to relieve the wife and family ; and that if I could prove that the husband was at work, a warrant would be granted against him, to show cause why he would not support his family." " Did you relieve this family ?" — " Oh yes." " Did you attempt to obtain technical evidence of the man's being at work ?" — " How was I to do this, Sir ? A coal-heaver works one day on one vessel, and one day on another. It would be impossible for me to ascertain what part of the river he was at work at, or what he earned, or to get the people to come to prove it." " When you say it was impossible, do you mean that it was impossible without an extent of labour which would make the proof cost more than the amount of relief given ?" — " No, Sir : simply that it was absolutely impos- sible." 266 Mr. Chadwick's Report " Fortunately for our parish, and probably for the other parishes in the district, a different system was soon after adopted at Lam- beth-street police-office. The parochial business of the office bein^ left to Mr. Walker, and he having determined not to receive " Is this a specimen of all the other cases in which relief was refused by you?" — " Yes."' " Were the decisions of the magistrates similar in the other cases ?" — " Yes ; they were nearly the same.'" " In the case you have instanced, you would have deemed the evidence of the man's being at work such as you could act upon with safety ?' — " Cer- tainly." " If such technical evidence is required before a parish officer could be entitled to refuse reUef, would relief be often refused?" — " Certainly not with those characters." " How many persons have served office as overseers since you have been in office?" — " About sixteen." " Of these, how many did you consider were men harshly disposed towards the poor?"' — " I scarcely believe that there was one. In general, their fault was a disposition to excessive liberality or over-indulgence."' " Do you say that they would not have been so disposed, any of them, after the service of their office ? after they have become convei'sant with the characters of the paupers? — " Certainly not.,' " Do you then think that they would neither allow their annual officers to act with undue severity towards the poor, nor use any themselves, what- ever might be their interest in keeping down the rates ?"" — " I think they would not." " Would you expect, in a similar parish, where the annual officers were similarly elected, officers much of the same character as your own?" — " Yes." " In the instance you have mentioned as an example of some of the cases you have had before the magistrates, was your knowledge and investigation rendered useless?" — " Yes."' " The ajjpeal in those instances then is, according to your statement, an appeal from a person who has the best evidence or knowledge which the nature of the case will allow, to a person who has less knowledge, or no kno\vledt>e whatever, of the facts (further than of the claimant s own state- ment), and to whom better evidence cannot be given ?"" — " That is a correct statement of the fact." " Such appeals therefore must, of necessity, be decided by the magistrate without the knowledge of the best evidence of which the case will admit, and therefore probably in many instances erroneously?" — "Certainly; and the only protection is in giving the paupers work, which, neither in our parish nor in others similarly situated, can be got in sufficient quantity. " " If, then, a board of unpaid officers, elected by the inhabitants, which board was formed, as it necessarily would be, of persons of the character you describe, ' disposed to excessive liberality or over-indulgence, rather than undue severity," ' whatever might be their interest in keeping down the rates," were empowered to superintend the general administration of the relief in the parish, and liear and finally decide on the appeals from the decisions of permanent oilicers such as you describe, do you think it would be an im- provement in the administration of relief?" — " Certainly it would, as they would liave better knowlcdiie, and I am sure would act justly and correctly towards the poor, without thinking of the rates. Such persons never do take the rates into consideration in particular cases. If such a controlling body from London and Berkshire. 267 any appeals from the decisions of the parish officers, \vho were the best acquainted with the circumstances of the paupers, we got rid of a number of this sort of cases, when we found that they were cases of imposture. " Had you any riots or any disturbances, when the poor were thus left wholly at the mercy of the parish officers ?" — *' No ; not so many riots by far as we had before the alteration. Formerly the paupers of the worst class were accustomed to swear at us when we refused them relief, and would say that they would have us before our masters and compel us to relieve them. I had my win- dows broken several times, and was constantly threatened and annoyed at my doors. Since the appeal to the magistrates is altered, we find the parish materially benefited, and that there is less bad behaviour on the part of the paupers." " Did the independent people of the labouring classes — those who might become chargeable — manifest any sympathy with the paupers, or evince any disposition to rise for their pro- tection ?" — " None whatever : they appeared to be perfectly satisfied with the proceedings of the parish officers. 1 received more praise from independent labourers than from any other classes." " From the experience of the change made in your parish, do you believe that such a change might be made without danger in the general administration of the poor laws, and the decision of a select yestry made final throughout the kingdom P"' — "Judging from our own experience, and from my observation of other town parishes, I have no doubt whatever that the alteration might be made without the slightest danger in towns, but my knowledge of the agricultural districts is not such as to enable me to say what might be the result of the alteration in those districts; though the course taken by some of the country magistrates as shown \n their decisions certainly appears to me most extraordinary." " Bid charges of oppression, of cruelty, or hard-heartedne>s, increase when the final decision was left with the board of parish officers ?" — '' No : on the contrary, they decreased." " Did the paupers go in the way of appeal to the independent and labouring classes ?" — '' No ; or if they did go, the indepen- dent labourers paid no attention them, for we rarely or never heard any complaints from them of the paupers' treatment. They did not interest themselves in it." were established, 1 think the interference of the magisti-ates mi;iht be very beneficially removed, for the deserving poor would get better treated, whilst the drunken, dissolute characters, to whom we are now compelled to wive relief, would not be fastened upon the parish in such numbers. The magis- trates now order rehef without any reference to character." " 268 Mr. Chad wick's Report " Were not those complaints from the independent labourers more frequent after than before the alteration ?" — " No : the com- plaints of all sorts were less than before, as it was notorious that the parish generally was in a better state. We had much less crime in the parish, though the New Folice (which I think one of the greatest improvements ever established) has, no doubt, greatly contributed to this : but still the old system attracted vagabonds to the parish, who have now left us, and kept many in idleness, which led to pilfering. Some of these people I now see at work in the parish ; the change, I am sure, has benefited the people themselves, for they Avould commonly spend two or three hours to get a sixpence in charity rather than give an hour's labour to obtain the same sixpence." '' What number of undeserving cases did you get rid of in con- sequence of this alteration and of your investigations ?" — " About one hundred and fifty, as an immediate consequence of this alteration, but, altogether, including the clearing of the work- house, (with which the magistrates had nothing to do,) we got rid of about five hundred in the course of two years." Similar testimony as to the effect of the change of system was given from nearly every other parish within the district, except those in which, as the vigilance of the parish officers presents no barrier, no magisterial interference is required by the pauper, and the change produces no effect. A memorial from the parish officers and inhabitants of Christchurch, Spitalfields, praying that that parish may be included in the Lambeth-street office district, has been prepared for presentation to his Majesty's Secretary of State for the Home Department ; and in consequence of its being under- stood to be in contemplation to remove the Lambeth-street police-office altogether, a memorial has been presented from the parish officers of Whitechapel, praying that the removal may not be made, as the district would thereby be deprived of the advan- tages which the change of system has secured to it. Wliilst it is borne in mind that every penny unnecessarily spent on the pauper operates as a bounty on imposture and crime, and a discouragement to industry, forethought, and fru- gality, the evidence with relation to other positive obstacles created by the administration ol'the poor-laws to the growth and exercise of these virtues should be taken into account. More evidence has been presented to me on this head than I have been able to record. 'Ihe following copy of an examination will give a concep- tion of its nature. Mr. \\ illiam Hickson, senior, (of Hickson and Son's wholesale shoe-warehouse, Smithficld,) stated — from London and Berkshire. 269 " As a manufacturer at Northampton, as a tradesman employ- ing workmen in London, and as the owner of some land at Stans- ford, in Kent, I have had various opportunities of observing the operation of the poor-laws. " The general effect of the present system is, to stop the circulation of labour, and to prevent forethought. I find that whenever workmen are out of work, they will not shift to places where work might be got, for fear of losing their parishes. In this parish, I am one of the Board for the management of the poor. If, when shoemakers have applied for relief, and stated as the orround that thev have no work. I have told them that they might get work at Xortliampton, they have objected on the ground that the wages were low there ; in fact, I have found that it is the parochial relief which holds them here ; for I knew at the same time, that good work was to be had at Northampton. The present system makes them believe that, when their own supply of work is interrupted, the parish officers are bound to find work for them or give them relief; and that no one is obliged or ought to leave his parish in search of work. If the other parish officers, instead of giving money, had joined with me in otfer- inof to take such men into the house, thev would have crone for work elsewhere, and got it. One of the men who applied was what was called a ' don workman,' who would have en- sured work anywhere, as he had worked for the first houses in London. Then the settlement law operates in another way to impede the circulation of labour. If workmen sent to Northamp- ton do not immediately get into work, not having been accus- tomed to provide against such a contingency, the law relieving them from the obligation of forethought, thev are at once hurried back to their own parishes by passes. Some time ago a j^anie took place, by which the shoe manufactories were stopped, and a great number of the men thrown out of work. These men, having saved nothing, were compelled to apply to the parishes. The parish officers there immediately passed them home to their parishes in ditierent and distant parts of the country. The furniture of numbers of workmen was sold, and they with their families, were transported to their own parishes, some of them on the bor- ders of Wales. Soon after they were sent away the trade re- vived, and was remarkablv brisk, and the labour of these work- men was wanted. Many of them who had been mischievously sent away at the parish expense, were now brought back at the parish expense. If these persons had been entitled to relief at the spot where it was wanted, a great deal of money woidd have been saved, and the workmen also would have been spared much misery. 270 Mr. Chadwick's Report " The check to the circulation of agricultural labour is too no- torious to be talked of. The case of a man who has worked for me, will show the effect of the parish system in preventing frugal habits. This is a hard-working-, industrious man, named William Williams. He is married, and had saved some money, to the amount of about seventy pounds, and had two cows ; he had also a sow and ten pigs. He had got a cottage well furnished ; he was the member of a Benefit Club, at Meopham, from which he received 8s. a-week when he was ill. He was beginning' to learn to read and write, and sent his children to the Sunday School. He had a legacy of about 46/., but he got his other money together by saving from his fair wages as a waggoner. Some circumstances occurred which obliged nae to part with him. The consequence of this labouring man having been frugal and saved money, and got the cows, was, that no one would employ him, although his superior character as a workman was well known in the parish. He told me at the time I was obliged to part with him, — 'Whilst I have these things I shall get no work. I must part with them all. I must be reduced to a state of beg- gary before any one will employ me.' I was compelled to part witli him at Michaelmas — he has not yet got work, and he has no chance of getting any until he has become a pauper ; for, luitil then, the paupers will be preferred to him. He cannot get work in his own parish, and he will not be allowed to get any in other parishes. Another instance of the same kind occurred amongst my workmen. Thomas Hardy, the brother-in-law of the same man, was an excellent workman, discharged under similar circumstances ; he has a very industrious wife. They have got two cows, a well-furnished cottage, and a pig, and fowls. I\ow he cannot get work because he has property. The pauper will be preferred to him ; and he can only qualify himself for it by be- coming a pauper. If he attempts to get work elsewhere, he is told that they do not want to fix him on the parish. Both these are line young men, and as excellent labourers as I could wish to have. The latter labouring man mentioned another instance of a labouring man in another parish (Henstead) who had once had more property than he, but was obliged to consume it all, and is now working on the roads. " Such an instance as tliat of William Williams is enough to demoralise a whole district. I say, myself, that the labouring man who saves where such an abominable system prevails, is loolish in doing so. What must be the natural effect of such a case on the mind of a labouring man ? Will he not say to him- self, why should I save ? Wliy should I diminish my present scanty enjoyments, or lay by anything on the chance of my continuing with my present master, when he may die, or the from London and Berkshire. 271 means of employment fail him, when my store will be scattered to waste, and I shall again be made a pauper like William W ilhams, before I can be allowed to work for my living? This system, so far as relates to the circulation of labour, I am firmly persuaded, can only be put an end to by utterly abolishing the law of settlement, and establishing a uniform national rate, so as to allow a man to be relieved at the place where he is in want, instead of his being pinned to the soil." The above are instances where the labourers would gladly have removed if they could before they became paupers ; but in the evidence there is another and more numerous class of cases, where the agricultural labourers would not remove if they could. The Rev. R. R. Bailey, Chaplain to the Tower, who has had extensive opportunities of observing the operation of the poor- laws in the rural districts, states, — " I consider that the present law of settlement renders the peasant, to all intents and purposes, a bondsman : he is chained to the soil by the operation of the system, and it forbids his acquiring property, or enjoying it openly or honestly. I am of opinion that manage- ment by hundreds, instead of by parishes, would greatly benefit all classes. Very frequent instances have occurred to me of one parish being lull of labourers, and suffering greatly from want of emj)loyment, whilst in another adjacent parish, there is a demand for labour. I have no doubt that if the labourers were freed from their present trammels, there would be such a circulation of labour as would relieve the agricultural districts." Can you give any instances within your own knowledge of the operation of the existing law of settlement ? — " I was requested by Colonel Bogson, Kesgrove House, to furnish him with a farming bailiff. I found a man, in all respects qualified for his situation ; he was working at 9s. a week in the parish where I lived. The man was not encumbered by a family, and he thankfully accepted my offer: the situation was, in point of emolument and comfort and station, a considerable advance ; his advantages would ha\e been doubled. In about a week he altered his mind, and declined the situation, in consequence, as I understood, of his fearind. It is a custom in the trade, when any agent or other person gives a whole- sale order, to allow him to have shoes for himself at the wholesale price. Thus, when we have received an order from a merchant, we allow the clerk who brings the order, if he wants to purchase anything for himself, to have the benefit of the wholesale price. I'he parish officers, however, in this instance, told me that I was to charge eighteen pairs of shoes instead of twelve (the num- ber to be delivered), and that the money to be obtained for the six pairs not sent in w as to cover us for the four pairs of the better sort of shoes siipplied to them. I was very much surprised at this ])roposal, and I requested them repeatedly to state the maimer in A\ hich the goods were to be sent in, and how they were to be entered, when they gave me instructions." Was all this done in an ordinary business wa)'^, as if such a mode of dealing were familiar to them? — " Quite so, to one of ihem especially." And you scnit in the goods ? — " Yes. I made the following entry of the transaction in the day-book : — St. Leonard, Sliorcditcli. 18 Pairs in(;n's shoes, at 4s. 36 Ditto wunicu's, at 3a-. 2d. Dr. £Z 12 5 14 £9 6 from London and Berkshire. 275 12 Pairs of men's shoes sent instead of 18, and 4 pail's of best wax fitted on the two churchwardens or overseers, who instructed us to charge 18 pairs, instead of 12, to cover us for the 4 pairs. W. E. HiCKSON. " We then sent information of the fact to one of the members of the board, that he might take such steps upon the matter as he thought necessary." Have you any reason to beheve that such transactions have been or are common in other parishes, in the supply of goods on account of the parish? — " In some parishes we believe they are common. We have supphed many other parishes in which similar irregula- rities have never occurred. In one instance, an overseer came to us, and promised us a large order for the parish, if we would allow him a commission of two and a half per cent,, which we declined." Was this offer made in an ordinary manner ?— " Yes, he ap- peared to consider it as a fair mode of trade. We had another instance in which we supplied about a hundred pairs of shoes, not to a parish, but for a charity-school. The treasurer of that school ordered these shoes to be sent in to a small shoemaker, who sent them in to the school as from himself. We afterwards heard that he had charged a profit of a shilling a pair on these shoes, with the knowledge of the treasurer of the charity." Was this transaction conducted in a clandestine manner by the treasurer of the charity ? — " No ; he stated his object to be to serve this tradesman, and that to do this he gave the order to him." Have you any reason to believe that this is a common mode of persons in such situations serving friends who are tradesmen ?■ — ■ " Yes, I believe it is very common. It is not in such instances as these usually done from what are called mercenary motives, but they think they arejustified in serving their friends at the expense of those unknown people, the public. On the other hand, I have seen instances, where grievous sacrifices of personal interests have been made by parish officers to enable them to perfomi their duties properly. The remedy for these things would be, to place the administration of parochial money in paid responsible agents. From our observation as tradesmen, having had to do with many cases of bankruptcy, we can state (whatever attorneys may state,) that the greatest benefits have resulted from taking the adminis- tration of bankrupts' eflects out of the hands of tradesmen, Avho lost immense sums by jobbing, but more generally by neglect, and employing official assignees. I caimot speak as to the general con- stitution of the Bankruptcy Court, but I think that this appoint- ment of respectable people, whose express business it is to attend to the administration of bankruptcy effects, is one of the best things that Lord Brougham has done for the country, I have no doubt T 2 276 Mr. ChadwicJcs Report that similar results would follow from the appointment of respect- able and responsible persons to administer parochial affairs," Wliilst parish officers are subjected to various descriptions of temptations in the performance of their duty, they have also another class of interests — the interest in obtaining popularity — to contend with. Mr. Crook, the parish officer of St. Clement Danes, stated that, '*' at present, a tradesman is often liable to injury if he administers relief impartially. I may state an instance of this : Mr. Rex, the keeper of a spirit-shop in Clare-street, Clare- market, served the office of overseer : during that service he found, amongst the applicants for relief, many of his own customers, who were drunken and dissipated. He censured them for their profligate habits, and the indulgence in spirituous liquors. He was ruined in his business ; in consequence, as it was considered, of this mode of conductincj himself as an overseer." Mr. llichard Gregory, in his evidence, details some of the cir- cumstances which, in the town parishes, commonly govern the choice of the permanent and annual officers to whom tiie difficult task of administering the poor-laws is confided : — Have you considered of any measures or proposed any for arrest- ing the progress of relief? — " In the first place, I am sure that no improvement can take place in the administration of the poor-laws so long as it is lett to parishes, or to such persons as the present unpaid annual officers. These officers have not, and never can have, the requisite ability ; nor will they sacrifice their own time and interests to attend to the affairs of others. It is a thing morally impossible to have clever and able men willingly devote their time to the performance of such public duties without pay." Might not paid and responsible officers be elected by the pa- rishioners? — "No; I think you would never get such offices well filled unless it was by accident. The people have no conception of what sort of men are requisite toperibrm properly the duties of a, parish officer. — If such a situation were vacant what sort of a man would apply for it? Why, some decayed tradesman; some man who had got a very large family, and had been ' mifortunate in busi- ness,' which, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, means a man wlio has not had prudence or capacity to manage his own affairs ; and this circumstance is usually successful in any canvass for a parish situation to manage ihc affairs of the public. Men who have befcjre been in office for the parish would obtain a preference." — And what sort of men are those who would be likely to be at liberty to accept a vacant situation ? " 'I'he situations of overseer and cVuircliwardcn are by some considered situations of ditynitv, and dior- nity alwiiys attracts f^ their stay, should other means fad, or at all events of beinii returned V) their country at the public expense, forms an inducement for vast numbers to come over from Ireland on the chance of -what they may obtain, who would not otherwise leave their native country. It is known that many pregnant women come over for the express purpose of bein^ admitted into some charitable institution for their confinement, with the certainty, at least the j^rcal i)robabiUty, of receiving more from the bounty of individuals on their recovery." Colonel J from London and Berkshire. 295 Will you describe tlie operation of the various charities, which Colonel Page writes to me thus : — " I hope you will notice in your report the large charities bequeathed in Newbury, as a very principal cause of the high poors-rates. Everybody is anxious to obtain settlements by servitude or renting in that parish, in order to obtam the chance of benefiting by the numerous charities." Mr. Thorn, assistant-overseer of St. Giles', Cripplegate, examined. Have you any monies to dispense in charities within your parish ? — " We have about 1,6(J0/. per annum available to be given to the poor in our cha- i-ities, according to the directions of donors. For the most part, the dona- tions consist of bread, fuel, and clothing." What is the effect produced by the distribution of these donations ? — " We find that, a few weeks pre\-ious to the gifts being distributed, the people leave their work in search of them. There are always a great many more seekers of gifts than finders. Most of them by leaving their work neglect their families, and become really necessitous : those who are disappointed are irritated, and then demand relief as a right, the parish being called upon to make good their loss. Even those who have received relief always say, Avhen they come to us afterwards, ' that, though it was very true they had received the gift, yet it had done them no good : they had lost so much time, and they had got into debt.' We employ some of the out-door paupers in carrying home the gifts of coals, and pay them libei-ally for doing so. These men, when they apply for relief, and are told, ' Why, we gave you money the other day !' sav, ' It is very true ; but then we were in debt to om- land- lord," or the chandler-shopkeeper, ' and we were compelled to pay him when we returned from labour :' so they always calculate on the i-elief. After every season for the distribution of the gifts the appHcations for parochial relief are more numerous." During the time when the gifts are distributed, are the demands on the poors-rate reduced ? — " Not at all : in fact, when the effects of these charities are examined, as shown in our parish, it will be admitted by the most preju- diced person that they are a curse rather than a benefit. They were a great deal worse formerly, when settlements were to be obtained by fortj^ days' residence in the parish, as it led numbers to endeavour to obtain settlements with us. I am sure that our parish has been considerably injured by them. I have long been of opinion that it would be of great advantage to have the funds of these charities apphed dii-ectly in aid of the poors-rates." Mr. Richard Gregory, treasurer of Spitalfields, examined. You have had, from time to time, assistance from Government in your parish. What have been the effects of those donations ? — " That they have done great mischief by causing paupers to come fi-om all parts of the king- dom, for the purpose of sharing in the relief; and when they have once come there, they have invariably stopped there." Do you believe that such donations have a tendency to create distress of the kind which they propose to relieve ? — " I do ; for there are numbers who would wasie a whole day to obtain Gd. by charity, rather than work two hours to obtain 6d. by honest industry. I have seen in our own district abundant instances of this." Do you believe that they relieve all the distress which they create ? — " Al- ways when there has been a donation of these sorts, we find that the parish burdens increase ; these burdens continue, but the donation goes away. Some years ago we received a large donation from the Government, and 1 do not believe that the parish has got the better of it to this day ; for it made paupers, and attracted vagabonds from all pai-ts." 296 Mr. Chadwick's Report are actuall)' available in your parish, as exemplified in the case of an individual, beginning with his birth, under the superin- tendence of the Royal Maternity Society ? — [The Rev. Gentleman requested time to make the answer, and he returned it in writing,] " — My oiun personal observation enables me to describe the pro- cess as follows : — " A young weaver of twenty-two marries a servant girl of nine- teen — and the consequence is the prospect of a family. We should presume, vuider ordinary circumstances, that they would regard such a prospect with some anxiety; that they would cal- culate upon the expenses of an accouchement, and prepare for them in the interval, by strict economy and unremitting industry. No such thing. — It is the good fortune of our couple to live in the district of Spitalfields, and it is impossible to live there with- out witnessing the exertions of many charitable associations. To these, therefore, thev naturally look for assistance on everv occa- sion. " They are visited periodically by a member of the " District Visiting Society.'' It is the object of this society to inquii'e into the condition of the poor, to give them religious advice, and occa- sional temporal relief, and to put them in the ivay of obtaining the assistance of otlier charitable institutions. To the visitor of this institution the \\ife makes known her situation, and states her inability to meet the expense of an accoucheur. The consequence is, that yVom Ann, through his recommendation, or under his direc- tions ^\\e obtains a ticket either for ''the Lyincj-in Hospital,'" or for " the Roycd Maternity Society.'' By the former of these chari- ties she is provided with gratviitous board, lodging, medical attendance, churching, registry of her child's baptism, &c. &c. By the hitler she is acconmiodated with the gratuitous services of a midwife to deliver her at her own home. " Delivered of her child at the cost of the " Royal Maternity Society," she is left by the midwife — but then she requires a nurse, and for a nurse, of course, she is luiable to pav herself; — a little exertion, however, gets over this difficulty — she sends to the district visitor, to the minister, or to some other charitable parishioner, and, by their interest with the parish officers, she has, at last, a nurse sent to her from the workhouse. But still, she has many wants — and these too she is unable to sup- ply at her own expense. — She requires blankets, bed and body linen for herself, and baby-linen for her infant. With these she is furnished by another charitable institution. Soon after her marriage she had heard one of her neighbours say, tliat she had bAMi favoured in no less than five successive confinements with ihe loan of the " fjox of linen" from the " Benevolent So- from London and Berkshire. • 297 defy. " She had, accordingly, taken care to secure " the box of linen' for herself, and during her confinement she receives occa- sional visits and pecuniary relief from a female visitor of the charity. By her she is kindly attended to, and, through her or " the district visitor," she is provided, in case of fever or other illness, with the gratuitous services of the parish apothecary , or of some other charitable medical practitioner in the district. "At the end of the month, she goes, pro forma, to be churched ; and though, perhaps, the best-dressed female of the party, she claims exemption from any pecuniary offering by virtue of a printed ticket to that effect put into her hands by the midwife of '* the Royal Maternity Society.'' "The child thus introduced into the world is not worse provided for than his parents. Of course he requires vaccination, or, in case of neglect, he takes the small-pox. In either case he is sent to the *' Hospital for Casual Small-pox and for Vac- cination," and by this means costs his parents nothing. " He has the measles, the ivhooping-coucjh, and other morbid affections peculiar to childhood. In all these instances he has the benefit of the " City Institution for Diseases of Children.'' " Indeed, from his birth to his death, he may command any me- dical treatment. If his father is a Welshman, he applies to the " Welsh Dispensary" — if not, or he prefers another, he has the " Tower Hamlets Universal Dispensary," " The London Dis- pensary," and the '' City of London Dispensary ." In case of fever, he is sent to the " Fever Hospital." For a broken limb or any sudden or acute disorder, he is admitted into the " London" or other " Public Hospital.'' For a rash or any specific disease of the skin or ear, he is cured at the " London Dispensary." And for all morbid affections of the eye, he goes either to the same charity or to the " London Ophthalmic Infirmary." In case of rupture, he has a ticket for the " Rupture Society" or for the *' City of fjondon Truss Society." For a pulmonary complaint, he attends the " Infirmary for Asthma, Consumption, and other Diseases of the Lungs " And for scrophula, or any other disease which may require sea-bathing, he is sent to the " Royal Sea- hathing Infirmary" at Margate. In some of these medical insti- tutions, too, he has the extra advantage of board, lod^incr, and other accommodations'^. * The managers of benefit societies and savings banks complain, in some instances indirectly, and in others directly, of the elfects of the eleemosynaiy relief for such casualties as those institutions (and benefit societies especially) afford effectual means of providing for by easy insurances. It is yrged by some witnesses that, although a person in work may not be able to raise money to pay for the relief of unforeseen casualties at the moment when that 298 Mr. Chadwick's Report " By the time the child is eighteen months or two years old, it becomes convenient to his mother to " get him out of the way ;" for this purpose he is sent to the " Infant School,'' and, in this seminarv, enters upon another wide field of eleemosynary im- nmnities. " By the age of six he quits the " Infant School,'' and has before him an ample choice of schools of a higher class. He may attend the Lancasterian School for 2d. a week, and the National for Id., or for notJiimj. His parents naturally enough prefer the latter school, — it may be less liberal in principle, but it is lower in price. In some instances, too, it is connected with a cheap cloth- ing society ; in others it provides clothing itself to a limited num- ber of children. And in others, again, it recommends its scholars to the governors of a more richly endowed clothing charity school. To be sure, these are only collateral advantages. But it is per- haps excusable in a parent delivered by the '' Royal Maternity Society," to value these above any of the more obvious and legiti- mate benefits to be derived from a system of education. " A parent of this kind, however, has hardly done justice to her- self, or to her child, till she has succeeded in getting him admitted into a school where he will be immediately and jiermanently clothed. This advantag-e is to be found in the " Protestant Dis- senfers" — in the " Parochial," or in " the fVard Charity School ;" and she secures him a presentation to one of these, either by a recommendation from '■ The National School" — by the sponta- neous offer of her husband's employer — or by her own impor- tunate applications at the door of some other subscriber. It is true, some few industrious and careful parents in the neighboiu'- hood object to putting their children into these charity schools. With more independence than wisdom, they revolt at the idea of seeing their children walk the streets for several years in a livery which degrades them, by marking them out like the parish jyaupers of former days, as the objects of common charity. But relief is needed, yet he might he called upon to pay for it by instalments after he is convalesount and has returned to work. The trustees and managers of the Marylebone savings bank state — " We are of opinion that, if the facilities given to the able-bodied of ob- taining p;ii-ochial relief or public charity (and we arc induced to lay much stress upon tlie latter) were rcmo\ed, the number of members of such insti- tutions as ours would be increased. " Wc are luiable to state in what proportion the increase would take place; hut wc think that, wherever any considerable number of a class of labourers and others are found to be depositors in banks for savings, almost all such persons might follow their example, and probably would do so, were they not encourajicd in their thoughtless and improvident habits by the expecta- tion of obtaining relief Irom some established public charity in almost every circumstance of dilliculty or distress to which they can be exposed." from London and Berkshire. 299 the parent in question has no such scruples — she has tasted the sweets, and, therefore, never feels the degradation of charity. She is saved the expense of clothing her own child herself; and she observes that almost all her poor neighbours, like the dog in the fable, have come to think what is really disreputable to be a badge of distinction. She knows, too, that most of the " gentle- folks" who support these charities openly proclaim (Oh mons- trous absurdity !) that thev were more especially designed for "an aristocracy among the poor. '^ " It is possible that slie may not succeed in getting her child into a clothing charity school — it is more than possible, too, that she may find a more profitable employment for him than attendance at the "National ;'' slie may keep him at home all the week to help her nurse her fourth and tiith babies, or she may earn a few pence by sending him out as an errand boy. \ et even under these circumstances she does not necessarily forego the means of ofettino" him an education, or a suit of clothes for nothino- : even then she can send him to one of the innumerable "Sunday schools'' in the neighbourhood ; and for clothing, she can apply to " the Educationcd Clothing Society." " Tlie object of this society is the lending of clothinof to enable distressed children to attend Sunday schools." Only, then, let her child be "a distressed one,'' and he is provided by the "Educational Cluthing Society'' with a suit of clothes which he wears all the Sundays of one year, and, in caise of past regular attendance at school, all the week-days of the next. The Sundays of the second year, he begins with a new' suit of clothes as before. " The probability, how-ever, is, that, by the time the boy is eight or nine years old, his mother does succeed in procuring his admis- sion into the " Clothing Charity School:" and there is the same probability that she will continue him in it; she has strong rea- sons for so doino- — for she knows that he will not only be clothed and educated at the expense of the charity, but that, when he is fourteen, that is, when he has remained live or six years in the school, he will be apprenticed by it to some tradesman, with a fee varyinor in the ditl'erent schools from 21. to bl. " At fourteen, accordingly, the boy is put apprentice by the charity to a weaver, and at the expiration of the usual term, he beiJi^ins work as a jovirneyman. He has hardly done so, before he proposes to marry a girl about his own age. He is aware, indeed, that there are difficulties in the way of their union ; and that, even on the most favourable supposition, their prospects in life cannot be considered flattering. — He has saved no money himself, and his intended is ecpially unprepared for the expenses of an establishment. He knows that, working early and late, he can 300 Mr. Chadwick''s Report earn no more than 10s. a week — that, in case of sickness or the failure of employment, he may frequently be deprived even of these — and that his own father, with a wife and seven children, was in this very predicament but the winter before ; nevertheless, " nature intended every one to marry ;" and, in the case of him- self and his beloved, "it is their lot to come together.'" On these unanswerable grounds he takes a room at 2s. a week, and thus utterly unprepared, as he appears, either for the ordinary or C07i- tingent expenses of a family— he marries. " We may suspect, however, from the result, that he is not so rash and improvident in this conduct, as, tij)on an ordinary cal- culation, he must appear to be. " Within a few months she has the prospect of a child — and a child brings with it many expenses, — but no matter, he need not pay them — for in Jiis neighbourhood he may fairly calculate upon having them paid by charity. Charity never failed his mother in her difficulties — and why, in precisely the same diffi- culties, should it be withheld from hi7n? In the case of his wife, therefore, as in that of his mother, the "Lying-in Hospital,'' or the "Lying-in Dispensary ," or the " Royal Maternity Society,'" provides the midwifery, &c. — The " workhouse,'" the nurse. The "Benevolent ^?>'oci(?^i/," blankets, linen, pecuniary relief, &c. The "parish doctor' — the "Dispensary doctor,''' or some other "chari- table doctor," extra druc^s and medical attendance. By a little management, he may avail himself at the same time of several obstetric charities — and be visited successively by Churchmen, Quakers, Independents, Wesley an Methodists, Calvinistic Metho- dists, Huntino-donians, — in fact by the charitable associations con- nected with every church and chapel in the neighbourhood. " He now finds that his earnings are precarious — and that, even at their utmost amoimt, they are inadequate to the support of his increasing family. But his father's family was for years in the same circumstances — and was always saved by charity. To cha- rity, then, he again has recourse. " He hears, that twice a year there is a parish gift of bread. From some vestryman, or from some other respectable parishioner, he obtains a ticket for a quartern loaf at Midsummer and at Christmas. There is also a parish gift of coals. By the same luoans he every Christmas gets a sack of coals. Indeed, bv im- portuning several parishioners, and by giving to each of them a din'erent address, or the same address with ditJerent names, he is sometimes so fortunate as to secure three sacks instead of one. On these periodical distributions he can confidently depend ; for most of the parishioners dispose of their aniuaal tickets to the same poor persons from year to year, a.s a matter of course ; and others. from London and Berkshire, 301 who are more discriminate, invariably find, upon renewed inquiry, that their petitioners are in the same state of apparent indigence or destitution. Under these circumstances, our applicant soon comes to look upon his share ot" the parochial bounty as a legiti- mate and certain item in his yearly receipts. '• But this is only a slight periodical relief. He wants more loaves and 7nore coals, and he has the means of obtaining them. If the weather is severe, the "■ Spitalfields Association" is at work, and for months together distributes bread, coals, and po- tatoes. The " Soup Society,'^ also, is in operation, and provides him regularly with several quarts of excellent meat soup at a penny, or, sometimes, even a halfpenny a quart. At all times several " Benevolent Societies'' and " Pension Societies' are act- ing in the district ; and from these he receives food or pecuniary relief. He mav apply too, during the temporary cessation of any of these chaiitie.s, to the charitable associations of the different rehgious denominations, to the '' District Visitimj Society," to the Independents' " Visiting Society T to the " Friend in Need Society,'' to the " Stranger s Friend Society," to " Zions Good IVill Societu." He may even be luckv enough to o-et somethin£ from all of them. " If his beddincr is bad, he g-ets the loan of a blanket from the " Benevolent Society," or from the " Blanket Association ; " or he gets a blanket, a rug, and a pair of sheets from the •' Spital- fields Association." The last of these charities supplies him with a Jlannel waistcoat for himself, and a flannel petticoat for his wife. In one instance, it furnishes his wife and children witli shoes and stockings. " Thus he proceeds from year to year with a charity to meet every exigency of health and sickness. The time at length arrives, when, either from the number of children born to him, under the kind superintendence of the " Lying-in,'' the " Royal Maternity," or the Benevolent Society ; " or from a desire to add a lecral and permanent provision to the more precarious supplies of voluntary charity, he solicits piarish relief; he begs an extract from the parish register, proves his settlement by the charity-school indenture of appreidiceship, and quarters his family on the parish, with an allowance of five shillings a week. In this uni- form alternation of voluntary and compulsory relief he draws towards the close of his mendicant existence. " Before leaving th^ woi-ld, he might, perhaps, return thanks to the -nublic. He has been horn for nothing — he has hecn nursed for nothing — he has heen clothed for nothing — he has been cryu- cated for nothing — he has been put out in the world for nothing — he has had medicine and medical attendance for nothing ; and 302 Mr. Chadwick's Report he has had his children also born, nursed, clothed, fed, educated, established, and physicked for nothing. " There is but one good office more for which he can stand indebted to society, and that is his burial. He dies a parish pauper, and, at the expense of the parish, he is provided with shroud, coffin, pall, and bu rial-ground ; a party of paupers from the workhouse bear his body to the grave, and a party of paupers are his mourners. " I wish it to be particularly understood, that, in thus describing the operation of charity in my district, I have been giving an ordi- nary, and not an extraordinary, instance. I might have included many other details ; some of them of a far more aggravated and offensive nature. I have contented myself, however, with de- scribinof the state of the district as regards charitable relief, and the extent to which that relief may be, and actually is made to minister to improvidence and dependence." Have you any other remarks to make respecting either the administration of the poor-laws, or the distribution of voluntary charity, in your district ? — " The testimony which I have now given makes me anxious to guard it from misinterpretation. It is certainly at variance with my former sentiments on the sub- ject ; and it may appear to be so with my present practice in the distribution of charitable relief; 1 would, therefore, add a few obsei'vations : — " I entered upon my parish in 1829, with an earnest desire and solemn resolution to discharge its duties to the satisfaction of my conscience. I entertained the common notion respecting the ne- cessity and application of charity. I made up my mind to sink all religious distinctions ; and as the clergyman of the establish- ment, to conciliate and unite with all parties, for the relief of a numerous and distressed population. " Before the expiration of the first year I was" struck with the observation of many such facts as those detailed in the course of my evidence, and 1 then began to suspect the general tendency of our charitiible distributions. I found that charity was, in this district, reduced to a system ; that the immense sums expended in voluntary relief were, in effect, a second poor-rcde ; that they were calculated upon in much the same manner by, at least, a large ])roportion of the poor; and that, like the poor-rate, they jiroduccd no perceptible or permanent diminution of distress. I found that an active clergyman in this district must ' leave the word of God and serve tables;' must be, in fact, no better than a pcrpctwd overseer. The same applicants for charity presenting liu'iiiscives from month to month, and from year 1o year, in the same state of apparent wretchedness, and with their numbers from London and Berkshire. 303 swelled by crowds of others, satisfied me that the utmost ima- ginable exertion of the charitable must prove utterly ineffectual lor the relief or prevention of the most aggravated misery. " I give it, then, as my decided and mature conviction, that without a change in the habits of our population, no amount whatever of charitable relief, whether raised by voluntary sub- scription, or by compulsory assessment, will ever meet the demands which will be made upon it. I feel confident that, had Ave millions, where now we have thousands of money to dispose of, we should only have millions instead of thousands of applicants. The root of all our evils is the universal prevalence of a profligate and brutish improvidence. The poor of this district are utterly •reckless of the future ; and even when they are not, in the com- mon acceptation of the term, vicious, they are wicked enough to propagate misery at the very moment that they are petitioning for its relief. " Inasmuch, then, as the distribution of charity, whether volun- tary or compulsory, mitigates the natural consequences of impro- vidence, and tends to dissi])ate the apprehension of those conse- quences from the minds of the poor, I believe it to be unques- tionably prejudicial to our district. It is vmder this conviction, and in this sense, that I have given the preceding testimony. " Cases, however, of aggravated, and humanly speaking, un- merited suffering, are to be found, of course, in this district, as Avell as in others ; and it is to these that I would confine the ap- plication of voluntary and compulsory charity. " With regard to the poor-laws, then, I would have their opera- tion brought back, as nearly as possible, to the original principle of the 43d Elizabeth, the principle, namely, of relieving none but the aged, infirm, and impotent. I would wish to see the visitors of charitable societies administer their relief also as much as possible upon the same principle. But, I would hope, at the same time, that every plan, whether of the legislatm'e for the im- provement of the poor-laws, oi of individuals for the better dis- tribution of voluntary relief, might be such as would tend to the ultimate discontinuance of almost all purely eleemosynary assist- ance. " As the case now stands, both parish officers and benevolent visitors are, in general, quite incompetent to the proper administra- tion of relief. I have known overseers, who made no inquiry whatever into the condition of the poor; and I have known a benevolent visitor boast of having, in one week, visited one hundred and seventy-four poor families, besides attending to his own counting-house. I can hardly say which, in my opinion, was the more mischievous to society. 304 Mr. Chadivick's Report •' Experience in this district has taught me that the beneficial administration of rehef requires persons of enlarged views, exten- sive iufomiation, and long experience. Benevolent visitors, espe- pecially /(?/Ha/es, seldom possess any of these qualifications; and parish officers, under the present system, cannot, in general, be more competent to a satisfactory discharge of their arduous duties. '•' I should very much regret any act of the legislature which would increase the amount of funds to be distributed among the poor of any given district. TVith this understanding, I should approve of a national rate, or enlargement of districts. I should rejoice especiallv at any regulation by which the administration of the poor-laws would be placed in more competent hands than it is at present, whether the instruments selected for that purpose were the most intelligent inhabitants of the district itself, or persons appointed by government, with a reference solely to their qualifica- tions for the office." The officers from the small parishes declare in their examina- tions, as to the expense of the keep of the paupers, the application of labour, and the maintenance of discipline amongst them, that their parishes have not the means to obtain more efficient manage- ment; that whilst the classes of their paupers are as varied as those of the paupers of larger parishes, they have not funds, or in any respect the means, to obtain the requisite superintendence and separate management. Nearly all the witnesses from the larger parishes, whom I have examined with relation to the state of their parishes, ascribe their demoralisation to the want of adequate means of classification ; and declare that any system, if it be efficient, must furnish those means. Mr. Mott is the witness of the most extensive practical experience I have met with ; and as his evidence embraces the chief points of considera- tion, with respect to the management of poor in large and small districts ; and is enforced by other witnesses of great practical experience, I have thought it my duty to submit for considera- on the whole of his examination. Evidence of Mr. Charles Molt, Contractor for the Maintenance of the Poor of Lambeth. " I have for the last twelve years given my entire attention to the subject of the maintenance of the poor in workhouses." Were you not connected with parochial manao^ement before that ])Priod ? — " No ; I was brought up in a merchant's house (that of Baring, Mair, and Co.), from whicii 1 entered into business on my own account. Whilst 1 was a shopkeeper, some rates were applied from London and Berkshire. 305" for, which I thought exorbitant, which induced me to investigate the management of the parish; and, in consequence of that inves- tigation, the rates were greatly reduced. From what I then saw of the general parochial management, it occurred to me that I might serve myself whilst I served the public, by contracting for the management of the paupers, as well or better than they were then managed, and at a cheaper rate. I soon after availed my- self of an opportunity of contracting for the maintenance of the poor of Newington parish, and also of the poor of the parish of Alverstoke, which comprehends the town of Gosport. I am now in the third year of my contract for the management of the poor of Lambeth. I have just now concluded a contract to maintain the poor of that parish, from the 25th November, for three years to come. " I am the principal proprietor of the Peckham House Lunatic Asylum; and in that capacity I have transactions with about forty parishes. " At Gosport the average number of the in-door paupers is about 240 ; in Newington, they average about 270 ; in Lambeth, about 700. jSIy contract for the maintenance of the poor of Lambeth is at 3.y. \Vd. per head, — men, women, and a few children, — able- bodied, decrepit, impotent, — aU included. " This includes all the expense of the establishment, except rent and taxes. The parish agrees to keep every article in repair, except bed, bedding, and clothing, which I find altogether; and I pay a per centage for the use of them, which about covers the current expenses. I did contract on the same terms for Newing- ton; but 1 gave it up for Lambeth parish, the latter being much larger, and I having a lunatic asylum and other business to attend to. It was publicly stated a few days ago in Lambeth vestry, that the contracting system had saved them 3000/. per annum for their in-door poor, during the two years the contracts had been in operation. The gross sum paid to me during those two years was between 6000Z. and 7000/. a year. In round numbers the saving may be stated as about one-third. The diet is generally precisely the same, and indeed better." To what circumstances do you attribute this great difference between parochial management and contract management ? — " I should say principally to the different descriptions of food being given out in more exact proportions. A man who serves out food for the parish has no interest, or no sufficient interest, in distri- buting the food. However exactly the proportions may be pre- scribed, it will make verv little difference to a parish officer, whe- ther or not he orives half an oimce more to each individual. Now in Lambeth workhouse, 700 half ounces, wasted three times a day, X 306 Mr. Chadwick's Report TTOuld make a very formidable difference. When I first took the Nemnorton contract, I found the scales at the workhouse nearly an ounce deficient in the balance. This arose from an accumula- tion of filth in the scale appropriated for the weights ; whilst the scale in which the provision was placed^ had been taken out and daily scoured, perhaps with brick-dust. I found when I took the contract, that by this same process of scourino-, the scales at the Lambeth workhouse had been disturbed to the extent of about half an ounce. This made a difference of about 50 lbs. of meat a week, or upwards of 300 stone weight in a year. I find it necessary to have the scales taken care of, and adjusted with nicety, annually, by a scale-maker, and daily by the parties using them. The person who had held the contract before me, at Newington, had ruined himself by it, though receiving 4s. 8c?. per head. His ruin I have no doubt was occasioned by misma- nagement, chiefly of the sort I have mentioned. '■' A contractor, for his own interest, will attend more closely to such points than any parish officers, however well-intentioned, can be expected to attend to the interests of others. " Another great point in favour of contract management is, that the contractor is unlimited in his markets, and that there is no favouritism or corruption on the part of tradesmen. It is notorious that there is great partiality in the parochial deal- ings; and officers have been known to supply goods in other names. It is also notorious, though difficult to substantiate the fact, that tradesmen give gratuities, per centages, and allow- ances of some SQrt or other, to the officers whose duty it is to examine their ffoods and accounts. A contractor is not so much exposed to this loss as the parish. In saying this, I wish to guard myself against being supposed to refer, in the slightest degree, to the officers of Lambeth or Xewington parishes; for I can bear testimony to the respectability of those officers, and the very correct manner in which the parish affairs are conducted : any faults that exist there are attributable entirely to the system, and not to the officers. Again : if proper persons are not ap- pointed to manage the cooking (which they seldom are by pa- rishes), great loss may be occasioned by improper cooking. In some parishes, for example, it is quite common to put all the joints, small and large, into the copper, and boil them the same length of time; the smaller joints are consequently boiled too much. With the quantity of meat used in Lambeth workhouse, there might be a difference of four or five stone in the consumption of meat for one day, for that number of people. In receiving bread from bakers in a hot state, five per cent, is lost by the parish from the evaporation : for this reason parish bakers always send from London and Berkshire. 307 in their bread hot to the workhouse, where they can. We bake our own bread, and bake it of a size to save time and loss from cutting up : we also adjust the qviantities better, and prevent waste. I remember that at Deptford parish, some years ago, the parish officers having to make a Christmas pudding for 150 or 160 persons, the manager made vipwards of a hundred weight more of pudding than was wanted for the number of people"^. "It is only by persons who have a direct personal interest, that the small savings, which make the difference between economical and extravagant management, will be carefully attended to. Unless the extravagance is very gross indeed, as in the last instance, annual parish officers cannot see it. In the first instance, the scales had been going for many years as I have described, without the source of loss having been dreamt of by the overseers." You have stated that the poor of the Lambeth workhouse are now advocates for the supply and management of the workhouse by contract. Will you have the goodness to explain the causes of the popularity of the contract management? — " In the first place, the poor people admit that their food is better. I have heard them say that their soup is much better — that their bread is better; in short, that their supply of provisions is generally much better. But the main cause is, perhaps, that they are more quickly and comfortably served with food than they were formerly, which is done Avith more skill and discipline. On the old system it was expected that the master should serve out the meat himself. I believe it formerly took two hours and a half, and sometimes three hours, each of the three meat-days in the week, to weiffh and serve out the meat for dinner only. I may say also, I believe, that a large proportion of the meat was kept boiling whilst the one portion was being served out. It is unnecessary to specify the consequences of this to those who were the last served : the bell beino' runcr at the commence- ment of the dinner, all the inmates struck work, and considered themselves free until the conclusion of the dinner : that would be a loss of labour, were their labour worth anything, and the people kept waiting in idleness and discontent. At Lambeth it requires * Mr. Hewitt, the master of the workhouse of St. Andrew, Holborn, and St. George the ]\Iai-tyr, has proved that, during the first year of his services in that workhouse, which contains on an average four hun- dred and fifty paupers, a saving was made in the consumption of articles of food to the amount of 442/. 1*. 5d. per annum. The saving was effected by attention to details such as those described by Mr. Mott. The consump- tion of bread was diminished per annum upwards of 91 cwt., butter 13 cwt., cheese 10 cwt., beer 104 barrels, coals 12 chaldrons, candles 55-'lbs., soap 11 cwt., oil IS gallons, and milk IG quarts per day : the rations remaining the same, and the number of paupers having increased. In most workhouses the old modes of providing for the paupers continue. X 2 308 Mr. Chadwick's Report two persons to cut, and four or five of the inmates as assistants. By the system which I have used, the dinners are served com- monly within one hour. When the change took place, nothing could exceed the astonishment and gratification of the inmates on havino- their meals supplied so comfortably." How do you account for the extreme unpopularity of contractors, or what are called the farmers of the house ? — " The complaints of the abuse of the contracting system are certainly too well founded; and it is undoubtedly liable to great abuse where character is not taken into account, and proper securities imposed. A contractor who is not properly chosen or made responsible, as he ought to be, will supply many of the articles very indiflferently ; he will give to the paupers money instead of other articles. Thus the people can do without butter, and the contractor having to supply butter, which, perhaps, would cost him 84s. per cwt., pays the poor perhaps at the rate of about 665., getting thus about 50 per cent. In this way, too, the paupers frequently sell their meat, bread, and other provisions." How is the money thus obtained by the paupers spent? — " Principally in gin and other liquors." Which liquors are drunk in the house ? — " Yes. They are brought into the house by the nurses and other such people." Then it is to be presumed that this system of purchasing food of the paupers is an inlet to other disorders in the management of the house ? — " Decidedly so, for the contractors must wink at it. Disturbances are thus bred in the house, independently of the dissatisfaction created in the better class of pavipers. Then again, as the contractor, by his conduct, declares the food to be saleable, he cannot well hinder them sellinor it to others. Food is conse- quently sold to people out of the house, as well as amongst the paupers themselves ; and much peculation and misery is neces- sarily occasioned. I may also mention another cause of the unpopularity of the contracting system, that \Nhen a contract is taken lor the manajjement of the workhouse, the liability of the parish to the tradesmen ceases. Tradesmen very frequently supply goods for consmnption in the workhouse, from the belief that they are making the supply on the responsibility of the parishes. A contractor may be a man of straw as regards the tradespeople, and yet be bound in good sureties as regards the ])arish; for the sureties only undertake that he shall perform his contract, or make the requisite supply of goods to the parish; not that he shall ])ay for those goods to the tradespeople. The con- tractor whoso management of the scales I have mentioned, failed twice, and occasiout-d very considerable loss to the tradesmen din-ing the time of his holding the contract. The parish did not from London and Berkshire. 309 lose a shilling. This same man has repeatedly since got other contracts for other parishes, which I can only account for from the ignorant eagerness of parishioners to snap at the lowest-priced contracts that can be oliered, Avithout regarding the consequences. This person now contracts at very low prices, the means of sup- plying which must be obvious to persons of experience." Several parishes have tried contract management, and aban- doned it. Are you acquainted with any instances, or can you assign the general cause of the 'abandonment ? — " I do not know parti- cular instances sufficiently well to speak about them; but I have no doubt that the failure arose from the parish not having given a remunerating price, or paid attention to the character of the con- tractor for integrity and ability. The fact is, these parishes have tried bad contract management, and havinof found that strict parochial management was less bad, they have immediately concluded that parochial management was the best possible. When the contract with my predecessor at Newington had closed in the manner I have stated, it would have been very natural to conclude that contract management had been properly tried, and that nothinof was so good as the manag^ement of annual officers, or persons who gave no special attention to the subject." Has the size of parishes any effect on the character of con- tractors ? — " I do not hesitate to say a very considerable effect. In the larger parishes, the management is not only much more eco- nomical, but much more respectable, though still liable to great abuses. A very large proportion of the parishes are far too small to render it worth the while of any respectable contractor or capi- talist to attend to them. I should say that it would not be worth ■while for any respectable person to give attention to a parish where the inmates were less than two hundred in uimiber. They cannot be attended to. A respectable person ought, I think, to get for his labour in the manasfement of two or three hundred persons (if he attends to them properly) as much as a parish must pay for the keep of fifty persons. A small parish must either pay largely for the keep of their small number of poor, or the poor must be badly managed and defrauded, and the small contractor will pay himself by malversation. In the large parish, where the contractor must, by the Act of Parliament, give pro- portional securities, that circumstance alone ensures very consider- able responsibility. I am compelled to give sureties to the amormt of 30,000/. to the parish officers of Lambeth. This again I may notice, as a circumstance which might operate mischievously by narrowing the competition ; for I think a much smaller sum would be ample security to the parish, while it would enable a greater number of respectable men to supply the parish, or com- 310 Mr. ChadwicFs Report pete for the contract. The smaller parishes are also more liable to intrjo-ues between the contractor and the parish officers." The average number of paupers in the workhouses throughout the country is, say. fifty poor in each workhouse. Now, suppose that if, instead of the seven hundred in-door poor of Lambeth parish being kept in one workhouse, they were kept in fourteen dis- tinct establishments, can you form an estimate of what would be the expense per head of the poor thus kept ? — " Would you wish to have an estimate inclusive or exclusive of the expense of superin- tendence?" It is to be presumed that, in so large an establishment as that of Lambeth parish, superintendence is procured of a degree of ability much higher than that which is obtainable for 40/. per annum and board, or 60/. for a man and his wife — the average salary paid to the master of ordinary workhouses ? — " My experi- ence has shown me that not only is much ability requisite for such management, but that the person having immediate superintend- ence of the details of the establishment should have an interest in its good management. For this reason, I have taken the contract in conjunction with Mr. Drouet, a person of respectability — a remarkably active man, who resides in the house, and devotes his whole time and attention to the management." Let it be assumed in the estimate requested of you as to the comparative expense of large and small workhouses, that 40/. per annum is paid for the management of each establishment. — [The witness took time to consider this question, and has sent in the following answer in writing.] — " Supposing the poor to have pre- cisely the same food, clothing, &c. in fourteen small houses, fifty inmates in each, as they do in one large establishment containing seven hundred persons, it would make a difference, as near as I could calculate, of aboiit Id. or 8d. per liead per week ; that is to say, where the seven hunch'ed would cost 3.s. and lie/, per head, the small houses would cost 4s. 6d. or 4.s'. Id. per head. This, it must be obvious, would not be occasioned by the difference in the food, but principally from the saving in the superintendence and other details of manaoement. The laroje establishment would not only make the difference of Id. or 8(1 per head in the cost of maintenance as compared with the small ones, but would leave also, if conducted to the best advantage, such a remuneration, as would render it worth the attention of a clever, active person to Tuidertake the management. Some parishes have been misled by this difference; and from an erroneous opinion that small numbers can be maintained in the same ratio as a larsfe number, have let their ])()or to some needy adventurer at a price at which it is im- j)ossibl(' justice could have been done ; and hence arises the ob- from London and Berkshire, 311 jectlon to the system. If the character and the competency of contractors are not made the first consideration, I see nothing to prevent the contracting system becoming ten times worse in its effects than the worst parish management. And here let me observe, that I am not here as an advocate of this or that system, but to speak to the facts within my own knowledge, and offer what- ever opinion you may please to ask of me. The facts will speak for themselves. I beg also to add, that I consider myself, in a great degree, a disinterested witness, as I have now many engagements on my hand; and it is very improbable that I shall take any other contract after the expiration of the present Lambeth contract. On this account I shall not renew the Gosport contracts which I have held for the last ten years." The city of London within the walls, comprehends a popu- lation of 55,000, whose poor are relieved and managed in 96 parishes. Lambeth comprehends a population of 87,000, and the administration of relief to the poor is managed by one estab- lishment, and the money raised for the purpose is collected on one rate. What do you consider would be the effect of the subdivision of Lambeth into 96 independent parishes, each managing the j)oor independently of the rest; or each exercising the right of assent or dissent from any combined management in the same way as each parish belonging to the incorporated hundreds ? — " The chief effects Avhich appear to me to be likely to ensue are, that we should have ninety-six imperfect establishments instead of one : ninety-six sources of peculation instead of one : ninety-six sets of officers to be imposed upon by paupers instead of one set: ninety-six sources of litigation and of expense for removals and disputed settlements instead of one^ and ninety-six modes of rating instead of one." The witness referred to the returns of parochial expenditure and stated, " It appears that the 96 city parishes (many of which are extremely wealthy and lightly burthened Avith poor) with a population of 55,000, expended for the relief of the poor in the year 1831, 64,000^. Lambeth, with 32,000 more people, and many densely-peopled districts containing very poor people, expended on the relief of the poor only 37,000/. during the same year. In the wealthy parishes of the city of London, the money paid as poor's-rates amounted to 1/. 3s. 3|(i. per head ; whilst in Lambeth the amount paid is 8s. 6ri. and a fraction per head. I believe that the individuals relieved are much more numerous in Lambeth than in the city of London. They were so formerly, and I believe they are so now. The adults of Lam- beth parish are now supported in the workhouse at 3s. Ilr7. per head ; whilst in the city of London, the greater proportion of all .312 Mr. Chadwick's Report classes of poor, including children, are farmed out at an expense of from 4^. 6d. to 7s. each, whilst the expense of those main- tained in the small city workhouses varies from 5s. to 8.s. per head per \Yeei< for all classes." " Do you think this statement gives a fair view of the merits of management in small as compared with large town parishes ? — *' It never occurred to me to make any comparison of this kind until it was suggested by the question ; but my impression is that it does afford a fair comparison. The management of the poor in incorporated hundreds is undoubtedly superior to the manage- ment by independent parishes; but still the good of the hundred management is much diminished by the numerous sets of officers, and quarrels and conflicting interests of the separate parishes." It has been suo^gested that, for the purposes of classification, the present workhouses of a town might be brought under a central management — that in a town in which there are at present five or six workhouses, each of these workhouses might be appropriated to the reception and treatment of one class of paupers ; that one house might be made to contain all children, another all the able- bodied females, another all the able-bodied males, and so on — Now, do you think that a system of combined management of the paupers in these distinct houses might be conducted in such a manner as to reduce the total expenditure for the maintenance of the paupers of that town? — "With respect to superintendence, there would be some additional expense ; but that would, I think, be more than counterbalanced by the increased number of the poor maintained. The bread, for instance, might be supplied from one common bakehouse. This of itself would be a considerable sav- ing. In small establishments you generally lose more than you gain bv bakinj in the house, as vou cannot get it done bv the paupers without great waste, and the consumption is not enough to make it worth while to employ a regular journeyman baker. In Newington, the consumption of bread was not enough to keep a baker employed; whilst at Lambeth, by baking fourteen or fifteen sacks a week, we have ample employment for one journey- man and assistants in the house. The greater part of the other food could be supplied from one common kitchen, and conveyed to the houses hot. In most workhouses there are persons who, though they cannot be trusted with the management of anything • On oxamininjT the answers made to the queries forwarded by his Ma- jesty's corumissioners, this statement appears to be strictly accurate. Several witnesses, who are respectable paid officers of the parishes within the city of London, have strongly represented the evils of the existing? system of admi- nisterinjr the poor-laws by numerous petty establishments : and have urged the expediency of the legislature prescribing some system of combined ma- nagement. from London and Berhhire. 313 themselves, may be usefully employed under an intelligent super- intendent. In fact, I see no more difficulty in managing so many establishments in a town than there is in managincf five or six wards of one house. Indeed, I believe the trouble of management would be greatly reduced by means of the classification, which would be of great value, by enabling you to put the refractory by themselves. It is a very few of these who occasion the constant necessity of the presence of a superintendent. I think that, if Mr. Drouet had the means of locking up or separating in any way about half a dozen refractory males, or as many females, in Lambeth Avorkhouse, who are always ready to throw the whole establishment into a state of confusion, he might leave the place with the greatest security, to attend to other departments, where there was anything going on to require the attendance of a director." We find from the returns of a number of the workhouses sent to us, that in very few is there any distinction made between the rations for children and for adults, or between males and females. Would such a combined system as that alluded to enable you to make a better adaptation of dietaries ? — " Most certainly, and that without exciting the jealousies which are created by different scales of diet being served in one house, where the different classes run a good deal one into another. There might be more economy in the diet of children, and of the poor in general, whilst the old and infirm, and proper objects, might be indidged with some com- forts, without exciting dissatisfaction amongst others. It is for the gake of peace, as well as saving trouble, that the dietaries of parish workhouses are generally uniform. Many parish officers would prescribe a more appropriate diet for the idle and the vicious, if they did not see that they would thereby make deserving objects suffer." You are then of opinion, that the management of a combina- tion of workhouses may be as economical as the management of the same number of paupers in one workhouse ? — " Yes ; and ra- ther more so on an extended scale ; because I find that the cost of maintenance decreases as the numbers increase. With reference to the Lambeth workhouse, I have calculated that one thousand persons might be maintained at 3001. per annum less than seven hundred persons ; and, by the same rule, two thousand persons, in two different houses, one thousand persons in each, mi^ht be main- tained for 1(300/. per annum less than one thousand persons in two houses of five hundred each. In fact, the saving may be estimated at 1/. per head per annum. If I were competing for a contract, I would on these data take a reduced sum in proportion to the number; judging from my own experience at Newingtoii and Lambeth, I should say that one active individual, sufficiently 314 Mr. Chadwick^s Report ' interested^ might superintend the estabUshments for two thousand persons." If such a system of combined management were established, do you think that local authorities or visiters might be intrusted with the power of modifying the dietaries ? — " I am decidedly of opinion that no such authority can be beneficially exercised, even by the local manager and superintendent of any place; whatever devia- tion there is in the way of extra indulgence has a tendency to extend and perpetuate itself which cannot be resisted. If you give to particular people an extra allowance on special grounds, all the rest will exclaim, '^ Why should not we have it as well as they ? ' and too often they get it. That which was only intended to be the comfort of the few, and as an exception, at last, one by one being added to the list, becomes the general rule ; and when once esta- blished, there are few annual officers who will interfere to abridge the accustomed allowance, or get themselves stigmatized as ' op- pressors of the poor.' I may mention, as an instance, that about two years ago Mr. Randal Jackson, one of the county magistrates, visited Lambeth workhouse, and humanely distributed some small parcels of tea to several of the old inmates ; and, at the same time, suggested the propriety of allowing to several of the old and deserving inmates a trifle per week for such comforts (tea and sugar). I remonstrated with some of the officers against the adoption of this proposal, as I well knew from experience that it had a dangerous tendency. The answer was, that they could not do otherwise than fall in with the suggestion of such a person. They have ever since allowed ninety-five old inmates 6d. each per week in addition to their allowance of food. Now the very worthy and humane individual, when he recommended an allowance to 'a. few' old persons, could not have thought of the extent of the altera- tion (apparently so trifling and unworthy of consideration), or he would have seen that it would amount to between one and two hunch'ed pounds per annum ; a charge that would be perpetuated on the parish, and vvoidd, to sustain it, have req\iired an endow- ment of nearly 4000/., had the benevolent indivickial said, ' If the parish do not do this, I will.' In this way alterations in detail, which appear trifling, make in the aggregate very large sums. Humane individuals rarely calcidate upon the tendency or aggre- gate eflect of such alterations ; the extension of this indulgence is at ]n'osent rliorkod by the contract management, but had the work- house been under the old management, the probability is that the indulgence would have been extended to the greater proportion of the inmates. In the way exhibited in this instance such altera- tions are made without exciting any inquiry ; while, if a new school had been to be establislied, requiring between one and two hundred from London and BerJcshire. 315 pounds per annum from the parochial revenue for its maintenancej the whole parish would have been agitated to consider the pro- priety of it." Have you not foimd that one cause of pauperism is occasional sickness, which compels independent labourers to come into the workhouse during the continuance of that sickness, and thus introduces them and their families^, for the first time, to parochial relief? — " This is a very great cause, the existence of which I have long regretted ; for the comforts received during their sickness, and the general mode of living which they observe in the work- house, are such as to induce them to remain a long time, and offer very strong temptations to them to throw themselves upon the parish entirely on the first opportunity, of which they are sure to avail themselves. I have lon^ considered it would be desirable to procure separate establishments for the treatment of the poor who fall sick *." Has it ever occurred to you, that by means of a central admi- nistration of the parochial funds of a town, and a combination of workhouses, such as that mentioned, one of the existing houses might be appropriated exclusively to the reception of the sick ? — "In the central government of the poor of a district such a provi- sion would certainly enter into the plan; but although it has never occurred to me, yet it would be obviously of great advantage. Whilst very good provision is made in our parish, and, perhaps, in other larger parishes, for the treatment of the sick poor, in the small country workhouses the treatment of the sick is commonly very wretched^ as they have no constant attendance, and in every emergency the doctor must be sent for, frequently at two or three miles distance. It is also common, that in consequence of the great distance, the doctor prescribes and sends medicines on the report of the messenger, and without seeing the patient. If one house were appropriated in the manner staled for the sick of a district, and a portion of each separate expenditure were collected together, and systematically applied, a hospital for the poor might be main- tained without any additional expense. And whilst the sick would be better treated, without being tempted to remain paupers, all the advantages of a medical school would be derived for the district." * Mr. Lee, the master of St. Pancras workhouse, states, " We have on an average about one hundred and fifty patients in our hospital and in the work- house. A large proportion of these are independent poor. AMien the inde- pendent poor come into the workhouse and see how well the paupers live, it is very difficult to get them out of it. For this reason I have always thought our hospital, though maintained with the best motives, produces very bad effects. The larger proportion of our paupers are hereditary paupers : the hospital affords an inlet from the dependent paupers. It would be very beneficial if the hospital were a separate establishment. 316 Mr. Chadivick's Report From the statements of medical men in the metropolis, and also of such persons as Dr. Kay of Manchester, it appears that, in consequence of the \Yant of drainage of certain districts, and the crowded and dirty state of the habitations, there are some neio-hbourhoods from which disease is never absent — Have you observed similar etlects in the parishes with which you are ac- quainted ? — " I have observed it, not only in Lambeth, but in all crowded neighbourhoods : and, seeing how large a source of una- voidable pauperism this is, I have long regretted that the pro- prietors of these small houses were not compelled to keep them in a proper state. An independent labourer may be industrious and provident, and yet both he and his family may be subjected to a fever, or other disease, and thrown upon the parish, in consequence of want of drainage, and filth, and other causes, which he has no means of removing." So that, looking merely to the poor-rates, it would be good economy to pay attention to drainage and the enforcement of sana- tary reo-ulation ? — " I think so ; and that it would be attended with orreat benefit. Some neighbourhoods are so constantly the seats of particular diseases, and sources of pauperism from that cause, that if assistant -overseers, and others accustomed to visit the abodes of the poor, were asked for cases of those diseases, they could direct you to particular places w here you would almost be sure to find the disease at work. I remember that, one winter, when the weather was very severe, the beadles of Newington parish were directed to pay particular attention to the sick out- door poor. They went at once to some courts in Kent-street, as a matter of course, without making any inquiry (just as a game- keeper would go to a well-stocked preserve) ; and returned with two coach-loads full of most deplorable objects, the victims of frightful disease." \\'hat has been your experience on the subject of the employ- ment of the poor in the workhouse ? — " The great difficulty, as it appears to me, is the obtainment of employment for the paupers which does not interfere with the regular labour of people out of doors. I have had two manufactories : I have had, perhaps, a dozen looms at work at a time; and I used to manufacture all the sheeting and linen and cotton goods required for the consumption of the workhouse. But I found manufacturing in the work- house objectionable on several grounds. In the first place, with regard to returns, you can rarely get anything to pay the expenses, because, with paupers, you camiot enforce from them that regu- larity (although you give them a proportion of the price of the work) and attention to small savings which a manufacturer can enforce from paid workmen. These small savings make the profit from London and BerJcshire, 317 of the manufacturer. Then, machinery has made such progress, that, unless the workhouse was formed into one immense manufac- tory, I do not beheve that, if the raw material were given to the parish, any return could be obtained for pauper labour. Both with the adults and the children, there is great loss in teaching them the trade. Besides this, you must get a paid superintendent ; for I never knew a pauper who, even if he were well acquainted with any branch of manufacture, could be depended on as super- intendent of a department. If you educate the children to a trade or manufacture conducted by a parish, you give the contractor, or the workhouse-keeper even, a motive to keep them upon the parish, or not to put them to independent occupations. Being thus kept in the workhouse, they contract various bad habits. If they are kept until they become adults, they are too old to submit to the drudgery of apprenticeships, and can very seldom get em- ployment, as they are mostly unfitted for any. When I had the Newington contract, I found there two lads, upwards of seventeen years of age each. They had both been found expert weavers for the workhouse, and had been kept in by the former contractor. The overseer proposed that they should be ejected. I pointed out the improbability of their being able to get into any employment ; for it was notorious that no manufacturers would employ them, on account of their not having served a regular apprenticeship. The overseers, however, insisted on their being sent out of the house. One of them, named Porter, died in about a month, not having obtained a day's employment, after having lived in very great misery. The other, named Giles East, got little or no employ- ment ; and in less than three months committed an oftence for which he was executed. The parties who had expelled him from the house were called upon to prosecute him for the offence. All these consequences I consider to be the results of the system, though the incidents were more strikingly marked in those cases than in others." Have you retained no descriptions of labour In your establish- ments ? — " We have retained several descriptions : for the Vvomen, coarse needle-work, cotton-winding for the tallow-chandlers, sort- ing hairs for the brush-makers : for the men, door-mat making, knotting yarns for spun yarn and cord for the bottoms of mats, coarse kinds of twines, picking oakum. These are descriptions of employment that may with little difficidty be obtained, without affecting, to any extent, the labour of the inhabitants." [Here Mr. Mott adduced in evidence instances of the mischievous effects produced by want of secondary piuiishments, which have been quoted in p. 239.] " I will merely observe further that a contractor is worse off, as to the maintenance of order, than other persons— 318 Mr. ChadwicJc's Report the jealousy with which he is viewed, and the credit given to all the statements of paupers, preventing him from using the little power which he has. It is, however, necessary that some ready and efficient punishment should be available to whomsoever is intrusted the application of pauper labour," It has been stated to us that in St. Paul's, Co vent Garden, the paupers have been usefully employed in cleansing the streets more frequently than would be done by the contractor. Do you not think that mvich labour of that sort might be found for the paupers ? — " The mischief is, that the superintendence of the paupers and the application of their labour, and the manage- ment of the roads, are usually under distinct trusts. In most cases the surveyors do not like to be troubled with paupers. Ar- rangements might, I think, be made, to render the greater propor- tion of the road-labour available for the purpose of employing the poor. But this could only be by a union of management of large districts, in which there would always be a large stock of pauper labour available, and in which there could be skilful manao-ement." Have you observed that, in the smaller agricultural parishes, one main difficulty in the way of the employment of the paupers is the want of permanent superintendents of adequate skill to direct their labours ? — " Yes, and the cause is obvious, in the want of sufficient extent of the parish to pay a competent person, and the want of a sufficient amount of disposable labour to make it worth while to employ such a person, even if the parish could afford it." A second cause of the idleness of paupers in the smaller parishes, is stated to be the division of authority amongst over- seers : how have you found this operate ? — " I have seldom ob- served the overseers agree about the employment of the paupers in any one new mode, even if the surveyors of the roads could be got to agree with the overseers. The want, on the part of the overseers, of an adequate pecuniary interest in the success of the management might, I think, be placed as the first cause of the want of success in the employment of labourers in most of the smaller parishes ; the next is the want of capital for the purpose. I have the means of knowing the pecuniary condition of a num- ber of parishes, and I know few instances in which they are not constantly in debt." Do yoti think that the evils of the present system are in a pro- cess of correction ? — " In the larger parishes, where there is a more respectable and intelligent superintendence, there has lately been some check to the increase of allowances and temptations ; but I believe that in the great majority of the parishes the evils of the system go on increasing." from London and Berlcshire. 319 Have you observed the operation of the advantage given to paupers over independent hibonrers ? — " It is too notorious. When the working men who have never been in the habit of obtaining parochial reUef, get into the workhouse by any accident, they are only to be got out with the greatest diffi- culty : the parish-ofhcers are forced to bribe them out. The workmen say they cannot go out unless certain sums are given them to ' set them up.' Scarcely a week passes in which three or four bargains of this sort are not made; but after having seen what sort of a place they have to fall back upon, they commonly spend the money and return in a few days. A family, consisting of an agricultural labourer, his wife, and six children, some time since came into the Newington workhouse from Norfolk. Before they were classed with the other paupers, they were allowed to dine by themselves. When the regular rations were served out to them, they were all in astonishment at the quantity ; the man had never before been in a workhouse, and he especially was amazed : when the food was first taken in, he asked the person who served it how much of it was intended for them ? and was lost in astonishment when he found that they were allowed the whole of it. He declared that he had more meat to divide amongst his family in one day, now they were paupers, than lie had been able to obtain for them during several months, when he was an independent labourer ; and he repeated afterwards, that during the whole of his life he had never lived so well as he lived in the Avorkhouse. It is unnecessary to observe that we had the greatest difficulty in getting this family out of the workhouse. Girls who are sent out from the work- house to situations, commonly quarrel with their employers, and throw themselves out of place, on the ground that they are worked harder than in the workhouse, and are not kept so well, though they are, as well as their employers, in the middle ranks of life, and are required to work no harder than many of the wives of industrious tradesmen. On Christmas-day, when the custo- mary allowance, consisting of seven ounces of cooked roast-beef, clear of hone, one pound of potatoes, one pound of plum-pudding, and a pint of strong beer, exclusive of their bread and other daily allowances, was served out at Lambeth workhouse, one of the collectors happened to be present, and he remarked on the goodness of the quality as well as on the quantity of the pro- visions. I asked him whether there were not a great many persons, from whom he collected this rate, who were not able to procure such a dinner for their families .^^ His reply was — * Hundreds.' " What proportion of those who partook of this superior fare 320 Mr. Chadwiclis Report you have mentioned, do you consider deserving objects? — " If by deserving objects is meant those who have not been reduced to want by idleness, improvidence, or vice, but by un- avoidable circumstances, I should say, certainly not one-fifth. Some few years back I endeavoured to trace the causes of the paupers becoming chargeable, and I found that, in nine cases out often the main cause was an ungovernable inclination for fermented liquors." Over how many cases did your inquiries extend ? — " I was then the contractor for Newington workhouse ; — the number of the cases 1 took was upwards of three hundred. The inquiry was conducted for some months, as I investigated every new case that came under my knowledge. All my subsequent observations have strengthened the conclusions from these cases." What proportion of these cases arose from failure of employ- ment? — " Not one in twenty." In the course of that investigation, did you trace any effects as resulting from the absence of education? — "^As to moral or religious instruction, I observed a very marked and lamentable deficiency; for, out of three hundred, there were, I think, two professing the Catholic faith, about twenty Methodists, and, with the exception of about fifteen idiots, or persons of imbecile mind, the rest, though they professed to be ortho- dox, yet might be termed " anything-arians." They had the liberty of attending divine service, or of going ovit to any other place of worship ; but I found that the majority of them who availed themselves of this privilege never went to any place of worship, but followed vagrant habits. Those who have had edu cation I have always found more easilj^ manageable ; and, cer- tainly, the most desperate characters have been the most completely uninstructed. No one can feel more sti'ongly than I do the utility, the absolute necessity, of a general education ; but it must be of a better description than that now commonly given before it can have the desired effect. It is forgotten that reading and writing are not of themselves knowledtje, and will not of themselves make a man moral. Amongst the number of persons whose cases I investigated were several of an education far above the average ; and I had one person \mder vay care, named Wil- liam Jones, who was the cousin of an eminent barrister, and the son of a clergyman. This person was very learned, and, lor the purpose of keeping up his knowledge of the languages with which h(; was conversant, he used to keep a journal of each day's trans- aetions, and the accoimt of each day was kept in one of the seven diiVcrent languages with which he was the most familiar. He was sent to my charge at the workhouse as a victim to the liabit from London and Berkshire. 321 of drinking. His journal contained very accurate accounts of his own aberrations ; and yet, notwithstanding the calamitous con- sequences which he himself noted and commented upon justly^ he could not refrain from indulgence. On one occasion, after he had been for some time debarred from liquor, he, by some means or other, got some drink, but he was nevertheless sober, and capable of reasoning collectedly, Avhen he came to me, and beo-cred permission to be allowed to go out of the workhouse, for he said he could not bear abstinence any lono-er. I told him I could not make the house a prison, and that if he, when sober, went out, I would not receive him back again. He still besought me, and I gave him half an hour to consider of it. At the end of the time he came again, and, findino- me still adherino' to my resolution, •111 3.- ' said he was extremely sorry, for he must go ; he could not resist having some more liquor, ' if it was to secure him a crown of glory.' I was obliged to allow him to go; and in the middle of the next day he was brought back in a state of beastly intoxica- tion, and nearly naked; his clothes having been disposed of to obtain the means of indulging his propensity. I refused to pay the coachman, or receive him again. I afterwards learned that the coachman, after having driven him about to respectable per- sons, his family connexions, to obtain payment, drove him to Union Hall, where the magistrates committed him to Kingston house of correction. Since then I have not seen him. Such instances among educated people are not common." Do you think that anything may be done in the way of edu- cation for the present mass of adults of the workino- classes ? — " It IS not possible to say what might be done; but I have not seen any system of direct education from which I could anticipate any material benefits as regards the adults. No time, however, should be lost with children." But although nothing could be expected from any influence of education upon adults, have you not observed circumstances mis- chievously influencing their habits which may be removed or altered? — ■"^Yes; I am glad to have an opportunity of stating-, that I have observed such circumstances, and have often regretted the extreme facility with which the means of gratifying the pro- pensities to drink and other indulgences are aflbrded by the system on which the pawnbroker's business is at present carried on. In the course of my experience and investigations, I iiave had many thousands of duplicates of articles pledged by the poor; and I have found that nearly all the articles pledged by these classes are at sums from 3d. to Is., and not e.xceedincr 1.9. Gc/. each pledge. It is notorious to those acquainted with the habits of the people, and it is indeed admitted by the paupers themselves, that Y 322 Mr. Chadwick's Report nine out of ten of them are pledged for liquor. The Immense proportion of these pawnings were hy women, and chiefly of articles usually deemed essential to their use or comfort, such as handkerchiefs, flannel-petticoats, shifts, or hovisehold articles, such as tea-kettles, ilat-irous, and such things ; these articles being always in requisition, they are usually redeemed in a few days, and very frequently the same day. I made a calculation of the interest paid by them for their trifling loans, and found it to be as follows : A loan 3d, if redeemed same day, pavsint. at rate of 5200 per ct., if weekly 866 per ct. 4 . . . ' . 3900 . . 650 6 . . . . 2600 . . 433 9 . . . . 1733 . . 288 Is. . . . . 1300 . . 216 What is the remedy you proposed for this system ? — " An enact- ment that no pawnbroker should be allowed to advance a less sum on any article than 2s. (id. From some conversation which I have had with one very respectable pawnbroker, I am led to believe that the most respectable of that body would not object to such an alteration. It is to be observed, that the Pawnbroker's Act allows them to charge the same interest, namely, 20 per cent, on a loan of 3d. on a pledge for a day as it does upon the loan of 2.S. 6ri. for a month ; I think it probable that the legislature never conceived that any pledges would be made for less sums than 2.S". Gd. Tlie facility of obtaining the means of indulgence is also a facility for disposing of the produce of petty thefts, and a temp- tation to them. After a general examination of the pauper's clothing account, finding a. large proportion of the articles missing, I have next seized all the duplicates we could find on their per- sons or in their boxes, and on sending round to the pawnbrokers we were sure to find a great proportion of the missing articles. Here, it may be observed, there was no real want. I might have added, as one of the advantages of contract management, that the contractor is necessarily compelled to take greater care of the stock in the house, which under other management is inevitably plun- dered extensively." Have you observed any bad effects produced by fficilitles given to contract debts, operatuig on the improvident habits of the poor? — " Yes, very bad efiects indeed, and this is one [)oint on which 1 am glad to have an o{)portunity of speaking. I am well inlbrmed, that credit is given to poor people on the knowledge on the j)ait of the creditors, that they have a sort of security on the parish rates. They know that when the head of a family a[)pears likely to be thrown into prison on the judgment of one of the small debt courts, the wife and family immediately apply to the parish for relief, and the parish ofTicers too often assist in paying from London and Berkshire. 323 the debt in order to get rid of the burthen of the wife and familj\ I can hardly trust myself to express my feeUngs «vith relation to what I have heard, and the instances I iinow of the oppression and cruehy practised by these small courts, where the judges are frequently small shopkeepers directly interested in the decisions*." Have you thought of any remedy for these abuses ? — " I have thought that at all events, a limitation of the powers of such courts to distrain on the goods of the debtor where he had any, would prevent credit being given to the mischievous extent to which it is now given to persons who have no self-control and no means of paying the debts they contract. The suppression of the power given to these petty courts to imprison the person, would be one of the greatest boons that could be conferred on the labouring classes, and would at the same time afford very great relief to the parishes." Do you think the remedy might go any farther with advan- tage ? or that there would be no bad effects from depriving the creditor of his remedy where there are not goods ? — " 1 certainly consider that the remedy might be carried farther. I think that the effect would be, to prevent credit being given to the thought- less and improvident, whilst the honest and industrious man would receive all the accommodation ujjon honour that he has before been in the habit of receiving or could require. The tally-shops and the chandler's-shops in districts which furnish a large proportion of the business of these courts, have had a most mischievous effect in fostering habits of improvidence amongst the labouring classes -j"." Have you formed any opinion as to the expediencj' of increas- ing or maintaining the duties on fermented liquors, as a means of abating their consumption? — " I have not considered that sub- ject, and I do not, therefore, feel myself competent to express any opinion upon it." Have you considered what is to be done in giving additional * The fees of these courts are flagitiously high in proportion to the debts. t On referring to some parUamentaiy retui-ns of the number of prisoners committed to Whitecross-street and Horsemonger-lane prisons on process out of the courts of request, it appears that, in the year 1S29, there were nine hundred and thirty-two prisoners committed to the latter gaol, and confined during periods from one to one hundred days ; that the aggregate amount of debts for which these nine hundred and thu"t>'-two prisoners were confined, was 1,900/., and the aggregate costs 574/.; that, during the same year, one thousand five hundi-ed and sixty-three persons were confined in Whitecross-street prison dm-ing similar periods, and that the total amount of their debts was 2,071/., of the costs 746/. The retm-n from this prison states that " there are, vipon an average, about seventy-five prisoners on process out of the courts of request constantly in the above prison ; and their food, firing, bedding, medicine, Sic, are estimated to cost annually 422/. 1 4s. 4c/." Y 2 324 Mr. Chadwiclcs Report facilities for the formation of frugal habits by the improvement of Friendly Societies and Savings Banks ? — " They are inestimable institutions, which, it appears to me, are susceptible of great im- provements ; I have no doubt that if the inducements to impro- vidence were removed by the reform of the present system of poor- law management, they would be immensely resorted to. Some- thing should certainly be done to give additional securities to benefit societies. It was only on Friday last, a person in middling circumstances stated to me, that a benefit society to which he had contributed for some years, to the amoiuit of upwards of 120/., had been broken up from bad management, and that his propor- tion of the fund, when distributed, only amounted to 3Z. He was thus deprived of the saving which was probably his only resource against pauperism. It would be a very great advantage and inducement to save, if annuities, adapted to the circumstances of the labouring classes, were provided with government security. But the legislation on these subjects has hitherto been peculiarly blundering and unfortunate, and if there is any further inter- ference, it should certainly be with greater caution, and by persons of superior knowledge and abilities." What proportion of the paupers under your charge do you believe to have had a surplus of wages beyond what was requisite for a comfortable subsistence, a surplus which they might have put by, (had there been adequate inducements,) to guard against the destitution by which they were pauperized? — " I might have mentioned, when stating the results of my investigation of the causes of paiiperism in the three hundred cases, that the greater number of the men admitted, that they had long been in the receipt of good wages, from which they might have saved, and expressed their regret at their improvidence ; as they might, if they had been careful, have kept themselves Irom the parish. Here again the practice of taking pledges to meet occasional wants interferes to check provident habits. We know that the wants which small loans are obtained to relieve are not important, and that the people would often have to meet them if the pawn- brokers were not so open." From the whole tendency of your evidence, as to the supe- riority of the larger parishes over the small ones, it is to be presumed, therefore, you consider that, for the same reasons, county management affords better means of diminishing the evils of pauperism than the larger parishes? — " Precisely so." Does your observation enable you to give any opinion on the further subject of a central or national manajjcment under some central authority, as compared with a county management? — " I do not speak from any speculation, but from a close attention from London and Berkshire. 325 to the subject ; for the opinions Avhicli I entertain have been forced upon my mind by tlie facts which have come under my own observation. I have long conchidcd that any efficient manage- ment must differ materially from the present system. I have seen sets of officers succeed sets ; I have seen a great many plans and systems suggested and tried; I have seen them tried by officers of the highest respectability and intelligence, and the little good derived from the practical operation of their plans utterly defeated by their successors, who, though equally honest, come into office with different opinions and views. Here and there an extraordinary man will come into office, and succeed very satis- factorilv. But when he oroes, there is generally an immediate relapse into the old system. His example works no permanent change in his own parish, still less is it attended to in the adjacent parishes. In short, I am quite convinced from all my experience, that no uniform system can be carried into execution, however ably it may be devised ; nor can any hopes of permanent improve- ment be held out, unless some central and powerful control is established. The present vicious system is so rooted in the habits of the people, that I do not think that it would be in the power of the existing parish officers to alter it. However determined they might be to do so, in a very large proportion of cases, they cannot act or make any improvement ; for they are even now obliged to yield relief to the worst objects under the influence of fear. I know that, in many parishes, the officers are very much gratified by the exercise of power, and would very reluctantly yield to any interference with what they call ' their privileges ;' but still I would say that the good sense and respectability of the country would overcome all ignorant and selfish opposition of this sort. Ignorant or interested persons talk about the advantages of people applying their money and managing their own affairs, in opposi- tion to any plan of central management ; but however great the mismanagement of this or any other government that I have ever heard of may be, there never was a tax so harshly and vexatiously levied, or so badly and corruptly expended, as the tax raised for the relief of the poor. It is the only one raised and appropriated immediately by the payers themselves, and it is in every respect the very worst." Be so good as to specify some of the advantages which you think w^ould be attainable from a central management? — " In the first place, (setting aside the superior economy and skill of the estab- lishment for a central management,) one great point I have always considered would be in obtaining a uniformity of diet throughout the country. At present there are scarcely two parishes that agree either as to quantity or quality : the cost in some being as low as 326 Mr. Chadwich'' s Report 2,s. Qd. per head per week, whilst in others it is as high as 6s. or Ss. They only agree in this, that they are all much better than the diet obtained by the greater proportion of working men out of the house. I have examined many parochial diet tables, and I do not know any place except Gosport where the diet is so low as that Qt the independent labourer." To what do you ascribe the difference between the parishes in their diet ? — " In the parishes where the lower contract is taken, articles which are there considered luxuries, or at least not abso- lute necessaries of life, are omitted. The following is a copy of the dietary for Lambeth, where the contract is at 3s. lid. per head per week : in Gosport, I take the contract at 2s. Sd. per head per week. MEN AND WOMEN. Breakfast and Supper. Dinner. Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday . Saturday Sunday Bread 13 oz. ■! " , -r, , . I or 1 oz. Butter f Ditto \ 1 Pint Milk Porridge, ditto Bread 13 oz. ditto f Ditto ditto 1 1 Pint Milk Porridge ditto Bread 13 oz. ditto f Ditto tl Pint Milk Porridge ditto Bread 13 oz. ditto 1 Pint Leg of Beef Soup 1 lb. Rice Pudding 7 oz. Boiled Beef & Vegetables 1 Pint Leg of Beef Soup 7 oz. Boiled Beef & Vegetables 1 Pint Leg of Beef Soup 7 oz. Boiled Beef & Vegetables One Quart Table Beer per Day. Extra for the Sick, Mutton and Broth, Beef Tea, Wine, Porter, Milk, &c., or whatever is directed by the Visiting Apothecary. FIVE EXTRA DINNERS. Easter — Legs of Mutton 7 oz. with Baked Potatoes, and 1 Pint of Porter each Person. Whitsuntide — Ditto ditto ditto. Bkan Feast — Bacon 7 oz. with Beans, and 1 Pint of Beer each. Pea Feast — Bacon 7 oz. with ^ Pint of Peas, and 1 Pint of Porter each. Christmas Day — Roast Beef 7 oz. with 1 lb. Potatoes Baked, 1 lb. of Plum Pudding, and 1 Pint of strong Beer each. See the Gosport dietary, page 253. Are the paupers of Gosport as well satisfied with their diet as the Lambeth workhouse inmates are with the diet given them tliore? — " Yes; they are ev(m better satisfied." 'i'hcn do you find that the conceptions of this class of people, as to which tliey ought to have, rise in proportion to what is given them ? — " Precisely so ; it is a settled thing ; there can be no doubt of it. This may always be seen in those places where there is any from London and Berkshire. 327 considerable distribution of coals, clothes, or other things, from benevolent societies or individuals. It is universally the case, that there is in those places much more discontent and disorder th.an m those places where no such gifts are distributed." What advantages do you expect to result from an unifor- mity of diet? — " In the first place, it would do away, the strong temptation which paupers now have to remove from what they call ' bad parishes' to others which they call ' good parishes/ or from good parishes to better, or to stay in good parishes, in- stead of seeking work elsewhere. If there were uniformity of diet and other treatment, it would make no material difference in which parish a man was kept. There would not be, on the one hand, the mischievous shifting, and, on the other hand, the mis- chievous continuance that there now is. Frauds in settlements, and the attendant expenses, and the expenses and trouble of removals, would be materially lessened. The necessity of uni- form diet, and the important effect which it has upon the admi- nistration of the poor-laws, it appears to me has never yet received the attention which it deserves. It would be more especially available against the most dangerous and fearfully burthensome part of the system, the money payments to the out-door poor. Uniformity of diet and management would also enable every parish to know what the cost of the poor ought to be, and would enable them to detect many frauds. When the diet varies, you have no means of doing this, and no two diets agree. At present, people say the expenditure in our parish is so much per head, whilst in such another parish it is so much less, without at all considerincr the ditierence in diet, or other local circumstances, all of which you must consider before you can decide whether the pecuniary management of parishes is comparatively good or bad. It would save the parishes and parish-officers from those bickerings, and the ill feeling which is occasioned by this hidden cause of the expense of their poor. It is a very common thing for parishes to look at the great number and expense of the poor, and, without takino- into account the dietaries and other local circumstances, to compare them with other parishes, and attribute fraud or mis- manao-ement to officers, who have really managed as well as the system will permit. A prescribed vuiiibrmity of diet w^ould also check the tendency which there is at present in parochial manage- ment to a constant increase of diet and accumulation of comforts, from the interference and influence of humane but mistaken indi- viduals. Parishes are always subject to such influences as I have mentioned, with reference to the interference of Mr. Randal Jack- son, and such benevolent individuals, who cannot from their posi- tion be expected to see that every comfort bestowed on the idle 328 Mr. Chadwick's Report is a bounty to the improvident, and an injury and cruelty to the industrious." From this statement, it is to be presumed you contemplate the discontinuance of all pecuniary out-door relief, or the rendering that relief also uniform? — *' 1 am certainly of opinion, that if out-door relief is given at all, it should be given in kind, as I have found, on investigating the cases, that such relief is not apjilied to the purposes contemplated in nine cases out of ten ; but if a cautioned system of workhouses, under a central manage- ment, could be established, then the out-door management might be usefully discontinued. A large proportion of the applica- tions for out-door relief are made, first, in tlie confidence that there is not room in the workhouse for one-third of those who insist upon relief; and secondly, that from the keep in the work- house being extravagant, the parish-officers will prefer giving any single applicant, and much more any family, a weekly pen- sion to taking them into the house. Men serve during their lives in the army, or the navy, and sustain Avounds and extreme hard- ships; and are, nevertheless, obhged to maintain during all that time a good character to entitle them to a pension of sixpence a day; whilst you will find, that in the metropolis thousands of thieves, prostitutes, and all over the country tens of thousands of the worst characters, obtain weekly allowances, or pensions, as * their right,' immediately that they demand them. If all were taken into the house, and the diet for the able-bodied pauper were what it ought to be, the same effects would follow that are noted in an account of the establishment of several workhouses published in 1725. " Very great numbers of lazy people, rather than submit to the confinement ami labour of the workhouse, are content to throw otl' the mask, and maintain themselves by their own in- dustry. And this was so remarkable here, at Maidstone, that V hen our workhouse was finished, and public notice given, that all who came to demand their weekly pay should be inmiediately sent thither, little more than half the poor upon the list came to the overseers to receive their allowance." You propose, then, that the diet, besides being uniform in amount, should be luiiformly reduced in quantity and quality? — "I do. The national diet should be low, even to all classes. The wealthy, and all those who had the means, would then have an ain])lo opportmiity of exercising their benevolence, by adding, by voluntary contribiitions, to the comfort of deserving poor. As to tlic food and clothinfj of the imdeservinof, the advantage of relief 1 . • ill kind is as a check to misapplication. But even if the officers had sufficient fortitude to carry such a regulation into effect, it Mould not do for tli-m to say, ' )Vp ha\'e' determined to alter the from London and Berkshire. 329 allowance' They must be enabled to say, ' We cannot help it; we are compelled to do it ;' and it must be apparent that this is really the case. The controlling power must be strong, and be at a distance. It is only by some such system that the condition of the pauper can be reduced to that of the independent labourer, which is the grand eflTort to be made ; for if it is not made, you will surely have the independent labourers place themselves in the more advan- tageous condition of paupers, which they have now the means of doing:." You are, of course, aware that such extensive changes are not free from danger, and have considered it? — '^T have, and I am well aware that any sudden change might be attended with much mischief; not from the in-door poor, who might, without difficulty, be gradually brought to submit to regulations, but from persons in the habit of receiving out-door relief in money, the system now being so much interwoven with their habits. The first thing to be done would be obtaining uniformity of management, and then of diet. The next would be the gradual reduction of the relief, petmy by penny, and ounce by ounce. The very old, who have been brought up under the present regulations, might be allowed to continue, so long as they lived, in the enjoyment of the same comforts. All new applicants should, however, at once be subject to the new and strict regulations." Have you had, within your own observation, an instance of the reduction of the allowances to a whole body of paupers ? — "Yes ; I recollect, about ten or eleven years since, the oncers of the town of Maidstone were induced, from the great cost of the poor, (which had increased, I think, to Is. or 8s. per week each,) to set on foot some inquiries. The result was, that the officers reduced the diet ; and after enforcing the alteration for about two months, they contracted with a person to keep the poor for about 3s. 3d. per head. They have continued the contracting system ever since." Were there any riotings or burnings ? — " No ; the disturbance was scarcely of a nature to be noticed, or more than the workhouse- keeper himself could easily control. They soon settled down into the reformed system very quietly. And I believe that the con- tractor, who was an intelligent man, obtained more work from the poor of that parish than could be expected from most parishes of that extent." Might not such general regulations as those to which you have alluded be prescribed by Act of Parliament? — " No, certainly not. The regulations of any system must be very numerous ; and though they may be uniform, it would be necessary to vary them from time to time; and unless parliament was to do nothing but occupy itself with discussions on details of workhouse manao-e- 330 Mr. Chadwick's Report ment, it would be impossible to effect any great alteration in that way. A great many regulations, however ably devised, must be experimental. Here unforeseen and apparently unimportant de- tails might baffle the best plans, if there were not the means of making immediate alteration. Suppose a general regulation were prescribed by Act of Parliament, and it was found to want altera- tion ; you must wait a whole year, or more, for an Act of Parlia- ment to amend it, or the law must be broken. A central authority might make the alteration, or supply unforeseen omis- sions in a day or two. Besides, a central board or authority might get information immediately on the matters of detail. If they had, for instance, to settle some uniform diet, they could at once avail themselves of the assistance of men of science, physicians or chemists ; but you would find that Parliament, if it could really attend to the matter, and would do anything efficient, must have almost as many committees as there are different details. If there were a central board established, and it were easily accessible, as it ought to be, persons in local districts would consult them or make suggestions, who would never think of applying to Parlia- ment. Who would think of applying to Parliament to determine whether four or five ounces of butter should be used as a ration in particular cases, and whether the butter should be Irish or Dutch ? or, if Irish, whether Cork or Limerick : or to determine whether the old women's under-petticoats should be flannel or baize, and how wide or long? And suppose the petticoats laid down by Act of Parliament are foinid narrow, are the poor old people all over the kingdom to wait a whole year before they can have them altered ? Yet on details of this sort, beneath the dig- nity of grave legislators, good or bad management would depend." You then think it would be practicable for one central authority to control the management of the poor, and all their details throughout the kingdom ? — " Yes, I do : quite as easily, and in- deed much more easily, and much better and cheaper than the barracks and dockyards are managed throughout the kingdom. I cannot speak confidently of the management of those esTablish- mcnts ; but 1 believe they are not under the uniformity of system, of which I think the system of management for the poor suscep- tible under a central control." Do you consider a central board more eligible than any system of immediate a(;tion of the government ? — I do : for while it would save the time of government for the performance of its other duties, a central board woidd, I think, excite less discontent, as the people would consider that they had still an appeal to the government or the leorislaturc. Do you not think it practicable to bring parishes to the volun- from London and Berkshire. 331 tary adoption of any uniform regulations when their importance is proved to them ? — " I certainly do not think it practicable* I think it utterly impossible to bring the twelve or fourteen thousand parishes in England and Wales to one mind upon any one sub- ject, however clear the evidence may be ; much less so to act with uniformity in any one point. The Commissioners must be well aware that great frauds are committed by paupers in the metro- polis receiving relief from different boards on different board days. 1 have known instances of paupers receiving pensions from three or four difterent parishes. It was proposed some years ago, and it has been proposed from time to time, to remedy this evil, which all the parishes are aware is very great, by one simple but effec- tual expedient, which it would be very easy to adopt ; namely, by all the parishes paying on tlie same day ; but they never could be got to do this. Individual conveniences prevented the remedy being applied ; and the system of fraud still prevails, and will con- tinue to prevail, so long as the present management prevails. Now, if the parishes in the metropohs cannot be got to act in con- cert for the suppression of an evil which affects only one part of the system, I think it will be seen that I am justified in my opinion, that any reform or co-operation in the country is quite hopeless without the establishment of a strong central manage- ment; nothing else will check the system. This has been my opinion for years ; and I am confident that all the evidence will confirm it." Have you ever formed any opinion as to the appointment of such a central authority, whether it should be by popular election or otherwise ? — " Certainly not by popular election or delegation ; for the requisite qvialifications would not generally be appreciated ; and we now find, that in the appointment of the permanent and more important parish officers, even where the electors have a direct interest in the appointment of persons of ability, they rarely take the peculiar qualifications into consideration, but vote from a desire to serve a friend or a favourite. It may be objected that this would, in some degree, be the case if the appointment of a central authority were with the government; but it could hardly fail to be so in a much less degree. In my opinion, the best mode of getting an efficient central management would be to concentrate the responsibility for good management in the chief of the new department, and allow him to select his assistants." Have you formed any opinion as to the probable saving to be effected by a central and efficient management ? — " I should say, at least one half of the amount of the rates. This is shown by the instances where very imperfect trials of better systems have been made. I consider, too, that the progress of the evil may be 332 Mr. Chad wick's Report checked, and additional benefits conferred on the deserving classes, and, indeed, on the undeserving, as it Avould be a benefit to them to subject them to the obligations of regular industry. The ques- tion of settlement would, under a national or central manag-ement, become a matter of very mmor consideration. I think the parish rates might be settled amongst themselves. Any objection on the part of the less heavily burthened parishes to unite a management with those more heavily burthened, might be safely met by a guarantee that their rates should not be increased beyond the average amount for a given number of years past, say six or seven ; whilst, on the other hand, they should have the benefit of any reduction. I state my opinions on this subject, and the import- ance of a change, with great earnestness ; for having some stake in the country, I have long observed the accelerated progress of the system with great anxiety, as I see clearly that the same state of things, of which you have an example in Bethnal-Green, will, sooner or later, overtake the other parishes ; the pauper popula- tion becoming too great for the industrious classes to bear ; in- dustry paralysed ; rents diminishing; property absorbed, and all sinking down to a pauper level." The following extracts will afford examples of the progress of the system in those districts where it is the most in advance. Mr. Burm, one of the parish officers of Bethnal Green, ex- amined. \\ hat is the condition of the property in your parish in con- sequence of the burthen of the poor-rate P — " 1 believe there are now about 500 houses unoccupied. There are parts of whole streets where the leaseholders would be glad to gi^e up the houses, some of them six-roomed houses, if they could get rid of them. In fact, such property is rapidly becoming absorbed. The land- lords are complaining bitterly that the number of those who pay rent is very ra[)idly diminishiniz;." Mr. Farr, of the j)ari;sh of Mile End New Town, examined, — What is the eflect of the increasing burthens of the poor's- rate within your district ? — " 1 think that every ninth house is now emjjty, and the pro])ortion of empty houses is increasing rapidly. We have two whole streets in our small parish, in which the liouses are almost entirely empty. There the property is entirely destroyed. Jf there are two or three occupants in them it is as much as there are. The shopkeepers are sinking rapidly, and tlu-y must soon po. 'J'he whole value of the property in the neighlxjurhood is wonderfully depreciated.'' Mr. Thomas Single, of Mile End Old Town, says, " I hear it from London and Berkshire. 333 very frequently said in the parish, that it would be a very excel- lent thing, if the Government would take the parish affairs in their own hands, for the inhabitants see no chance of the pesent rates being reduced under the present system. Some regulating power should be established. Would not even this regulating power be deemed an obnoxious interference ? — " It might be unpopular for a short time, as the new police was (which in our district and most others now gives general satisfaction). 1 consider it a very necessary interference for the protection of the good order of society, against the worst misgovernment. I think it necessary for the protection of pro- perty, which is now giving way, and must continue to give way under the pressure of pauperism. Rents are now much reduced in consequence of the heaviness of the rates. We have 800 empty houses in our parish, and persons are constantly leaving it to go to other parishes where the rates are lower. As the owner of houses, I can s[)eak to these effects from my own knowledge." In every district the discontent of the labouring classes appeared to me to be proportioned to the money dispensed in poor's-rates or in voluntary charities. I found the able-bodied unmarried la- bourers discontented from being put to a disadvantage as com- pared with the married, and from other effects of the system. The paupers were discontented, apparently from their expectations being raised by the ordinary administration of the system, beyond any means of satisfying them. They, as well as the independent labourers, to whom the term poor is equally applied, are told that under all circumstances they have a right to have subsistence provided for them. I found that verbally they were instructed that they had a right to a " reasonable subsistence," or " n fair subsistence," or •' an adequate subsistence." When I have asked what "fair," or '* reasonable," or "adequate'' meant, I have in every instance been answered differently ; some stating they thought it meant such as would give a good allowance of " meat every day," which no poor man should be without ; although a large proportion of the rate-payers do go without it. It is abun- dantly shown in the course of this inquiry, that where the terms used by the public authorities are large and vague, they are always filled up by the desires of the parties benefiting, and the desires always wait on the imagination, which is the worst regu- lated and the most active and vivid in the most ignorant of the people. In Newbury and Reading, the money dispensed in poor's-rates and charity is as great as could be desired by the warmest advocate either of compulsory or of voluntary relief; and yet, during the agricultural riots, the inhabitants in both 334 Mr. Cliadwidcs Report towns were under strong; and well-founded apprehensions of the risino- of the very people amongst whom the poor's-rates and charfties are so profusely distributed. The Spitaliields Benevolent Societv, in their thirteenth report, state that '• Many of the poor are very thankful for the relief afforded, and in some instances they give striking proofs of gratitude. There is often found also a degree of symp'athy one with another. In general, however, the experience of tlie society lamentably proves that poverty has, of itself, no tendency to renew the heart." Other benevolent persons, though reluctant to yield to the evidence, exjjress their bitter dis- appoTntment at the results of their efforts. The police inspectors concur in stating, that the paupers entertain the most exaggerated conceptions of the funds provided for them ; and '• tliat wherever their expectations in this respect are opposed, they consider them- selves defrauded by the overseers ; that their outbreakings of vio- lence arise from an opinion of the inadequacy of supplementary relief, which inadequacy they charge to the supposed cupidity and mercenary tricks of those to whom the management of the poor's funds is confided*." Those who work being called poor, though receiving good wages, are of course entitled to a share of the " poor funds." Whatever addition is made to allowances under these circumstances, excites the expectation of still further allow- ances ; increases the concei)tion of the extent of the right, and ensures proportionate disappointment and hatred if that expec- tation is not satisfied. On the other hand, wherever the objects of desire have been made definite, where wages upon the perfomiance of work have been substituted for eleemosynary aid, and those wages have been allowed to remain matter of contract, employment has again pro- duced content, and kindness become again a source of gratitude. " During the agricultural riots there was no fire, no riots, no threatening letters in Cookham parish. In the midst of a district which was peculiarly disturbed, Cookham and White Waltham, where a similar system of poor-law administration was adopted, entirely escaped, although in Cookham there are several thresh- ing-machines, and the only ])aper-mill had, at the time of the riots, been newly fitted iq) with niachineryj." I caiuiot close my report without soliciting attention to further evidence of the superior condition of the independent labourers, as compared with the condition of those out-door poor who receive parochial or charitable aid, though sometimes obtaining ■■■' Evidence off. Y. Smith, Police-superintendent of the K. Division. ■\- Evidence of Mr. Whutelv. from London and BcrJcsJiire. 335 more money. In every district, I have found that their condition is distinct and superior. The following testimony from Mr. ]\Iiller, of St. Sepulchre's, is corroborated by the testimony of other wit- nesses in the metropolis. "In the course of my visits to the residences of the labouring people in our own and other parishes, I have seen the apartments of those who remained independent, though they had no appa- rent means of getting more than those who were receiving relief from the parish, or so much as out-door paupers. The differ- ence in their appearance is most striking ; I now, almost imme- diately on the sight of a room, can tell whether it is the room of a pauper or of an independent labourer. I have frequently said to the Avife of an independent labourer, ' I can see, by the neatness and cleanliness of your place, that you receive no relief from any parish.' ' No,' they usually say, ' and 1 hope we never shall.' This is applicable not only to the paupers in the metropolis ; but it may be stated, from all I have seen elsewhere, and heard, that it is equally applicable to other places. The quantity of relief given to the paupers makes no difference with them as to cleanliness or comfort; in many instances very much the contrary. More money only produces more drunkenness. We iiave had frequent instances of persons being deprived of parochial relief from misconduct or otherwise, or, as the officers call it, " choked off the parish," during twelvemonths or more, and at the end of that time we have found them in a better con- dition than when they were receiving weekly relief The following is an extract of a letter, with which I have been favoured by the Rev. H. H. Milman of Reading, " Another important question you suggested v.as, how far there is a marked and manifest difterenee between the pauper and independent part of the labom-ing population ; between those who are hahituallv supported, either wholly or in part, by the parish funds, and those who maintain themselves by their own industry. How far habits of idleness, intemperance, or mismanagement mav have been the original causes which have reduced the lowest of our paupers to parochial support ; and how far the dependence upon such svipport may have formed or confirmed such habits, it may be diificult to say. With the exception, however, of decent persons reduced by inevitable misfortune, as is the case with some of our manufacturers, whose masters have totally failed, and who are too old or otherwise incapable of seeking elsewhere their accustomed employment, I shoidd state, in the most unepialitied manner, that the cottage of a parish pauper and his family may 336 Mr. Chad wick's Report be at once distinguished from that, of a man who maintains him- self The former is dirt}^ neglected, noisome ; the children, thouorh in general they may be sent to school at the desire of the clero-vnian or parish officers, are the least clean and the most rao-ored at the school : in short, the decree of wretchedness and ?50 • • 1 1111 degradation may, m most nistances, be measured by the degrree m which they burthen the parish : unless some few tenements inha- bited by the lowest, and usually the most profligate poor — the refuse of society, the cottages in my parish which it is least agreeable to enter are those of which the rent is paid by the parish, in which the effect of our exertions and of the libe- rality of the landlords to cleanse, on the alarm of cholera, was obliterated in a very few weeks. The worst consequence, how- ever, of regular maintenance from the parish-funds shows itself in the character and demeanour of the young lads who have grown up in such families. They have been accustomed to live in idle- ness, and in perpetual strife with the overseer, Avhom it is their constant endeavour either to browbeat by insolence, weary by importunity, or overreach by cunning. They have never felt, they cannot feel the shame or degradation of pauperism ; they are utterly insensible of the honest pride of independence. The only security to the parish is that they are in general of dissolute habits, which in the town they can gratify, and are not so much inclined, or are not so often compelled, to early marriages as youth of a similar description in the coiuitry parishes." " It would be a great point gained if there could be some line drawn, some distinction made, which could be impressed upon the feelings of the poor themselves, between those who are reduced by real misfortune or by providential affliction to subsist on alms, and those wlio are maintained as parish paupers. I cannot but tiiink that the establishment of two such establishments as I suo-- gested might tend to draw this line of separation. The poor-house siiould be a place of comparative comfort ; it should be liberally, tliough economically maintained ; it should be a refuge from the evils and miseries of life; it should be what the law of Elizabeth contemplated. The workhouse slioidd be a place of hardship, of coarse fare, of degradation and humility : it shovdd be adminis- tered with strictness — with severity ; it shovdd be as repulsive as is consistent with humanity, for it is most evident that humanity IS far more concerned in visiuij every method to incite the labour- ing classes to depend upon themselves, than to depend upon parochial assistance. Where the industrious man can with diffi- culty obtain sul)sist('nce, it is most unjust, as well as most detri- nicntal to the moral being of the individual, to encourage him in idleness by the gratuitous offer of a better, at least of a sullicieut from London and Berkshire. .'337 subsistence. Though 1 must acknowledge that I have consider- able misgivings as to the practicability of drawing this line between the poor and the paupers ; — could it be done, it might materially conduce to giving a right direction to those sympathies which at present disturb the more rational consideration of the subject. We feel for the old, the infirm, the disabled, the sick, the providen- tially afflicted, and are anxious that no diminution of their comforts should take place; while the able-bodied, though capable of work, and only prevented by their own indolence or habits of dependence from finding it, creep in, as it were, beneath the shelter of our compassion, under the general denomination of the poor. There would be much less objection with overseers, with magistrates, and with the country at large, if the real objects of Christian charity were thus exempted from the struggle, and set apart as acknowledged objects of national care ; of course strict attention would be necessary that even this portion of public boimty should not be extended to those who have relations, whose duty it is, and who have the power, to contribute to their support. The doors even of this asylum should be jealously watched, and opened only after strict investioration of each case." In the instances of individuals, as well as in several whole parishes, wherever the influence of the present system has been removed, the rise of the condition of the people has been pro- porlionate to the removal of that influence or their previous depression. In Cookham, where the change was the most exten- sive, the parochial expenditure was reduced from 3133/. to 1155/. and the general condition of the labouring classes improved. Mr. Russell, the magistrate of Swallowfield, stated to me, that in ridino; through Cookham he was so much struck with the appearance of comfort observable in the persons and resi- dences of some of the labouring classes of that village, that he was led to make inquiries into the cause. The answers he received, determined him to exert his influence to procure a simi- lar change of system in Swallowfield. In Swallowfield, where it was partially effected, the rates were reduced from 9s. and 10s. in the pound to 5.v. '6d., and during the last year to 3.?. 8c/. in the pound. When I was there, one of the witnesses stated, that the demand for labour had in- creased : that he had himself that day gone in search of a young labourer, and not being able -to find one to perform his labour, he should be obliged to seek one out of the parish, an event which he did not remember to have known occur before. In every parish a " foreigner," namely, a labourer who has no immediate resource from the parish, is considered the best z 338 Mr. Chadwick's Report workman, the best-conducted man, and the most respectable in every respect. (See note on iSIr. Cottrell's evidence, p. 208.) It appears to me that the inferences to be drawn from the large body of evidence which I have now stated, and from the much larger body which I shall state in my final report, are these : — 1. That the existing system of poor-laws in England is destruc- tive to the industry, forethought, and honesty of the labourers ; to the wealth and the morality of the employers of labour, and of the owners of property ; and to the mutual good-will and happi- ness of all. That it collects and chains down the labourers in masses, without any reference to the demand for their labour : That, while it increases their numbers, it impairs the means by which the fund for their subsistence is to be reproduced, and impairs the motives for using those means which it suffers to exist : And that every year and every day these evils are becom- ing more overwhelming in magnitude, and less susceptible of cure. 2. That of these evils, that which consists merely in the amount of the rates, an evil great when considered by itself, but trifling when compared with the moral effects which I am deploring, might be much diminished by the combination of workhouses, and by substituting a rigid administration and contract manage- ment for the existing scenes of neglect, extravagance, jobbing, and fraud. 3. That, by an alteration, or even, according to the suggestion of many witnesses, an abolition, of the law of settlement, a great part, or, according to the latter suggestion, the whole of the enor- mous sums now spent in litigation and removals might be saved ; the labourers might be distributed according to the demand for labour ; the immigration from Ireland of labourers of inferior habits be checked, and the oppression and cruelty, to which the unmarried labourers, and those who have acquired any property, are now subjected, might, according to the extent of the altera- tion, be diminished, or utterly put an end to. 4. That, if no relief were allowed to be given to the able-bodied, or to their families, except in return for adequate labour, or in a well-regulated workhouse, the worst of the existing sources of evil, the allowance system, would immediately disap[)ear; a broad line would be drawn between the independent labourers and the paupers ; the number of paupers would be immediately diminished in consequence of the reluctance to accept relief on such terms; and would be still further diminished in consequence of the in- creased fund for the payment of wages occasioned by the diminu- tion of rates, and would ultimatelv, instead of forming a con- stantly increasing proportion of our whole population, become a small, well-defined part of it, capable of being provided for at an expense less than one-half of the present poor-rates. from London and Berkshire. 339 5. That the proposed changes would tend powerfully to promote providence and forethought, not only in the daily concerns of life, but in the most important of all points, marriage. And lastly, that it is essential to the working o^ every one of these improvements, that the administration of the poor-laws should be entrusted, as to their general superintendence, to one Central Authority with extensive powers, and, as to their details, to paid officers, acting under the consciousness of constant super- intendence and strict responsibility. COUNTY PALATINE OF LANCASTER. My Lords and Gentlemen, In compliance with your letter of the 5th instant, I have the honour to lay before your board some details touching the administration and operation of the poor-laws in Lancashire. The pressure of the poor-rate on property in this county varies considerably ; ranging from lO^d. in the pound on the rack-rent, in West Derby township, near Liverpool, where the rates are commonly lowest, to 6s. at Padihara, in the agricultural and weaving district, where the rates are commonly highest. In the agricultural districts, the poor-rates average from Is. 6d. to 2s. in the pound, in the southern; and from 2s. to 2s. Gd. in the pound, in the northern parts of the county. In Liverpool last year the rates were Is. 9d.; the manufacturing towns probably average 3s. ; and in the country districts, with a mixed weaving population, the rates vary from 3s. to 6s. in the pound. The county-rates, which of course must be deducted from the poor-rate, varied last year from 3d. to 5c/. in the pound in the several hundreds ; so that by deducting 4d. from the rate in every instance, a close approximation may be made to the proportion of the rate appli- cable to the relief of the poor. The poor-rates have been greatly augmented by the transition from hand to power-loom weaving. This vicissitude affects the whole of the Salford and Blackburn hundreds, which comprise three-fifths of the population of the county, and is partially felt in the other hundreds. The county places in the hundred of Black- burn suffer more than the manufacturing towns, where the various demands for labour enabled many weavers to choose other occu- pations ; and the power-looms coming into extensive use, by giving em.ployment to their children, alleviate, in a great degree, the evils they had occasioned. The country weavers have no such re- sources, and their weaving being frequently of the coarsest and commonest description, the rate of their earnings is more re- z 2 340 ^Ii"' Henderson's Report diiced. Thus, in the neighbourhood of Burnley, an average hand- loom weaver cannot at present earn above 4s. 6d. a week, although a Manchester or Preston weaver may earn 6s. or 7s. weekly. This depression of wages, and the difficulty of obtaining em- ployment, especially for the older weavers, whose habits were fixed, has led to a general practice in the weaving district, of makmg an allowance to able-bodied weavers with more than two children under ten years of age. There is no fixed scale for this allowance ; but the [)ractice is to make up the earnings of the family io '2s. ; or, in some places, to U. 6cZ. a head. This course certainly is an approximation to the payment of wages out of the poor-rate; but there are some material distinctions between the case of the weaver and the case of the agricultural labourer : the agricul- tural roundsman has no spur to exertion, nor interest to please the farmer, who is his master only for the day, consequently his habit of industry is relaxed and destroyed; on the other hand, as the weaver always works by the piece, and the current rate of, wages is well known, it is easy to calculate what he might earn it industrious, and the parish allowance is apportioned accordingly ; so that, if he is indolent, he suffers for it ; if he is industrious, he reaps the benefit of his exertions; and the fact unquestionably is, that the weavers are stimulated beyond their powers under'the allowance system. Again, the farmers often contrive, by the management of the parish funds, to depress the rate of wages below the natural level ; but the manufac- turers in this instance have not taken a similar advantage, nor has the rate of wages of the hand-loom weavers sunk lower than was to be expected, as the natural result of an invention which conq)elled them to compete with the prodigious power of steam. The weavers thus receiving parochial relief are usually in a state of great destitution ; their houses bare of furniture ; their children half clad ; their food chiefly potatoes, oatmeal porridge, and milk, with the addition of oat-cakes, in the north of the county ; a herring, or a little bacon, is added on Sundays, and the women have a little tea, coffee, and bread. Butter, beer, and meat, are luxuries beyond their reach; even sliced onions, fried with lard, and added as a seasoning to the potatoes, are too dear for common use. The weavers themselves usually have a lean and hungry look, and frequently assert that they do not get victuals enough. They are perfectly aware of the hopeless con- dition of their employment, and are extremely patient under the privations they undergo. To this general description, verified by extensive inquiry, and fre(jucnt visits at their houses in various parts of the county, I shall add some particulars, collected for the Board of Health at from Lancashire. 341 Preston, in December, 1831, by Mr. James Harrison, surgeon, which will give a more accurate notion of the condition of the weavers there. Their correctness may be depended on, as they were collected with great care. *' The district of the town I visited, according to the parish books, contained 439 houses ; these houses were almost all visited, and a register of the state of 243 families was preserved. These families were found to comprise 1287 individuals, on an average 5-29 individuals for each family. The weekly income* of these 243 families was 144Z. 4^. 9(i., making lis. lO^cZ. for each family, or 2s. 2.\d. for each individual. " Of the 243 families, 139 were hand-loom weavers. These 139 families contained 634 individuals, or 4 • 56 to each family. The weekly income of these 139 families, including the parish allowance Avhen made, was 73/. 3s-. 2d., which makes, on an average, 10s. 6jc/. for each family, or 2s. 3|ri. for each indivi- dual. From the 10s. ^\d., however, we ought to deduct 2s.i- a week for lootas, paste, brushes, candles, &c. Avhich are ex- pended in the production of their manufactures, and from which expense most other operatives are exempt. This will leave 8s. 6|d. a week, on an average, for rent, taxes, fuel, clothes, food, &c. for 4 • 56 individuals, or about Is. \0\d. for each indivi- dual. Thus, though the hand-loom weavers in this district were receiving above the average income of other operatives, yet in reality their available income was considerably less. There is another disadvantage under which these operatives labour: they are obliged to have workshops attached to their houses, and are therefore compelled to pay a higher rent than other labourers. In many instances I found the weavers paying 2s. Qd. a week for the rent of their houses, while few of the other classes of operatives paid more than 2s. or 2s. 'dd. per week for house rent. If then we deduct 2s. <6d. from 8s. &\d., the net average income of a weaver's family, we shall have 6s, Oic/. ; from this again we must take 3c/. a week for direct taxes, and Id. for fuel, which will leave 5s. 2\d. a week for the food and clothing of 4 • 56 individuals, or about Is. Id. a head. This is the average, and of course there were many below this statement. "Taking 58 of the poorest families out of the 24.3, I find they contained 318 persons, or 5 • 48 individuals to each family. Their ■weekly income was 2bl. 15s. \d, ; 8s. lOkZ. per family, or Js. 1\d. per head. A number of these were weavers, from whose income if we deduct 2s. for expenses connected with their labour, 2s. 6c/. for house rent, 3c/. for direct taxes, and Id. for fuel, we shall have * This mcludes the parish allowance, when any such allowance was made, f This deduction appears to be too great. 342 Mr. Hendersons Report 3.9. G^d. left for clothing and feedinc^ 5-48 individuals, or about Sd. per head per week, or a little more than Id. a day. " In several instances I investigated the quantity and price of provision on which the poor lived ; but have only preserved one case that I can entirely depend upon — it is that of one Ann Ducket, a weaver, and five children. The mother earns by weaving, 4s. Gd. per week; and the parish to which she belongs allows her 4.?. a week, making in all 8?. Gd. per week. She lives with her mother and brother ; so that she only pays part of the rental of a house, or Is. 6c?. a week, and b^d. for coals. She stated that she purchased weekly a score of potatoes, at 4cZ. a score. Is. Gd. worth of coarse flour. Id. worth of milk, Id. worth of oatbread, 6c/. worth of meal. Id. worth of bacon, '3d. worth of coffee, \^d. of sugar, and 3d. worth of treacle ; the whole amounting to 6.s-. 8d., leaving Is. lOd. for expenses connected with her labour and clothing, Accordincr to this statement, each individual would have for his or her daily support, not quite half a pound of potatoes, a half- penny worth of wheat bread, three ounces of milk, one-sixrh of an oat cake, an ounce and a half of oatmeal, two-fifrhs of an ounce of bacon, the same of treacle, and a similar portion of sugar and coffee, which would be about a pound of food for each individual per day, eight ounces of which would be potatoes." This statement proves the necessity of reUef; but it ought, at the same time, to caution overseers against the danger of perpe- tuating such wretchedness by a system of l;ounties in the shape of parish allowances. Hand-loom weaving, in its coarser branches, is completely snj)ersede(l as a profitable em[)loyment, and ought to be abandoned with all possible dispatch. It is gratifying to observe, that the number of weavers is diminishing (though in various degrt'(»s) in all the large towns ; that few young persons there are now brought up to weaving, few new looms made, and nothing is more common than to see a solitary weaver working amidst vacant looms, which have been deserted for other oc- cupations. The townships in almost all the parishes in Lancashire, maintain their poor separately, having overseers appointed under r2 and 13 Car. II. cap. 12. ; the number of these parishes and townships is about 466, and in 1830-31 there were 202 select vestries, and 228 assistant overseers appointed. In many of the large towns, select vestries have {)roduced a more intelligent and vigilant administration of the poor-laws, and checked the corrupt practices to which closer modes of management are liable. It is to be regretted, that those best qualified are often unwilling to under- take the oflice of vestrymen, which, in some instances, lessens the efficiency of these vestries. In country townships, the select vestries are likewise beneficial, though their efTects are not so de- from Lancashire. 343 cided : in townships, not having a regular assistant overseer, there is usually a salary, varying from 7/. to 30^. a year, annexed to the office of overseer, and the same person continues in office for a number of years ; and where there are no select vestries, committees of eight or ten rate-payers frequently manage the parochial business : this system of management has long been extensively established in the county with good effect, being an evident approximation, though without the sanction of law, to the administration by select vestries and assistant overseers. The magistrates interfere little Avith questions of relief in Lan- cashire, and usually decline to order relief at home when the overseers offer admission to the workhouse. Some complaints, however, on this head have reached the commission in the answers to the queries ; and a few places might be mentioned where the overseers are occasionally thwarted in correct plans of management by the notions which some magistrates entertain, and act U[)on with respect to relief, especially in their not allowing distinctions to be made on the score of misconduct. The tone of applicants for relief varies much at different places, and is most clamorous and menacing where appeals are listened to most readily. The following extracts from the answers of an eminent magistrate of the county Avill record his opinion on this point. " 1 have observed, with much regret, the practice of hearing applications for relief which prevails at some petty sessions. Instead of considering them as appeals from the overseer's judgment, the application is entertained as of course, the overseer appears as an advocate against the pauper, and the decision is final. This course puts all parties out of their proper place, and is inconsistent either with justice or economy. But 1 do not see how it can be remedied, except by a better understand- ing of what is really for the good of the poor, a mistaken kind- ness for whom induces the magistrates to undertake this labour. The objection to a change Avould be, that it is not safe to trust the poor to the mercy of overseers ; no doubt, the present sys- tem has a tendency to set these officers in opposition to the poor; but, if a change were judiciously and gradually made, I think they would merit increased confidence." These instances, however, are exceptions from the general line of conduct pursued by the magistrates : they have not in any place sanctioned a fixed scale of relief, or attempted to control the parochial authorities, in the free exercise of their judgment in the first instance as to the amount to be granted. The aggregate expenditure of the county of Lancaster in relief, will bear a satisfactory comparison with other parts of the king- dom, subject to the poor-laws. This will appear by referring to the best test of the extent of pauperism, viz. the proportion which 344 Mr. Hendersons Report the sum expended on the poor bears to the number of the po- pulation. In the year ending 25th March, 1831, the amount of the expenditure of this county in relief was 293/226/. ; the population 1,336,854 : so that the proportion for each individual would be 4s. 41^., being smaller than in any othej county in England or Wales. In Cumberland, the English county where the proportion was least with the exce])tion of Lancashire, the expenditure was 46,166/., population 169,681, being 56-. bid. a head. The average expen- diture throughout England and throughout Wales was as follows : Population, Expenditure in relief Kate 1831. to the Poor. per head. £. s. d. England 13,089,338 .. 6,509,466 .. 9 11| Wales . 805,236 . . 289,422 . . 7 2^ The following table shows the expenditure in relief to the poor at various towns in Lancashire, during the year ended March 25th, 1832 ; the amounts have been calculated from the paro- chial accounts, deducting payments for county, highway, church- rates, and all other items, not appertaining to the relief of the poor. The sums paid on account of paupers resident out of the parish have been deducted, and the sums paid to paupers belong- ing to other parishes, but residing within the parish, have been added to the expenditure of every parish ; this appearing to be the proper mode of ascertaining the expenditure on the pauper in- habitants of each place. The valuation made in 1829 to the county rate is also given, as it is in general in close approxima- tion to the present annual value of the property assessed. Sums expended Valuation to Population, for the rrlief Kate per ti.e County- ISol. of the Poor. head. rate, lfc29. £. s. (I. £. Liverpool 165,175 . 35,633 . 4 3:1 . 751,156 Manchester . 142,026 . 40,555 . 5 8^ . 371,749 Preston 33,112 8,232 . 4 Hi 80,984 Oldham 32,381 3,763 . 2 3! 54,798 Wigan 20,774 4,293 . 4 H 38,435 Warrini:ton . 16,018 5,531 . 6 10| 48,070 Lancaster 12,613 . 3,620 . 5 8f 30,715 Burnley 7,551 2,319 . 6 n 15,879 Haberghani Eaves 5,817 1,036 . 3 4 14,390 Garstan<; 924 452 . 9 9i 2,744 In this commercial and manufacturing county the condition of the towns is more important than the condition of the rural dis- tricts ; and, indeed, the country districts, in the greatest portion of the county, are more allected by commercial than by agricultural vicissitudes. I therefore propose to limit this communication to a notice of the administration of the poor-laws in the towns above enumerated. from Lancashire. 345 LIVERPOOL. Liverpool affords a striking example of the operation of a select vestry under Mr. Sturges Bourne's act, in reducing the parochial expenditure : the result may be shown by a comparison of the year ending March, 1821, the last before the establishment of a select vestry, with the year ending March, 1831 : Proportion Population of Liverpool. Expenditure on the Poor. per Head. 1820-21 . ..118.972 ^46,357. 7*. 9irf. 183U-31 165,175 34,524 4 2 Thus an actual diminution of expenditure, to the extent of 1 1,833/., has been effected, notwithstanding an increase of the population in the proportion of one-third ; so that the saving might be estimated at 15,000/. a vear more, making a total saving of 27,000/. a year. In contending with the practical difficulties of pauperism, it is encouraging to observe that an improved system of management has frequently produced a vast change in a short space of time : the establishment of a select vestry at Liveq^ool appears to have produced its full effect in about three years, as will appear from the followins: tables, the first showino^ the diminution of the number of paupers ; the latter, which shows the decrease in expenditure, has been continued to the parochial year 1831, ended 25th March, 1832 : 1820.21. Average number of cases "j relieved out of the work-j'3222 house J Average number of in- Select \'estry. 1821-22. '1822-23. mates in the workhouse :=} 1492 2433 342 1719 1142 1823-24. 1435 1009 Expenditure of the Parish of Liverpool on the Poor in tlie Workhouse, including all the Expenses of that Establishment, and on the Poor out of the Workhouse, including all the Expenses of tlie Overseer's de- partment. \ears. Poor in Workhouse Poor out of Workhouse. Total. 1820-21. . * 13,527 ... it'27,103 .. . . £40,620 1821-22. ... 12,160 19,494 .. . . 31,650 1822-23. . . . 8,434 14,310 .. . . 22,744 1823-24. ... 8,153 12,566 .. . . 20,769 1824-25. ... 9,979 12,069 .. .. 22,045 1825-26. ... 9,145 11,814 .. . . 20,969 1826-27. ... 11,513 11,296 . . . 22,809 1827-28. . .. 11257 11,122 .. . . 22.379 1828-29. ... 10,259 10,034 . . . . 20,293 1829-30. ... 11,359 11.793 . .. 23,152 1830-31. ... 14,288 13,906 . .. 28,194 1831-32. ... 13,790 14,922 . .. 25,712 346 Mr. Henderson's Report This chano-e was brought about by a thorough investigation of all the cases on the parish books : the parties receiving relief were examined, and the circumstances under which they first became charo-eable were carefully scrutinized, by which means numerous impositions were detected, and the parish was enabled to reduce or withdraw many of the allowances. Great exertions were also made to provide work for able-bodied paupers : the vestry at one time contracted to till up part of an old stone-quarry, and make a road over it ; at another to cultivate by spade labour a large tract of ground called the Rector's Fields ; and at another time to level, for the sum of lOOOL, a large rock near the workhouse, on the site of which the infirmary has since been built. Thus they set to work all able-bodied applicants for relief, and also turned all able-bodied men out of the workhouse, paying them one shilling a day to provide themselves, and exacting a good day's work in return. Many under this system, who had been for years in the workhouse, quitted it, and eventually found em- ployment for themselves elsewhere. The permanent usefulness of the select vestry, consisting in their vigilance and intelligence in administering relief, it may be well to state a few details of their proceedings in this department. The select vestry is divided into five boards, each of four mem- bers ; one of these boards sits in rotation every week day, except Tuesday, at nine or ten a.m., and the business usually lasts till one P.M. A salaried secretary constantly attends, and takes a principal share in conducting the business. This preserves uni- formity in the management of all the boards, and on changing the select vestry the parish still has the benefit of the secretary's experience and knowledge of the cases on the books. On a first application for relief, if entertained at all, the name and address of the applicant are taken down on a card, which is delivered to the visitor, a salaried oiBcer, in order that he may ascertain the nature of the case at the abode of the party, the visitor makes a written report to the select vestry, on which, and on a subsequent examination of the party, relief is granted or re- fused. In cases of urgent necessity, a few shillings are sometimes ordered before visitation, and the visitor has always a discretion- ary power to relieve when he visits, but the general rule is for the veslry to decide on the propriety of relief. When the distress is of a temporary nature, the pauper is re- quired to appear once a week before the board. No excuse, except sickness, proved by a medical certificate, is admitted ; the party is urged by the board, wlien it seems practicable, to seek other means of support, and when this is not done within a reasonable time, the relief is diminished or stopped. When the case presents from Lancashire. 347 no prospect of early improvement, a card or ticket is given for relief during a definite period of three or six months, according to circumstances, and the sum granted is paid weekly on pre- senting the card at the pay-office. When the period has elapsed, another visitation and examination takes place before another card is granted ; the cards in cases apparently hopeless used to be per- petual, but are now subject to annual revision, and the members of the select vestry frequently act as visitors in such cases. During my attendance at one of the boards, 250 cases were disposed of in three hours. The secretary takes the leadhig part in interrogating the applicants, and in fixing the amount of relief, but the select vestrymen present were also active, referring to the books, filling up pay-orders, and visitation cards, and occasionally deciding on the necessity or on the amount of the relief It ap- peared to me that every case was fairly considered, and in most instances my judgment concurred with the decisions : a few may be cited as specimens to enable others to judge of their propriety; it should be observed that cases of refusal have been chiefly selected. A healthy-looking young woman applied for relief, saying she was starvinof : the board bavins: ascertained that she belonged to Liverpool otlered to take her into the workhouse ; she would not go in, and relief was refused. A man applied for relief, saying he had landed that morning from Dublin, and wished to go to London ; he was told the parish had no money for travellers. A woman who came three weeks before from Rochdale, in a state of pregnane}', and had been delivered in Liverpool of a child, since dead, applied for assistance to go back to Rochdale — relief was refiised ; it was suspected she had come to Liverpool, in order to fix the parish with the cliild. A \^oman brought four children, saying that their parents both died of the cholera a few days before, and that she was their aunt, and wilUng to take them, if the parish would allow her 2.9. a week for each child ; she was told it was too much, the workhouse was mentioned, and she agreed to take 5s. a week, and to endeavour to get the eldest, a boy, to sea — ordered to be visited, and if her account should prove correct, 5s. a week to be allowed. A boy about sixteen, formerly in the workhouse, had been working at brickmaking during the summer : that employment failing, he now applied lor an order to return to the workhouse — granted. Relief applied for on behalf of a woman lying in, whose husband had gone up the country. It appearing on inquiry that he left her immediately before her confinement, relief was refused ; it is a common device for tlie husband to abscond in such cases, and endeavour to cast the burthen of the wife's confinement on the parish. A pensioner's wife applied for relief, her husband having deserted her; she was 348 Mr. HendersorCs Report admitted to the workhouse, and steps taken to stop her hus- band's pension. A woman applied ibr relief who had been in the workhouse before ; on being offered re-admission, she readily accepted it. An old woman came for relief; on being offered an order for the workhouse, she refused it angrily, and. went away, saying, she could go thereat anytime, they could not deny her that. A man seventy years of age applied for an order for himself and his wife to go into the workhouse — granted. A young good- looking widow, who had one child by her husband, and an illegi- timate child since his death, applied for relief; the board oti'ered to take her and both the children into the workhouse, if she would make over to the parish 2.v. a week which she received from the putative father of the natural child ; she refused to assent to this, but wished the parish to take the lawful child, and leave her the bastard. The board would not consent to this arrangement, and she went away. A woman with one child, who used to ffet her living as a laundress, applied in consequence of getting no work, as the cholera prevented strangers coming to the town this summer — ordered 2s. a week for a few weeks. A man employed as a watch- man applied for relief ; he had lost his wife and several relations, who died of cholera in his house, and had a surgeon's certificate that the bedding had been destroyed by his orders; he was left with a large family — 1/. ordered; he had received 1/. lOs. from another source. The wife of a Scotch sailor applied for relief; refused, and told, if relieved, she should be passed to Scotland. A woman residing as the tenant in a house worth 30/. a year, was refused relief, the rule being not to grant it to occupiers of a house above 10/. annual value. A woman with three young children applied for assistance to follow her husband, a stone-mason, to New York; she said she could obtain a passage for 25s. each person, and could raise 2/., if the parish would allow her 3/. to pay the remainder. The woman was in great poverty, and it was clearly the interest of the parish to grant her request, and get rid of the family; but the unfavourable accoimts from New York, the uncertainty of the woman as to her husband"'s situation, and the miserable prospects of such a family during the voyage at this season, induced the board to refuse the application, and to grant a weekly allowance to the family. No regular relief is given to able-bodied men having families, when fully employed ; in casualties, as in the case of thd watch- man, they are sometimes assisted ; no rents are ever paid by the parish, and no applications for rent ever granted, though no doubt the relief given may freqiicntly be applied in payment of rent. Thf class of y)ersons last admitted to the select vestry consists of the Irish applying to be relieved and passed to Dublin. No per- from Lancashire. 349 son who has not seen them could have a notion of the crowds which sometimes besiege the parish office for this purpose^ or of the poverty and wretchedness which thev generallv exhibit. Yet there is no doubt that many of these appUcants are able to pay for their passage, but choose to make the experiment of applying for a passage at the expense of the county : husbands send their wives and families to beg a passage ; men trust their clothes and money to a companion, and present themselves in apparent destitution ; others conceal their money in their cravats or stockino[s. In deal- ing witli these cases there is nothing but the applicant's story and appearance to guide the board, and accurate discrimination is impossible; several impositions were detected while the assistant- commissioner was present. A woman w ith a large family said she had not seen her husband for ten months, but a boy, her son, said he had seen his father the same day. A man came with a wife and four orphans, as he stated, but they proved to be his children by a former wife ; he had been reaping, and ^\ as told he must pay for the passage of himself and family. Young and healthy persons applying were refused almost as a matter of course, but in cases of infirmity and helplessness they were almost always passed ; the general rule was, to refuse applications of a doubtful nature, as in cases of real necessity the same parties usually present themselves aorain on a future day. Since steam-navigation has increased the facility of intercourse with Ireland, Liverpool and the county in general have been grievously burthened Avith Irish paupers. Tlie difficulty which the select vestry have had to contend with from this source, and the temper and spirit in which they have acted, appear from the annual Repoi-t, April, 1824, which states, that " the lower order of Irish, tempted by the facility of communication, and the prospect of obtainino- employment in the manufacturing districts, resort to Liverpool wuth their wives and children in overwhelming numbers. It is impossible to behold such a mass of misery and wretchedness without feelings of compassion, and yet to administer relief indis- criminately is only to hold out encouragement to others, and ul- timately to increase the evil. An inmiediate removal of new comers back again to their own coiuitry, though sanctioned by the- law, might be considered a harsh proceeding, and has never beeix resorted to : after a fruitless journey, therefore, into the interior,, the same unfortunate individuals return, in the course of a few weeks, in a still more deplorable condition, and ao-ain become chargeable to the parish or tlie county. It is no exao-oreration to- state, that of the casual poor who obtain temporary relief, two- thirds are composed of this description." Though the select vestry felt the necessity of abrido-ino- rehef 350 Mr. Henderspn's Report on this head, and made every effort to retrench It as far as ap- peared consistent with humanity, still the numbers of Irish passed by the parish, exclusive of those passed from other parts of the county, and England, were, in ten months of the year 1824-25, 2262,' in 1826-27, 2254; in 1827-28, 1547. The proceedings of the select vestry show that the workhouse is frequently used as a test of the real necessities of applicants for relief; and that while some, who pretend to be starving, refuse, others, really in want, solicit admission, and those who had been inmates before apply to enter it again : as it is the largest esta- blishment of the kind in the kingdom, and generally considered to be well regulated, a few details may be admissible. When visited in September, 1832. it contained 1715 inmates, and can accommodate in winter, 1750. The present governor has had the management about twenty-eight years : on his ap- pointment in 1804, there were 800 inmates; no separation of the sexes, only five weaving-looms, and no other employment for the paupers beyond the necessary business of the house. The door- keepers were paupers, who frequently took bribes for admission, and the house was altogether in a most disorderly state. The governor procured a paid dooi"keeper, separated the sexes as com- pletely as the nature of the building would pemiit, except in cases of married people, who had small apartments allotted to them ; he also exacted from each person able to work, a reasonable portion of labour daily, for which purpose dry picking of oakum was intro- duced : this is a tedious and irksome process of manual labour, by which junk, old shipping-ropes cut into pieces a few inches long, is untwisted, the yarns separated and reduced to shreds by the hand and fingers, and by rubbing against the apron worn by the picker : there is nothing unwholesome or straining in this employment, but it is tiresome, and various attempts were made to evade it : one mode tried was by boiling the junk in water, after which it is easily jjulled into shreds, but the ropes lose their efficacy to resist water, and consequently the oakum is unfit for caulking, its destined use. The introduction of labour thinned the house very much : it was sometimes difficult to procure a sufficient supply of junk, which was generally obtained from Plymouth ; when the supply was known to be scanty, paupers flocked in ; but the sight of a load of junk before the door would deter them for a length of time. The children, nine years of age, are taught to weave, and their time is divided between school and the looms; imder this system they thrive better, and the instruction they get in weaving promotes their being apprenticed. The choice of the children is complied with as far as possible in apprenticing them ; some are bound to from Lancashire. 351 tradesmen, tailors, shoemakers, &c., some go to sea, but the largest proportion, until recently, went to cotton factories, where most of them were bound to persons of respectability ; on leaving the workhouse, they are told to send information if they are not well treated. It is easy to ascertain how those fare who were apprenticed in Liverpool, and the others are visited by some of the overseers usually every year, but at all events once in the course of two years. The apprenticing and visitation of the children is occasionally adverted to in the Reports of the select vestry *. In- stances not unfrequently occur of individuals who have served their time with credit, calling at the workhouse or at the select vestry, and stating that they are able to earn a comfortable sub- sistence. It has been the practice to encourage children of poor persons living in town to come to the workhouse for employment : they continue to live with their parents, and receive i.s. a week until they are initiated in weaving, then Is. Qd. a week is allowed, and after two years they have their diet in the workhouse in addition. These children have the same school instruction as the children in the house, and are usually between fifty and sixty in number. As hand-loom weaving has ceased to be a profitable employment, attempts are now making to give the industry of the children a more useful direction by teaching them common trades, but this improvement has not yet made much progress. The inmates of the workhouse were formerly allowed to go out every Thursday afternoon ; this permission led to many irregularities, the paupers frequently returning drunk, and beg- ging or otherwise misconducting themselves in the streets to the scandal of the establishment. They also used to go out on Sundays to church, but a chapel has been built within the work- house; and a regulation was adopted in 1831, which restricted the liberty of leaving the house to the first Thursday afternoon in every month, except in the case of paupers upwards of sixty years of age, who are still permitted to go out every Thursday. The Catholics go out to chapel at eight every Sunday morning, and return at ten. Thus, one condition of entering this workhouse is submission to constant confinement, except for a few hours every month. The rooms are well ventilated, floors kept clean, and sprinkled daily with chloride of lime, and the walls frequently whitewashed. Although the cholera has been so prevalent in Liverpool, only nine cases occurred up to Sept. 6, 1832, in this establishment; four of these proved fatal, one being the case of a pauper who, * See Reports, 1827, 1829, 1830. 352 Mr. Henderson's Report before his admission, had been employed as a bearer of the htter in which cholera patients were carried to the hospital. The crovernor lays great stress on classification generally, and on a complete separation of the sexes ; there are lock-wards for males and for females in this establishment, and the governor thinks them essential to prevent the most depraved inmates cor- ruptincr or annoying decent and orderly paupers : in the small houses, in which two or three married couples live together, those of congenial habits and character are placed together. When the workhouse was visited, some of the boys and girls were busy weaving, but the greater part of them were in a spa- cious school- room under the chapel ; their general appearance was satisfactory : the oakum-shop was almost filled by men seated on benches and picking oakum. The hours of work are from six in the morning^ to six in the eveningr in summer, and from eiorht until four in winter, allowingf half an hour for break- fast, and one hour for dinner; persons eighty years of age and upwards are exempted from any labour, but from all under that age and in health, a task is required in proportion to their abihty and strength: those who, from age or infirmity, have a limited task, are allowed to choose their own time for per- forming it, and used formerly to pick the oakum in their own rooms; but owing to the risk of fire, this practice has been dis- continued, and all this work must now be done in the shop. A full measure of employment is exacted from the able-bodied, the object being to discourage laziness, and, as the governor expressed it, to " work them out." The consequence is, that not more than twenty of the inmates were able-bodied men. The a^ed people appeared the most cheerful inmates ; the avowed prin- ciple of management is to make them and the young most com- fortable. I'he women were all employed, chietly in sewing, at- tending to the young children, acting as nurses, and performing household offices. About 200 of the inmates were in the house for the second or thirfl time. Applications to the select vestry for re-admission to the workhouse are not in oreneral o-ranted, until a character of the applicant is obtained from the governor ; and paupers on leaving the house frequently express a hope to the governor that he will give them a character if they should require to come in again. A general appearance of order and discipline prevails through- out the establishment. The governor, who is a steady systematic man. stated that 1000 or 1800 paupers were as easily managed as 500. He has two salaried clerks, a schoolmaster, and two >veavers acting as overlookers, who receive salaries ; and the gover- from Lancashire. 353 nor's wife has two paid female assistants ; the rest of the esta- bhshment is conducted by paupers selected from the inmates. A fever hospital, a detached building, for 140 patients, is sup- ported by the parish, within the walls, and forms part of the workhouse establishment ; the diet, wine, &c. for the patients, ma- terially increase the general expenditure ; female paupers act as nurses, and having some privileges in consequence, are usually desirous to be so employed. The total weekly cost, including pro- visions, clothing, and all the expense of the establishment was last year, 'ds. 2d. per head ; but as there was an extraordinary item of 1426/. for buildings, perhaps 3s. may be considered a fair esti- mate, communibus annis. The weekly cost for provisions and clothing was 2s. 2\d. per head. The following tables show the fluctuation and employments of the population in the workhouse : — On the 25th of March, 1S31, there were in the house . 1696 During the year ending 25th of March, 1S32, admitted . 2962 During the year, Discharged . . 2540 Dead . , . 477* 4678 3017 Remaining in the house 25th of March, 1S32 . 1661 Ages of the inmates: Under 15 years . 589 15 to 40 . . 242 40 to 50 . . 135 above 50 . , 695 1661 Aged, infirm, and sick, not able to work 437 Aged and infirm employed . . 426 Able-bodied under sixty years of age 1 ong employed (males 67, females 142) J Children employed . . . . 159 „ not employed , . . 430 1661 Of this number, 639 were males and 1022 females, the average * The Fever Hospital accounts for this mortality. 2 A 354 Mr. Hendersoii's Report number In the house througho\it the year was 1648, being about 1 per cent, on the population of the town. There is a surgeon with a salary of 300^. a year, to attend the })00r in the workhouse ; the parish subscribes 500 guineas annu- ally to the dispensaries, through which medical attendance is given to the paupers out of the house. As magisterial interference is extremely rare, the decision on the propriety of relief rests almost entirely with the select vestry. The allowances are extremely moderate, and not made on any fixed scale ; though, in some degree, they are regulated by the cost of clothinof and maintenance in the workhouse. Those who complain that the relief granted is insufficient are frequently taken into the workhouse. The management would probably be improved by more visita- tion of the poor. It is impossible for a single visiter to do justice to so large a parish as Liverpool : cases of hardship probably occur where relief is refused without visitation, and rehef may sometimes be given too sparingly for want of information, which more frequent visits would supply. Though the administration is vigilant and economical, it may be doubted whether the advan- tage of the poorer classes would be promoted by any relaxation : under the present system their habits are generally industrious, and their wages sufficient to secure their independence and comfort. Workmen, who have trades, seldom fail to obtain em- ployment and good wages ; the usual wages of common labourers are 3s. a day. Of the multitude resorting to Liverpool for work, some submit to receive lower wages, but these cases are ex- cei)tions ; it is also true, that there is much distress among this class for want of employment ; this, however much it may be regretted, seems unavoidable in a town peculiarly liable to an influx of labourers from Ireland ; indeed, the natives of that coun- try compose, at a moderate estimate, one-half of the common labourers in Liverpool. If the parish was to take charge of all those unemployed at any given time, it is probable that the super- abundance of labour would be equally great in a few months afterwards. It is contrary to the habits and character of sailors to spunge on tlie parish whilst they are fit for active service ; even after that period, tin; number charge^able is comparatively small. Owing, however, to the casualties incident to a sea-faring life, their families often fnll on the parish for siqiport. When their families are relieved during their absence at sea, the 32d section of Mr. S. Bourne's act is enforced as far as is practicable, and the money advanced is repaid by the ship-owners out of the wages of the seamen. from Lancashire. 355 Instances sometimes occur of sailors coming forward voluntarily, and repaying the money advanced. Settlement by apprenticeship opens a wide door to litigation, from uncertainty as to the place of the last forty days' residence imder indentures : this objection is peculiarly strong in cases of apprentices in merchant-ships, who, from the nature of their service, are constantly sailing from port to port ; and when, in the old age of the party, or perhaps after his death, the question of settlement arises, it is involved in a degree of obscurity, which is seldom cleared up without incurring the expenses of an appeal. In 1823 a resolution was passed by the general vestry to assess the owners of small tenements, according to the 19th section of Mr. Stursfes Bourne's act. The number of houses of which the rentals were between 6/. and 20/. a year, was very great in Liver- pool, and the amount of rates levied from them exceedingly small, no fewer than 18,000 assessments being annually discharged by the parish as incapable of being enforced. The owners were accordingly rated, and called on to show cause why the rates were not paid : thev attended, and 14,532 cases were investigated, at the rate of 300 or 400 daily ; but not one party in 100 would admit his property to be within the act. They declared, almost universally, that the letting was for a year or longer, with rent reserved quarterly; in short, notwithstanding the quantity of pro- perty of the value within the act, the experiment scarcely pro- duced enough to pay for the notices issued on the occasion. Application was made to parliament in 1831, for a local act, which was originally intended to apply to all tenements under 15/. a year rental ; but meeting with much opposition, it was limited to tenements rated at 12/. a year. By this act (1 Wm. IV. cap. xxi.), the owners are made liable to the payment of the rates, where the premises are rated or assessed at a yearly value not exceeding 12/. By thus making the assessment, and not the rent, the test of liability, all fraud or collusion as to the amount of rent is obviated. The act empowers the overseers to compound with the landlords, and requires them to accept two-thirds of the rate, where tendered within three months, in full for the whole rate. There is a clause making the occupiers of the premises liable to the rates, and their goods to distress to the extent of rent due to the owners, with a power of deducting the amount from their rent. Under this small tenement act many of the cottat^e owners compoundetl for two-thirds of the rates, and 4230/. was collected last year, and paid into the parish coffers last year, which sum would otherwise have been almost wholly lost to the parish. The number of receipts given on the payment of rates, 2 A 2 356 Mr. Henderson's Report for the seven preceding years, was about 10,000 ; in the last year the number was about 14,000, an increase chiefly attributable to the small tenement act. In fact, the rates are now better paid in Liverpool, on houses under 12^. rental, than on those above 121. and under 20^. It seems just that the owners of this species of property should have considerable indidgence in compounding for the rates, to compensate for tlie peculiar liability imposed on them. It would be more convenient for the parish to make the tenant primarily liable, and the landlord responsible on his default; but this course would have an injurious eft'ect on the contracts between landlord and tenant, from the uncertain position in which the former would stand with reference to the rates. The changes of ownership to which this species of property is peculiarly subject, and other diificulties which may occur with reference to the owners, seem to render it expedient tliat the rates should be made a charge on the land, limiting the arrear chargeable to a period of two or three years. The expenditure on the poor in Liverpool in the year 1831-32, amounted to 35,633/. 3s. Id., which would require a poor-rate of Is. 4d. in the pound on the rack-rent ; the rates actually laid were Is. 2d. for the poor, 5d. for the county, and 2d. lor the chui-ch, — all together Is. 9ri. ; but the rate for the poor was deficient to the extent of 2d. in the pound. OLDHAM. The affairs of the poor at Oldham have long been well managed, and the inhabitants have never been degraded by extensive pau- perism. Previously to Mr. Sturges Bourne's Act, a species of select vestry, consisting of ;i. committee of seventeen rate-payers, acting with the churchwardens and overseers, conducted the town- .ship business ; so that at Easter 1820, when the act was adopted, the change was little more than nominal. There is an assistant overseer, with a salary of 100/. a year. The members of the select vestry, carefully chosen from different parts of the township, usually perform ])ersonally the duty of visiting the poor at their abodes ; by which means they are able to exercise on the cases relieved an exact discrimination, to which the excellent condition of the township is mainly to be ascribed. Aftei- jjrovidiug for the aged, sick, widows with famihes, and other usual dependants on j)arochial aid, the hand-loom weavers require the principal attention; they are said to be re- luctant to apply for relief, but arc generally compelled to come from Lancashire. 357 when they have three or four children under the age (ten years) at which they can generally find employment in the cotton mills. The select vestry has taken great pains to shift these weavers to more profitable occupations. Situations have been procured for many of them in the power-loom factories, their families having been maintained by the township whilst they were learning to work at the power-looms, which requires about a fortnight. Thus their number has been diminished, as the power-looms, of which there are now several thousands in Oldham, increased in num- ber; and there is reason to expect that hand-loom weaving of a coarse description will be gradually extinguished at Oldham. These weavers here are considered an orderly and industrious class ; their contributions to Friendly Societies are frequently paid by the township, and they meet with more favour than the hatters, also a numerous body, probably about a thousand, and often bur- thensome; their wages average 1/. per week, but the demand for their labour is irregular, and many of them, being improvident and intemperate, are reduced to great distress. There are many machine- makers, and probably seven hundred colliers at Oldham, but they never apply for relief when employed, as is generally the case. No regular or permanent relief is afforded to any able-bodied men except weavers ; but occasional relief is frequently given, with- out setting the applicants to work, in the expectation that they will find themselves employment; if they continue burthensome, they are set to work on the roads. About twenty able-bodied men out of work Avere receiving relief in October, 1832. No application for rehef is entertained, if the earnings amount to 25, a head for each member of the family : it is not, however, a matter of course to make up the deficiency when the earnings are less. The magistrates seldom interfere with the decisions of the select vestrv; and never order relief at home, in cases where admission is oflfered to the workhouse. On the day I attended the petty sessions at Oldham, there was no case of appeal from the decision of any overseer or vestry in the district. The workhouse is an old building, and usually contains about 130 inmates, more weavers than any other class; there are also hatters, colliers, and others. A retired soldier, with a salary of 22/. a year, acts as governor, and is useful to the parish in arious other matters connected with the management of the poor. All the inmates who are able to work are employed, either at looms in the house, in cultivating the garden, on the roads, or in the cotton factories ; and, in the last case, the manufacturers pay the wages to the township. None but the a^ed or sick are allowed tea, coffee, tobacco, or 358 Mr. Hendersons Report snuff. The house, though homely, is clean ; and the people seem content with the provision?, -which are supplied by tender. They are allowed to cro out when their work is done, on askino- leave, and the governor said that bad consequences seldom followed the indulgence. There is a complete separation of the sexes, except in cases of old married people, who are allowed to live together : young mar- ried persons are separated. There is great difference in the practice of workhouses, as to married persons. At Manchester, husband and wife are invariably separated ; and a case occurred, where an old man of eighty, a tinker, who, though in great distress, turned back from the house, when he found that he must be sepa- rated from his wife, an old woman of seventy. He was afterwards, however, compelled by want to take refuge in the house, and died there, after remaining some time, according to the rule, deprived of his wife's society. On the other hand, in the workhouse at Wigan, there are three married couples, who have had seven children, begotten and born in the workhouse : at Liverpool all married couples live together, with the exception of a man and his wife, who were botli inmates of the workhouse when single, and left it for the purpose of being married; after a few weeks they both returned to the workhouse, where they still are, but have not been allowed to live together. The whole expense of the workhouse, including provisions, clothing, and the expense of the estabUshment, is 2s. bd. a week for each inmate. The township is at little charge from bastardy, because the mo- ther usually keeps the child; and when no money is received from the putative father, nothing is paid to her, imless she is in a condition to require relief as a pauper; which is seldom ihe case, as it is considered that a woman oucrht to maintain herself and one child, and no allowance is made to a widow with one child. This practice has been adopted in several other populous places, as will appear from the following items from the overseer's accounts for 1831-32. Received fi'om fathers of Paid to mothers of illesitimate children. illegitimate children. Wigan ^'194 4 9 £190 4 9 SaUord 575 8 11 586 14 At Ormskirk and North INIeols the same course is pursued : na- tural affection prevents the mother's parting with her child, in order that it may be maintained by the parish; though the law, which does not recognize any relationship, leaves her ;it liberty so to do, on paying the amount of the order upon her, which is seldom in this county sufficient to maintain the child. In Oldham, the from Lancashire. 359 common orders are 2s. for the first, 1.5. 9d. for a second, and 1 -s. 6c?. for a third child, which sums are imposed both on the fathers and on the mothers. The sums ordered were formerly larger, but were reduced in 1821, with a view to lessen the number of defaults in payment and imprisonment of the putative fathers. A list of the parties receiving relief, with the rate of relief, is occasionally printed and published with the overseer's account. The last publication was in July, 1830. A similar list is published annually at Warrington, Prescot, Garstang, Padiham, and other places ; and the practice has been found beneficial in regulating the amount of allowance, detecting impositions, and preventing improper applications; it is also a check on the amount of pay- ments made to the paupers, who are sure to complain when set down for a larger sum than they have actually received. The general vestry rejected a proposal to adopt the nineteenth section of Mr. Sturges Bourne's Act. The rates are in many instances not collected from small tenements : in a few cases the landlords, by agreement with the tenants, pay the rates ; on the whole the collection is extremely good, not more than seven per cent, of the whole rate ultimately remaining uncollected. A com- plete collection has an importance beyond the sum brought into the parish chest ; for in proportion as the pressure of the poor-rate descends lower in the scale of society, it will be found that those who distribute it, " having an eye to those who pay," as the Oldhara overseer said, are more economical ; and the poor are less ready to resort to a fund, to which their neighbours and equals are con- tributors. At Ormskirk, the ultimate deficiency does not exceed 1 per cent. ; and I am convinced that the collection is a strong check on pauperism, from which that town is remarkably exempt. The tendency of the population to resort to and accumulate in towns is peculiarly strong in this county ; and, consequently, almost every large town contains a large proportion of poor with country settlements. When such persons become chargeable, the usual course is to apprize the overseer of the place of settlement ; who, if the liability is clear, gives a direction to the overseer where the pauper is, to relieve him as one of his own poor, and under takes to pay the sura so advanced. This system is unquestion ably open to abuse, and some check by visitation is requisite ; but, on the whole, it operates beneficially to the country townships. By mutual candour and fair dealing between the overseers, litiga- tion and removals are diminished, the poor are less harassed, and probably less burthensome, as they are generally better able to earn a living whore they remain. It has been proposed that the magistrates should have power to enforce these arrangements. 360 Mr. Henderson's Report which seem to rest ou the honour of the parties. The following items from the accounts of several towns will give some notion of the relative situation of the towns and country parishes, in the balance of these accounts, and may assist in estimating the effect as between manufacturing towns and country parishes, of making residence confer a settlement. Paid by the Town for its Received by the Town for Balance in own Poor in other the Poor of other favour of Parishes, Parishes. the Town Oldham . ^£153 5 . . ^274 12 1 . ^121 7 1 Manchester 1640 10 ,. 3410 6 6 . . 1769 16 6 Salford . 326 10 10 690 13 11 .. 364 3 1 Wigan . 414 9 11 .. 1120 14 1 . 706 4 2 Liverpool . 1214 9 1 . . 1792 7 2 . 577 18 1 Preston . . 387 8 7 616 9 . 229 5 4136 13 5 7905 2 9 3768 9 4 Lancaster, owing to the depressed condition of its manufac- tures and trade, is an exception to the general rule, paying 549Z. 15s. 3d. for its own poor in other townships, and disbursing 425/. 19.S. 4d. for the poor of other townships in Lancaster. The sound condition of Oldham is not attributable to uninter- rupted prosperity. In the year 182G, in consequence of the failure of Saddleworth bank, the accidental burning of the Priory ISIills, and many of the factories ceasing to work, a large portion of the population was thrown out of employment and reduced to want. The poor-rates were doubled, and the select vestry made great efforts to meet the evil, sometimes meeting at twelve o'clock in the day and sitting until three or four o'clock the following morning-, and it was remarked that the relief administered bv the select vestry was far more efficient than the subscription funds sent from London, and distributed through other hands. A well- orgarnzed system of relief has peculiar value in fluctuations such as these, to which manufacturing towns are extremely liable. The expenditure of the township was gradually reduced to its usual limits, as the difficulties of the times were surmounted. The poor-rate, last year, was 2s. in the pound, on a valuation of three- fourths of the rack-rent. MANCHESTER. SiNXK the year 1790, the affairs of the poor at Manchester have been conducted under a Local Act, obtained for the purposes of building a poor-house and increasing the number of overseers in from Lancashire. 361 proportion to an increasing population. Three churchwardens and ten sidesmen are appointed under this act to manage all parochial affairs ; and it is highly creditable to the public spirit of the town, that the most respectable merchants, manufactui*ers and tradesmen, willingly serve these useful, though troublesome offices. The senior churchwarden, so far as his office regards the poor, attends to the assessment and collection of the rates, and the second superintends the workhouse. The senior sidesman attends to the removals ; the second, to the bastardy department ; and the eight others manage the administration of relief The town is divided into four districts ; two sidesmen, and a visiting overseer with a salary, are appointed to each district, and form a board, which sits once every week, to dispense relief The system of visitation at the abodes of the poor, so indispensable to a right disposal of cases in large towns, is brought to great per- fection here ; relief is never refused without visitation, and each visiting overseer, having a limited district, acquires an accurate knowledge of the condition of the poor : his written reports on the cases visited are preserved, and often referred to with advan- tage after a lapse of years; it is part of his duty to be present at the board sitting for relief, and to assist in regulating the amount. The cases of applicants for relief are carefully considered at the boards, and disposed of, as it appeared to me, with discrimi- nation and liberality. Hand-loom weavers constitute the extraor- dinary burthen on the township ; those employed on work of a common description usually make out a case for relief when they have three or more children under ten years of age ; printed forms are used for the purpose of ascertaining from their employers the amount of their earnings, and their character for industry ; and after inquiring into their means of subsistence, the deficiency is usually made up to 2s. a head for each member of the family. It rarely happens that relief is given to other persons in health and full employment ; but many receive relief on the ground of being unable to find employment, and often without being set to work. In fact, there is great want of employment for persons past the prime of life ; one effect of recent inventions in machinery has been, to increase the demand for the labour of young persons, and to diminish the demand for the labour of persons past the prime of life. Incessant activity is required to follow the speed of the machinery, and strength is of secondary importance ; the workman, in many departments, loses his value as soon as his sight begins to fail, or his hand to lose its steadi- ness; the consequence is, that many operatives between forty and fifty years of age are superannuated, and unfit for the work to 362 Mr. Henderson's Report which they have been accustomed ; and there is httle chance of persons at that period of hfe, getting employment in the factories. Young persons, especially females, readily get employment, and at the age of sixteen or eighteen, young men and women are fre- quently in the receipt of as large wages as they can expect to earn at any period of their lives: thus they have a fair opportunity of making provision for after life ; but this premature independence too often induces them to quit their parents' houses, that they may be more at liberty to follow their own inclinations. The important portion of the population engaged in the facto- ries is independent of parochial aid. The following is a state- ment of the number and wages of the people in the employ of Messrs. Birley, Hornby, and Kirk, made out in January, 1832, and not materially varied up to the subsequent October, when I visited the factory : AVERAGE WAGES OF PERSONS EMPLOYED. Spinners. Weavers. £ s. d. s. d. Men , . . 1 6 — 15 If Women ... 11 ^ — 9 7i Children . ..05 10 5 4| Averag :e Wages of the Number employed. whc lie number, s. d. M( ^n . 379 , . . ^S 4 w. omen 5fi3 « . 10 5 Qliildren 634 Total . . 1576 On my expressing a wish to see all the people at work, Mr. II. Birley conducted me through every room in the building : and I may be allowed, in passing, to attest the general cheerful and healthful appearance of the people employed, and to pay a just tribute to the regard shown for their comfort in many of the ar- rangements in this splendid establishment. Mr. Foster, the police magistrate, every AVednesday hears ap- peals from the board, and the overseers are perfectly satisfied with the control thus exercised. About thirty cases were disposed of by him on the day I attended. In one instance, a mechanic, earning 1/. 8.9. weekly, was brought up to shew cause why an order should not be made upon him to maintain his father ; he did not object to make an allowance, but contended that the township should contribute, being strongly impressed with a notion that the su|)port of his fsither was a burthen which the township ought to share, and for that reason he was dissatisfied with the result by which he was ordered to pay As. a week. The in- from Lancashire. 363 fluence of the poor-laws on the ties of nature is, I apprehend, often overrated ; this case illustrates their usual effect. The proportion which the expenditure bears to the population, is larger in Manchester than in Wigan, Preston, and many other manufacturing towns ; this, in a great degree, arises from the different practice adopted with reference to the unsettled Irish poor, as will appear from the following comparative account. Population Cases reli eved in Irish cas in one weel ., 1827. in one we 1821. English. Irish. 1831. Manchester 108,017 . 1821 . 264 . 554 Stockport 21.726 . 304 . 9 5 Macclesfield 17,746 . 290 • Warrington 13.570 . 327 . 6 6 Oldham 21,662 . 467 . 1 Spolland (part of Roch-I dale) . . J 20,000 600 . 4 1 Wigan . 17,716 421 . 6 7 Asliton-imder-Lyne 9,222 420 1 . 20 Preston 24,575 585 . 15 Blackburn 21,940 339 . 30 Great and Little Bolton 31,295 J11501 140 •n , 20 Bury 10,583 • 1 Thus in one Aveek, in 1827, out of the population of 108,017, the number of Irish cases relieved in Manchester was 264, whereas in the other principal manufacturing townships collec- tively, out of a population of 210,053, the total number of Irish cases relieved was 119; and whilst the number of Irish cases in ]\Ianchester, as compared with the English cases, was in a pro- portion exceeding one to seven, the average of the other townships in the aggregate was only in the proportion of one to forty-four. These facts were stated in a representation made in 1827, by the churchwardens and sidesmen of Manchester to the magistrates, pointing out the increasing burthen from Irish paupers, and sug- gesting the expediency of discouraging their applications for relief. This representation, however, has not been pressed on the magistrates, by applications for removals ; which, if made, would be granted : the general rule adopted by the magistrates, and acquiesced in by the township, is to relieve the Irish who have been twelve years resident in Manchester, and not to remove them unless they bear bad characters; occasional relief is also o'iven to a considerable extent, to those who have been resident for shorter periods. The proportion of Irish cases to English cases has been 364 Mr. Henderson's Report increasing of late years, as will appear by comparing the number relieved in one week: Year. One week's cases. English. Irish, 1827 1831 . 1821 . 264 . 2022 . 554 The amount granted in relief to the Irish poor without settle- ments, in 1831-32, was 3498^. 3,s. IQir/. These facts shew the inroads of Irish pauperism ; a grievance likely to continue as long as want of employment and extreme poverty drive the natives of Ireland into a country where those evils exist in a minor degree. It is true, that since the law facili- tated the removal of the Irish receiving relief, many towns, by removing or threatening to remove all Avho receive relief, have almost entirely prevented applications from the Irish, and paro- chial aid'is seldom extended to them except in sickness : thus in Wigan, where about 2,000 of the inhabitants are Irish, not 30/. is expended annually in relief to them. It must, however, be borne in mind, that this saving is purchased by severe privations, and the alternative must, in many cases, have a very harsh operation, especially as the removal, almost invariably, is made to Dublin, though the parties may be natives of the remotest parts of Ireland. The work-house is professedly and in fact a poor-house ; an asylum for the aged, infirm poor, and children. The house is spacious, and the rooms, bedding, &c,, in admirable order, the in- mates able to work weave, and the children are taught to read and head pins; there is a chapel within the walls, and a chaplain, with a salary. There is a surgeon also, with 100/. a year; a most useful a{)pointment, as he visits and attends the poor out of the house. The average weekly expense per head for provisions and clothing is 2s. 9c/., but the expenses of so complete an establish- ment are necessarily heavy, and the total cost per head per annum was 13/. 3.s. 3c/. The establishment, therefore, though well conducted, does not appear to answer the ends of economy with reference to the inmates ; and with reference to the out-door poor, as admission is rather a matter of favour, little use can be made of the workhouse as an alternative to repel improper appli- cations for relief. The effect of the poor-laws, regarded as a national charity, may be seen to advantage at Manchester; the quantity of distress and suffering alleviated is extremely great; and it is a satisfactory part o( the management that many poor widows with families, aged, and infirm persons are encouraged and aided in their schemes for keeping shops, &c., which turn their industry to the best account. from Lancashire. 365 The 19th section of Mr. Sturges Bourne's act has been adopted here Avlth good effect ; but it has been found expedient to make abatements to the landlords, to the extent of nearly half the rates. At Preston, the same provision was adopted in 1821, but its effect is frequently avoided by leases for a year : on the whole, I am certain that a general enactment making landlords liable for the rates of small houses would be generally useful and acceptable throughout this country ; 10^ annual value of the houses would be a proper limit of such liability in towns, and 6/. in country places. The following summary of the expenditure out of the poor rate in Manchester, in the year 1831-32, was furnished by Mr. Gardiner, the directing overseer : EXPENDITURE, 1831.32. £. s. d. £. s. d. Poor out of the workhouse . 21,814 5 5 Deduct received from pensioners, &c. 1,189 10 2 Poorhouse . . . 7,915 4 6 Deduct received for sundries . 277 2 7i 20,624 15 3 7,638 1 101 Vagrancy . . . • • • 450 16 Miscellaneous, overseers and collector's salaries, &c. . . 16,958 10 Deduct county-rates, constables, &c. 10,037 5 1 ■ 6,920 15 6 Loss by bastardy . . . . . 725 3 5 Loss by out-townsliip poor . • . 1,913 3 7 Expenditure on the poor . 38,272 15 10^ A rate of 3s. per £. raises about . 45,000 Deduct one-sixth for county-rates, &c. 7,500 37,500 So that the total expense of relief to the poor is 2?. G^cZ. in the pjound, on an assessment of about three-fourths of the rack-rent ; cleductincr one-fourth on that account, leaves the expense at Is. lie/, in the pound on rack-rent. WIGAX. A PROPOSAL to adopt a select vestry at Wigan was rejected, apparently with reason, for the present management answers well. One overseer is appointed every year, and there are three assistant overseers who have held their offices during the last U) years, one of them is governor of the workhouse, another collector : the dispensation of relief is left to the assistant 366 Mr. Hendersori s Report overseer, and a committee is appointed to examine the accounts every montli. Complaints by applicants for relief to the mayor of Wigan are rare, and he usually interferes bv v.'ay of recommen- dation to the overseer. On the 21st September, 1632, the number of paupers was as follows: In the workhouse, 130; cases relieved out of the house, 370; of the latter upwards of 200 were aged persons, the remainder consisted of cripples, widows with families, and weavers and spinners, with three or more youno- children. Weavers and spinners are the only able-bodied men who receive relief; those who have voluntarily thrown themselves out of work are never assisted by the parish. There is much distress in the town, and an overseer assured me that 1000 small houses, which he liad recently visited, were so barely and miserably provided with bedding, &c., that the value of the whole furniture would not exceed 1000/. The poorer classes here subsist chiefly on oatmeal porridge, buttermilk, potatoes, a little bread, and occasion- ally a little bacon. Lamentable as this state of things is, the remedy I apprehend ought not to be sought in increasing the poor-rates, which already press heavily on the rate-payers ; they were last year nominally 4s. in the pound, probably equivalent to 2a\ 9c?. ; economy is here a matter of necessity. The management, though strict, being fair and judicious, is not unpopular with the poor ; and the rate-payers have much reason to be satisfied with the collector and governor of the workhouse, who last year had a vote of thanks from the committee of accounts. PRESTON. Since 1821, with the interruption of a single year, Preston has had a select vestry, with general good effect: owing to the apathy of the principal rate-payers, the management has now (1832) fallen in part into improper hands, and is rapidly deteriorating. Ihe publication of the names of persons receiving relief has been discontinued, the discipline of the workhouse relaxed, and the scale of allowance occasionally increased, though the cheapness of articles of food ai present does not warrant such a change. One of the overseers has complained of the responsibility which the hiw inijjoses on him for the acts of the select vestry, over which he has no control. 1 happened to attend a meetins; of the rate-payers, where one of the persons present and clamorous during the proceedings was, as 1 was informed, a pauper, who had thrown himself out of work on a reduction of his wages from 1/. to IfS.y. a week, and became a pensioner of the ])arish. Several other cases were cited, where workmen on triflmg disputes had quitted their employers, and were taken into the pay of the parish. from Lancashire. 367 In one instance,, a man threw up work at which he was earning 1/. a week, on account of a dispute as to 3ri. a week in rent: what- ever may be the merits of the dispute, a man must be destitute of the spirit of independence, who can thus throw his family on the parish ; and it is only by a gross abuse that the parish funds can be made applicable to support him in such a case. The inter- ests of the rate-payers, and the general condition of the poor must both suffer from this system. The management prior to the present year appears to have been fair and considerate towards the poor, Avhose necessities were relieved, though pauperism was checked. The general condition of the labouring classes in Preston, notwith- standins; the difficulties under Avhich the hand-loom weavers are struggling, is better than in most towns in the county. There are two assistant overseers who visit the poor : owing to the care bestowed on ascertaining the facts in disputed settlements, the expense of litigation during the last three years Avas under 3GL LANCASTER. At Lancaster the overseers, Avith the aid of an experienced assistant with a salary, conduct the affairs of the poor ; the expenditure bears the same proportion to the population as at Manchester, but the proportion of paupers is greater, oAving to the less flourishing state of this city: the management is economical, and the parish authorities have no Avish to lessen the control of the magistrates, Avhich I, therefore, conclude to be sparingly exercised. In the year 1831-32, the rate Avas 2s. Qd. in the pound on the rack-rent. The sum of 140/. Avas lately received in one year by the tOAvn- ship, in fines of 10/. from persons refusing to take parish appren- tices : this reluctance is to be regretted, though, I apprehend, it is often well founded. In a Avorkhouse of a populous borough I found the children not put to any Avork ; and though they Avere said to be taught by a pauper, such instruction Avas probably little more than nominal, for the boys Avere loUmg about the yard, and the place pointed out as the school-room Avas inadequate and unfit for the purpose. Children, thus shut up in ignorance and idleness, and exposed to the moral contamination of a Avork- house, are almost necessarily unfit for the duties required from them as apprentices ; all labour is an intolerable hardship, their masters objects of aversion, and they rarely acquire habits of industry in after life. If the public undertakes to bring »ip chil- dren, it surely becomes a duty to provide the means of moral and religious instruction, and to lay the foundation of those 368 Mr. Henderson^ s Report habits, which are essential to make them useful members of society. The practice in some towns pursued systematically is, to bind the parish apprentices into out-townships, in order to shift the settlement, so that the binding parish may be rid of them. When I inquired of the assistant overseer at the borough above referred to, how the apprentices turned out after they were bound, his answer was, " \Ve have nothing to do with them afterwards." Though these observations are introduced here, 1 disclaim apply- ing them in any degree to Lancaster. BURNLEY. Burnley, in 1826, suffered much from the failure of a bank, which caused many of the cotton factories to stop working, and threw a large portion of the population on the poor-rates ; the town has not yet recovered from the effects of this calamity, and want of capital is one cause why power-looms have not been introduced to a greater extent: there are now seven or eight power-loom factories. The hand-loom weavers are very nume- rous, they weave coarse calicoes, and are not able to earn more than 5s. a week. There is a select vestry, and though the scale of allowance. Is. 6c?. a head, is small, they are kind, and perhaps in some cases too easy with the applicants. A stout young man applied for relief whilst 1 was present : it appeared he was a weaver with a wife and four children, who had been sent at con- siderable expense by the parish to work at a colliery at a distance: the wages he received there at first were I8s. a week, but were afterwards lowered to 15s., and although he could not earn above 5s. at Burnley, he brought his family back, and presented him- self at the vestry : after some reproof he was ordered 5s., a pair of looms, and a house belonging to the parish : it ought, however, to be stated that fear of the cholera, which had broken out among the colliers, was the cause assigned by the man for his return. The prospect for this part of this country is melancholy, if hand-loom weavers, with youth, strength, and opportunities of gainful employ- ment, reject the means of independence, and are suffered to remain burthensome to the j)ublic. Their former occupation is gone for ever, and it is only by exerting themselves in new walks of life that they can reasonably expect to be raised from their present abject condition. Pauperism is extensive here, and the condition of those receiv- ing relief wretched. The poor-rates last year were equivalent to 4s. Gc/. in the pound on the rack-rent; it is usual here to make from Lancashire. 369 the paupers contribute to the poor-rate, by stopping the rate out of the relief, but the payment not being bond fide, cannot answer any good purpose. Owing to the smaller proportion of hand-loom weavers, and a larger proportion of power-loom factories, the ad- jacent township of Habergham Eaves is in a prosperous condition. WARRINGTON. At Warrington the expenditure is large in proportion to the population, the number of hand-loom weavers is inconsiderable, and they are the only able-bodied jjersons, in full employment, who receive relief; fustian cutters, owing to the irregular demand for their labour, are occasionally burthensome. In consequence of several factories being destroyed by fire, the township suffered much a few years since, the work-people being thrown on the poor-rates for support: but at present the general condition of the town is flourishing, and I am at a loss to account for the amount of the expenditure. The present management is by overseers annually appointed, two salaried assistant overseers, and a committee. Probably a select vestry would operate bene- ficially in reducing the rates, which were last year equivalent to 3s. Ad. in the pound on the rack-rent. There was last year a deficiency of 28 per cent, on the collection of the rates, 19 per cent, being lost from poor persons being excused. The landlords in some instances voluntarily pay the rates : but many of the small houses are owned by persons who derive the principal part of their income from that species of property. There is no doubt that an enactment, making the landlords liable for the rates, would ope- rate beneficially: though it may be fairly presumed that the enormous deficiency here might be lessened by bestowing more pains on the collection. GARSTANG. One of the principal rate-payers in Garstang stated that a select vestry had been the salvation of that place. It appears that, prior to the year 1821, there was a paid overseer, to whom the management of the poor was left. He was a respectable man, but had not suffi- cient firmness to resist improper applications, or check the progress of pauperism. The consequence was, that the rates in 1820-21, amounted to Qs. Qd. in the pound on the rack-rent, a burthen which threatened ruin to many of the rate-payers. In June, 1821, a select vestry was formed ; and although they had to clear off a debt of 300/. they speedily effected a great reduction of the rates. The cases were all investigated respectively, and the relief ad- justed by judgment of the vestry. The expenditure which, ac- cording to the parliamentary returns, was 720/. in 1819-20, was 2 B 370 Mr. Hendersons Report reduced to 347/. in 1822-23, and to 216Z. in 1828-29. It was fortunate that the management was thus brought into a sound condition, as the town was visited a few years afterwards by great distress ; first, from the temporary stoppage, in September, 1829, and finally, from the failure, in November, 1830, of some long- established and extensive calico printers, who had employed about 600 persons belonging to this and two or three adjacent townships. Had this disaster occurred before the expenditure was retrenched, and an improved system adopted, the result must have been over- whelming both to the poor and the rate-payers ; whereas, under the select vestry, it was met by a rate of 3s. 3d. in the years 1830-31, 1831-32. Catteral, where the print-works were situated, suffered still more severely ; and although they have a select vestry and assist- ant overseer, the rates last year amounted to 5s. in the pound, oh a valuation said to be above the rack-rent. This burthen is severely felt by the farmers, the population now being chiefly agricultural. This calamity would have been much more grievous, had not the population in these places and in Kirkiand, an adjacent township, adapted itself in a remarkable degree to the vicissitude, by migrating in search of employment. Money was advanced by the vestries to the printers to go in search of employ- ment, and their families were supported in their absence, and when situations were procured by them, their goods and families were carted at the expense of the township to Blackburn, Preston, or Burnley. These exertions are highly meritorious, and their cftect in relieving the township will partly appear from the population returns : 1821. 1831. Decrease. Catteral . 704 . . 457 . . 247 Kirkiand . 51 T . . 458 . . 53 Garstang . 9.36 . . 929 . . 7 2151 1844 307 The decrease is imperfectly shown here, since at Garstang the population was about 1100 before the failure, and does not now exct-ed 850. The practice in bastardy cases is extremely fluctuating and unsettled. A magistrate in this neighbourhood recommends, in his answers, a uniform low rate of allowance, without regard to liic means or station of the father ; but at Garstang, as at many other places, the allowances vary i'rom Is. 3d. to 4s. a week, al- though a child may be maintained for 3s. a week. If the putative from LancasJiire. 371 fathers do not pay in some places^, the overseers are required by the macristrate to pay the whole allowance, on the ground that they should not have let the man escape, though it is often out of their power to detain him, as the personal demand, which is an indis- pensable preliminary to taking out a warrant for his apprehension, always affords an opportunity to abscond; at other places nothing^ is paid to the mother, except in cases of necessity. The Learned Chairman of the Preston Sessions, in one of his answers, says, " The overseers are too apt to consider the mother entitled to the full amount of the order, though not paid by the man. I always caution them against this, and order them in such cases to reheve the child with Is. a week, or what necessity may require ;" and accordingly at Preston and many other places Is. a week is usually given by the parish in such cases. Two orders were made here on the same day, one for 4,s. a week for the child of G. S., the father being a schoolmaster, another for 4s. a week on D., a man-servant, at twelve guineas a year wages ; one of these orders was paid in full the first year, 8/. was paid the second year, and it has since been reduced to 2s. 6cZ. weekly ; in the other case, the fathers of the parties arranged that 2s. a week should be paid. The magis- trates no doubt imposed these sums with a view to the peculiar circumstances of each case, probably regarding the father in the first case as a greater moral delinquent, considering his station and office, and probably looking to some aggravation in the man's conduct in the latter case ; the law, however, merely contemplates an indemnity to the parish, and if the parish officers were allowed to fix the amount of the indemnity the scale would almost always be low. Overseers state that the fathers in general are not unwill- ing to pay according to their ability, but large orders drive them to abscond and produce vagrancy. The extent of bastardy depends chiefly on the standard of moral feeling on the subject, and the most marked variations exist between, parishes when the practice is lightly regarded, and those where it is stigmatized ; the remedy therefore must be sought in improving the tone of general opinion on the subject. As a subordinate means of repressing the practice, a frequent and strict collection of the sums imposed on the putative father has considerable effect. At Garstang last year regular relief was given to five able- bodied men ; four being weavers with families, at Wigan ; and the other a calico-printer, a widower, with two children; occasional relief was given to eleven able-bodied men, most of whom had been calico printers: they were relieved without setting them to work. Labourers' wages here average 2s. a day, in summer, and Is. Qd. in w inter ; and they maintain their families decently on 2 B 2 372 Mr. CoweWs Report milk, potatoes, herrings, bacon, and oatbread ; very little wheaten bread is used. I have the honour to remain, My Lords and Gentlemen, Your obedient faithful servant, Gilbert Henderson. Temple, Dec. 21, 1832. CAMBRIDGE. My Lords and Gentlemen, In compliance with Lord Melbourne's desire, I submit to you the following examples of good and bad management, as the most instructive which fell under my view as assistant poor-law commissioner. I have the honour to be. My Lords and Gentlemen, Your obedient humble servant, John W. Cowell. London, Feb. 25, 1833. i9j Chester-street, Grosvenor Place. ROYSTON. One of the first places that attracted my attention was Royston; and it appeared to me that so mucli was to be learned there, that 1 visited it twice, the first time in company with Mr. Bishop, the second time with Mr. Senior, The population of this place, a town and parish, partly in Cambridgeshire, partly in Herts, has increased since the year 1821 , from 1474 to 1757. The business carried on is such as natm-ally belongs to a town in a large agricult\u"al district. But as the acreage of the whole parish is only 300, the interest is not farming, strictly so called. The population has received an augmentation of one-fifth in the course of the last ten years. This increment, Mr. Docwra, the permanent overseer, states as consisting chiefly of out-])arishioners who are not permitted to gain a settlement in the parish, but have been gradually brought into it as substitutes for native parish- oners. These out-])arishioners, having no claim on the rates, and no- thing to depend upon but character and ability, are invariably honestj industrious, and orderly. But Mr. Docwra states, that from Cambridgeshire. 373 the class of able-bodied native labourers, for whom it has been found necessary to substitute the out-parishioners, would be as good labourers as the others if not dependent on the parish. The inhabitants in general object to employ them, owing to their bad habits and character ; and they are supported by the parish in idleness, in cottages and the workhouse. Mr. Warren, a builder and carpenter, frequently employs as many as fifty men at a time ; and at moments when he is known to be in want of hands, and is giving w ork to men who daily come four, five, and six miles, Mr. Docwra has^ offered him able- bodied men on the parish. But Mr. Warren's answer always is, " I won't have your men ; they want more looking after than I can afford;" and in reply to Mr. Docwra's observation that he would have to pay more to the rates if he did not take the men, Mr. Warren has said, that he preferred doing so to taking the work of the parish labourers with the trouble of looking after them. Mr. Docwra has frequently received similar answers from other townsmen engaged in business, particularly from Mr. Smith, a large seedsman, to whom he applied only a few days before I was at Royston. Mr. Smith said he had work for fom- men, and wanted them, but would have nothing to do with parish- ioners. Mr. Docwra, a few days before my last visit, sent John James, an able-bodied labourer, who applied for work, to a Mr. Luke, a farmer, who employed him in taking in a rick. The work is easy, but, after being two hours at it, James complained that he was not strongf enougrh. Mr. Luke said he did not like to keep a grumbler, and desired to have him changed. Mr. Docwra desired R. Reed, another able-bodied applicant for work, to take James's place. Reed remonstrated against being employed, but at last went away to the job, muttering against the hardship of being employed, since the other man was as able to do the work as he was, and he might have as well have been indulgfed in idleness as James. Mr. Docwra attributed the bad character and conduct of the native population to the countenance and support which the magistrates afford to the complaints of paupers, against which he declared all resistance on the part of the overseers to be vain ; and he accounted for the good conduct of the ex-parishioners by the fact of their having no power to apply to the magistrates, and being in consequence solely dependent on character for em- ployment. The poor-rate increases. The county rates, &c., have been dedvicted from the following list, which comprehends only the annual amounts strictly expended on the poor. 374 Mr. CowelVs Report £. s. d. 1826 693 13 2 1827 584 4 4 1828 752 18 6 1829 891 18 4 1830. „ 938 3 10 1831.. 973 2 8 Royston having so small an acreage as 300, and the chief inhabitants being engaged in occupations subordinate to agricul- ture, and not in agriculture itself^ and consequently having no motive to throw on the parson and the shopkeepers the wages of other people's labourers, they have constantly refused to sanc- tion the "allowance system," and have rejected the following scale formally forwarded to the vestry. County of Cambridge. The Churchwardens and Overseers of the Poor are requested to regulate the incomes of such persons who may apply to them for relief or employment according to the price of bread, namely — A single woman the price of three quartern loaves per week. A single man Ditto four do. A man and his wife Ditto seven do. Ditto and 1 child Ditto eight do. Ditto and 2 children . . Ditto nine do. Ditto and 3 ditto Ditto eleven do. Man, wife, 4 children, and upwards, at the price of two quartern loaves per head, per week. It will be necessary to add to the above income in all cases of sickness or other kind of distress, and particularly of such persons or families who deserve encouragement by their good behaviour, whom Parish Officers should mark both by commendation and reward. By order of the magistrates assembled at the Shire-Hall, Cambridge, December 15, 1821. Robert Gee, Clerk to the Magistrates. The vestry has had many struggles with the neighbouring magistracy, on the subject of the allowance system, and had Ivoyston, instead of 300, possessed an acreage of GOOO, as there would then have been many farmers in the vestry, the allowance system might have flourished as vigorously in that as in the sur- rounding parishes. But the shopkeepers and agricultural trades- men, who constitute the whole vestry, — in order to protect them- selves against the magistrates, as we were informed, — adopted Mr. S. Bo\irne's Act, and have strenuously resisted the keeping up of a large standing army of paupers for the benefit of the land- lords, and iarmers of neiglibouring parishes, who in spring, har- vest, and fine weather, would take tliem otf the rates at 6rf. and from Cambridgeshire. 375 1*. a day, and send them back again in shoals in winter and bad weather. An irregular skirmish had been kept up for several years be- tween the nei^hbourincr authorities^ endeavourinoj to enforce obe- dience to a scale, and the inhabitants of Royston declinmg it. At last, however, the opposing parties came to a regular action, in which victory seems to have declared for the inhabitants of Royston. Mr. Bishop and I directed an account of this trans- action to be forwarded to the Poor Law Commission, and the following is an extract from the letter received by the Commis- sion from the assistant-overseer, the names of the magistrates being omitted : — " Gentlemen — Being particularly requested by Mr. Bishop and Mr. Cowell to state to you in full the particulars relative to what has taken place between this parish and the magistrates, within the last two or three years, with respect to making up the labourers'" wages, with a copy of the minutes from the select vestry book, on that subject, the following is a copy of the 7th August, 1829 : — " ' The overseers laid before the vestry an application of John James for an allowance to make vip his wages, and stated he is employed by INIr. Charles Cautherly, and receives upwards of 10?. per week as a day labourer, and that John James applied to the overseers for an allowance of Is. Sd. per week, to make up his wages to lis. Sd. The overseers state that they have been sum- moned by Mr. A. B., a magistrate in this county, at the suit of John James, to appear before him on Monday next, to answer his complaint. The vestry took into consideration, that the clerk of the peace for the county of Cambridge had, by direction of the court of quarter sessions, issued a circular letter to all the parish otficers in the county, one of which to that part of this parish which lies in Cambridgeshire, w^as laid before this meeting, in which the practice of making up wages out of the poor-rate is reprobated as impolitic and pernicious, and they considered that if the system of making up wages was adopted in this case, it would apply to the other labourers of the parish, and would entail upon the poor-rate a charge which could not be borne, and they considered that an order for making up wages, if made by the said A. B., would be illegal, and they directed that the overseers should decline to make any payment under it, and that any pro- ceedings instituted to force obedience to such an order, should be defended by the parisli officers at the expense of this parish, out of the poor-rate.' " In the above case the man James not having applied, in the first instance, to the vestry, as the law requires, the magistrate found that he could not make an order j and being talked to by a 37G Mr. Co weirs Report gentleman of the vestry, upon the consequences likely to ensue by adopting sucli a system, it was dropped for that time. " On the 6th of April, 1831, John James and Joseph Wood a^ain applied to the petty sessions (James having been refused relief by the vestry). After the usual questions of the number of their children, and the amount of their earnings, they were in- formed that it was not sufficient, crivinor me at the time a verbal order to make up their wages to a certain sum ; but not thinking myself at liberty to comply without again mentioning it to the vestry, I put it oft" till it met, when it was unanimously objected to. A few days after, the .overseers received a summons to appear at Mr. C. D's at **** on the following Monday, to show cause why relief should not be given. The vestry was again convened upon the occasion, who considered it illegal to make up wages to labourers in full employ, and gave instructions to the overseers to refuse obedience to anv order made by the ma- gistrates for enforcing such claims, and that the overseers be defended at the expense of the parish. " The distance to **** beinor eight miles, I was desired to write the foUowino- letter to Mr. C. D. : — " Sir — The overseers of Royston have received a summons to appear before you and other magistrates at ****, on Monday next, on the complaint of Joseph Wood and John James. I beg leave to inform you that, as one of the overseers is ill, and confined at his house, and cannot go to *-"i=**, if you would allow the matter to be heard before you at the petty sessions at Eoyston, on Wednesday next, being two days after, it would be an accommodation to the overseers; and as to the men who apply, it would be also less trouble to them. If you will inform me by the bearer that you will let the case be heard at Royston on 'Wed- nesday, I will inform the men that they need not attend at *=*=**^ but that they must on Wednesday. "I am. Sir, " Your very respectful and obedient servant, " Gam. Docwra, Vestry Clerk. "To which I received the following answer: — <( -i:***^ Saturday afternoon. Sir — I cannot make the alteration you request to be made as to the time of hearing the cases for which the overseers of Royston are sununoned to appear at my house on Monday next, on my own authority alone. It would require the concurrence of the other magistrates who have signed the summons to such an altera- fronn Cambridgeshire. 377 tion before it can be made ; and it may be doubtful ^Yhethcr Wed- nesday will suit the convenience of them all to attend at Koyston. It is now half-past two o'clock, and I have not an opportunity of consulting with them on the subject. Had the conmiunicatiou been made at an earlier day, perhaps the arrangement you request might have been made. " I am. Sir, your faithful servant, " C. D. "On Monday, the ISth, I accompanied one of the overseers, ^who had just entered upon his office, to ****, where we met Mr. A. B., Mr. C. D., and Mr. E. F., magistrates for this county. After hearing the respective cases some time, I was ordered to leave the room, with James and Wood, when, as the overseer informed me, they tried first to persuade, by appealing to his feelings, then to intimidate, by pointing out the consequences upon his refusal of complying with their order; but he was proof against both, and informed them that, as he was but just come into office, the duties of which he was not much acquainted with, consequentlv he could not think of acting contrary to the wish of the vestry, and that if they thought proper to make an order, he was under the necessity to say he must refuse complying with it. Upon w hich they gave him until Wednesday to consider of it, telling him that, if he did not comply by that time, they would certainly give an order, and enforce it, — the men having an order to meet them again on the Wednesday, at Koyston ; but by some unaccountable cause, the men did not appear, to the joy appa- rently of the magistrates and overseer; since which time they have not tried to enforce it. " I am, gentlemen, " Your obedient humble servant, " Gamaliel Docwra, " Assistant Overseer." To the Poor Law Commissioners. The following case affords matter for much reflection. A re- tired labourer, residincr at * * *, havinor some land and other property, had a daughter, who, about the year 1805, gained a settlement in parish, by living there in service one year. Since 1822, she lived with her father, and was supported bv him, being confined to the house by infirmity. In the year 1832, she appUed for relief to * * * parish, at the instigation, it is believed, of a neighbouring magistrate, who told her father that he w^as very much to blame for keeping her at his own expense, and that he had better inquire as to her settlement. 378 Mr. CowelVs Report The parish officers of * * * relieved her^ and immediately ap- plied to the same magistrate, and another neighbouring magis- trate, for an order of removal to •. This was granted, but, as was foreseen, could not be executed in consequence of her illness, and was accordingly suspended by the same magis- trates, at the same time and day, on which it was made. The * * * officers commenced allowing her (or really her father) 3s. a week, and required — ^ to reimburse them. Even the officer who brought the order to , exclaimed against the shamefulness of the transaction. — offered 2s. 6rf., which the father agreed to take, and it was paid till the daughter's death. The magistrates in this neighbourhood are said to have an objection to piece-w'ork. Docwra the overseer's evidence is, — '* If I tender piece-work, the magistrates say, — You must pay the un- married men on the same terms as you do the married ; we w ill not allow you to pay them differently." But if you don't tender piece-work, will they allow you to pay the married and single differently? — "Certainly; their objection applies to piece-work." What advantage would the labourers reap from honesty, so- briety, frugality, orderly conduct^ when those of them who, from natural and uncontrollable propensity, take to saving, or those whom chance has visited with the misfortune of a legacy, are refused, not relief (for that they do not w-ant), but ivork. The following instances strvick ]Mr. Senior and myself so forcibly, when we heard of them at Royston last November, that we afterwards requested our informants to furnish them in writing, and tliey are now given as we received them : — " Sir, — At the request of Mr. Wedd, of this place, I forward a case w"hich has occurred on a small farm of mine in this neigh- bourhood, relative to the poor-laws. And have the honour to be, " Sir, " Your most obedient servant, AT jjr Q ' 1? " W. W. Nash." iV. H/. benior, hsq. Poor Law Commission. " Mr. Nash, of Royston, is proprietor and occupier of a farm containing 150 acres, situate a mile and a half from his residence, and in about equal proportions in the parishes of Barhway and Heed, in the county of Hertford. It is what is usually called an out field farm, being at the extremity of these parishes, and nearly eqiiidislant from Royston, Therfield, Reed, Barhway, and Barley. Mr. Nash employed six men (to whom he gives throughout tlie year, I2s. a week), two boys, and six horses. In lb29, Mr. from Camhridgefthire. 379 Clarke, the overseer of Reed (a respectable man, who occupies half the parish, and has generally managed all its public con- cerns), told Mr. Nash he could no longer collect the money for poor-rates, without resorting to coercive measures, which he Avould not do ; and that the unemployed poor must be apportioned among the occupiers of land, in proportion to their respective quantities; and that he (Mr. Nash) must take two more men. All Mr. Nash's labourers had been some years in his service, and were steady, industrious men, and he regretted the necessity of parting with any of them. The two men displaced were those who came last into his service (and for that reason only.j One was a parishioner of Royston, an excellent workman at any kind of work. He lived near Mr. Nash's house (a great convenience), and his wife superintended a small school Mrs. Nash had esta- blished for the benefit of her poor neighbours. The other was Joliu Watford, a parishioner of Barley, a steady, industrious, trustworthy, single man, ivho, by long and rigid economy, had saved about 100/. Of the two men sent in their stead, one was a married man, with a family, sickly and not much inclined to work ; the other a sin.2le man, addicted to drinkingf. On beino- dismissed, Watford applied in vain to the farmers of Barley for employment. It ivas luell known that he had saved money, and could not come upon the parish, although any of them would ivil- lingly have taken him had it been otherwise. W^atford has a bro- ther also, who, like himself, has saved money ; and thouo-h he has a family, and has been laid aside from work for six years, has received no assistance from the parish. After living a few months without being able to get any work, he bought a cart and two horses, and has ever since obtained a precarious subsistence, by carrying corn to London for one of the Cambridge merchants ; but just now the current of corn is northward, and he has nothino- to do, and at any time he would gladly have exchanged his em- jjloymentfor that of day labour, if he could have obtained work. No reflection is intended on the overseers of Barley ; they only do v»'hat all others are expected to do ; though the young men point at Watford, and call him a fool, for not spending his money at a pubhc-house, as they do, adding, that then he would get work." " Since Mr. Senior was at Royston last week, another instance has occurred on this farm, illustrative of the working of the poor- laws. John Warren, an inhabitant of Therficld, has been house- keeper there for nine years. A few weeks ago, the bailiff told Mr. Nash he could not find employment for so many men. Mr. Nash desired him to dismiss a bankwayman, who liap])ened to have misconducted himself. The bailiff's wife shortly afterwards 380 Mr. Co well's Report told Mr. Nasli that^ if he pleased, John Warren would like to go, as he had a large family, and the justices (the magistrates of the Royston division) would give him as much or more, without work, as he earned, and he should avoid the dirty walks from Therfield this Avinter. Mr. Nash (who is a proprietor, but not an occupier in Therfield) has accordingly discharged him, and he will no doubt, next week, add 12,9. or lbs. to the enormous eleemosynary payments made in this disorganized and demoralized parish, by the natural and inevitable operation of the poor-laws. Previous to 1814, there were there no unemployed poor, and they were remark- able for their industrious and orderly conduct, and all was satis- factory, liberal, and remunerative : now a large portion of the poor have no work, and many lands lie vmploughed, covered with thistles, and spreading their seeds with every wind for miles around ; and it is said the largest and most wealthy owner and occupier has seen his men steal his corn out of the barns, but would not prose- cute, alleging that he must keep them, and that they would live on less if they had the trouble of carrying it away, than if he was to thrash and carry it to Hertford, and bring the produce back to them in money. One of the largest barns on this gentleman's farm has been pulled down piecemeal by the poor, and carried away for fuel. The only probable amelioration of the system may be, perhaps, in appointing itinerant stipendiaries, who should execute the duties of both magistrate and overseer. It is unjust to compel a large occupier, whose business requires more personal attention than that of other men, to crive his time and exertion gratuitously to a disgusting public duty, — the only reward of which is either a broken head, or the chance of being burnt in his bed." Royston, January 2dt/i, 1833. " Dear Sir, " I write in answer to your inquiry into the case alluded to in the return to your queries from Royston parish, of refusal of employment to labourers on account of their having legacies bequeathed to them. There are obvious motives for disinclination to state particulars, which might be considered to reflect on per- sons who have no opportunity of giving their own explanations as to their execution of the poor-laws. The facts of the case, di- vested of reference to the locality of its occurrence, are the fol- lowing : — " An individual who had risen from poverty, and accumulated considerable ])ersonal ])r()perty, bequcatlied legacies to a number ol" hiboiu-crs, his ivhuiuns. Circumstances delayed for several mouths the collecting in the testator's estate. The overseer's from Camhridcjeshire. 381 deputy of one parish, in which some of the legatees were labour- ers, urged to the agent of the executors the payment, on the ground that it would benefit the parishioners, as when the legacies were paid they ivould not find employment for the legatees, be- cause they loould have property of their own. " The legatees afterwards applied for money on account of their legacies. It was then stated that some of them, who lived in a diff'erent parish, had been refused employment, because they were entitled to jiroperfy. " An occupier of land in another parish near this place told me, to-day, that in his parish they refused employment to labourers who had money left them. He said that he held 320 acres of light land of the value of ISi*. an acre, subject to tithes. He pays 141. tithe composition, and 100/. for poor-rates, and is com- pelled to employ fourteen men and six boys, and requires the labour of only ten men and three boys. His extra labovxr at lOs. a week (which is the current rate for men), and half as much for boys, is 130/. He pays, in addition, surveyors and churchwarden's rates. There are sometimes from fifteen to twenty labourers employed in useless public work, besides boys. It is not surprising that, in such circumstances, the occupiers should refuse to employ labourers who have any property. " Another occupier stated yesterday that he held 165 acres of land, of which half was pasture. He was compelled to employ twelve men and boys, and his farm required the labour of only five. He is about to give notice that he will quit. Every use- less labourer is calculated to add 5s. an acre to the rent of a farm of 100 acres. " The improvement in agricultural implements, the cultivation of artificial grasses, improved roads, and greater skill and agri- cultural knowledge, enable an occupier to cultivate his land with less labour. All these would be sources of profit, but they are all counteracted and made causes of additional perplexity by the redundant population, which the sj^stem of the poor-laws has augmented. " It is common for young agricultural labourers to say, that they are treated worse as single men, than they would be as married men, and that they shall marry to better their conditions in this respect. " I remain, dear Sir, " Yours very respectfully, N. fr. Senior. Esg. , («'S™'») " J. P. VVedd." Poor Law Commission. The following letter was received by Mr. Senior, and comrau- 382 ^'T' CowelVs Report nicated to me a.s I was concluding my remarks on Royston. — Assuming the accuracy of the facts, it shows what may be the consequences of v.'ell-meant interference. Royston, February 21sf, 1833, » Sir, The inclosed order affords a melancholy illustration of the pernicious working of the poor laws. Robert Reed has a wife and five childrenrhis wife had been convicted in a penalty for stealino; turnips and turnip-tops to send to London for sale; and before she paid the penalty, she was apprehended on two other informations for steaUng more of the same articles on sub- sequent days. . " One of the Cambridgeshire magistrates committed her to jaU for six months. Immediately after her com.mitment, the husband applied to the overseers to provide a woman to take care of his children ; the overseers offered to provide a woman for that pur- pose free of expense to the husband and without his finding her either board or lodging. The husband immediately went to the magistrates of Hertfordshire, in v.hich county he was settled, who called up the overseers; they represented that they had offered to find a woman to take care of the children in the husband's house free of expense to him ; the magistrates, however, said they thought some one of the husband's relations the most proper for this purpose, and they required the overseers to pay money to the husband to enable him to procure a substitute for his wife in the case of the children, and they made the inclosed order for lis. per week. The husband had been receiving 9s. per week from the parish for work, before his wife went to jail, and the ground of the application was (as correctly stated in the order) the im- prisonment of the wife. " The husband had lost his character, and was therefore refused employment by the farmers. " The effects of the present system as shewn by the inclosed order, are ; " That prosecution for crime is made doubly burdensome, as not only the expense of it is great, but also all the consequences of it are to be made good to the family of the offender out of (he poor's rate, and thus a prospect of perfect impunity to crime is licld out to the poor. " 1 have the honour to remain. Sir, " Your most obedient servant, " Gam. Docwra, " Vestry clerk of the parish of Royston, Herts." To N. W. Senior, E.uj., Poor Law Commission. from Cambridgeshire. 383 Hertsl To the Churchwardens and Overseers of the Poor of the to wit J Parish of Royston, in the said County. Whereas Robert Reed, of the parish of Royston, in the said county, hath made oath before the Rev. Thos. Sisson, the Rev. Henry Morrice, and the Rev. J. Lafont, three of his Majesty's justices of the peace for the said county, that he the said Robert Reed is very poor and impotent, and not able to support himself and family of five children by his labour, and that he the said Robert Reed did on Friday last appear at the Select Vestry, for the purpose of obtain- ing relief, but that the Select Vestry did not assemble on that day which had been appointed for their meeting. And luhereas two of the overseers of the poor of the said parish have appeared before us^ to shew cause why relief should not be given to the said Robert Reed, and having not shewn any sufficient cause. And whereas it appears to us, that the wife of the said Robert Reed is now confined in the House of Correction at Cambridge, and that he is put to considerable expense in providing a person to look after his said five children ; We do therefore order the churchwardens and overseers of the poor of the said parish, or such of them to whom these presents shall come, to pay unto the said Robert Reed, the sum of eleven shillings weekly and every week, for and towards the support and maintenance of himself and family, for one month from the day of the date hereof. Given under our hands and seal this twentieth day of February, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty-three. Thomas Sisson, John Lafont, Henry Morrice. GREAT SHELFORD, CAMBRIDGESHIRE. population. 1801 . 570 1811 . 593 1821 . 718 1831 . 812 This parish consists of 2000 acres, of which 500 are waste, and 1500 cultivated. There are 75 able-bodied agricultural labourers' families, and as, according to the calculations of my informant, Mr. , 45 are all that are necessary for a thorough cultivation of the soil, there is a surplus of 30 families. Mr. owns in fee 500 of the whole 1500 cultivable acres, and farms them 384 Mr. CoweU's Report himsplf. He pays 10s. an acre poor-rate = 250/. per annum. In addition^ though he only requires for his farm the regular labour of J 6 men, yet he constantly employs 20 or 21. The waces of these supernvmierary men amount in money to 150/. ])er annum, and he calculates the value of the return yielded by their superfluous labour at 50/. per annum. Consequently^ we must consider that another sum of 100/. is added to his poor-rate, which makes it amount altogether to 350/. per annum. But taking his rates at only 10s. per acre, as he estimates the rent of his land under present circumstances to be still worth more than 1/, per annum per acre, and knows that the rent of the re- maining 1000 acres is as valuable as that of his own 500 ; he considers the fee-simple of the parish to be actually worth the sum of 45,000/. We asked him what he thought it would be worth, if the poor- rates were moderate : he rated it at 60,000/. We then inquired what he thought was likely to be its value in ten years. He threw up liis hands in despair, and refused to make any estimate; and indeed seemed to think, if the progress of pauperism con- tinued, the whole beneficial interest would by that time be confiscated. We endeavoured to find what remedies he contemplated. The only one seemed to be a labovu'-rate : we remarked, that as the population was already excessive, and rapidly increasing, a labour- rate, by fixing that population to the soil, might increase or at least perpetuate the evil. He admitted the truth of this remark, but urged, that a labour-rate was the only mode of making the tithe-oiv7ier bear his fair share. We suggested that the only effectual cure was to make relief less agreeable than wages. To which he replied that, if that were attempted, the paupers would soon make it disagreeable to be a resident; and mentioned a fire by whicli, some montlis before, the barns of the lithe lessee had been destroyed by an incendiary well known, but yet protected by the sympathy of his lellows. The following minutes of our subsequent conversation throw some light on the causes which produced and perpetuate the local contrestion mider which (ireat Shelibrd is sufferin . .£356 1S2G to 27 . 345 1827 to 28 . 3fi0 1828 to 29 . 334 1829 to 30 . 388 1830 to 31 . 370 1831 to 32 . 449 Tlie Rev. Mr. Lowe became the incumbent of this parish in the year 1814; he is a magistrate, and resides on his Uving. He found it in a terrible state. In the year 1817 there were more than 40 inmates in the workhouse, 78 receiving constant weekly pay out of it, and for the twelve weeks ending the 27th of June that year, I counted the number of roundsmen in the parish books, and found it amount to 103. The state of morals was that which invariably accompanies this manner of administering the poor-laws. The labourers were tur- bulent, idle, dissolute, profuse — scarcely a night passed without mis- chief, and in the two years preceding 1818, seven men of the parish were transported for felonies. The poor, to use the words of my examinants, Mr. Lowe and Deane the overseer, were com- pletely masters. In 1818-19, Mr. Lowe undertook to remedy this state of things. Being satisfied that it proceeded entirely from the ope- ration of the poor-laws, and that there was no cause, independent of their influence, to prevent his parishioners from being happy, honest, and industrious ; and knowing that it w^as impossible to refuse relief according to the practice and custom of the country, he devised means for rendering relief itself so irksome and dis- agreeable, that none would consent to receive it who could pos- sibly do without it, while at the same time it should come in the shape of comfort and consolation to those whom every benevolent man would wish to succour — the old, infirm, idiots, and cripples. For this purpose he placed in the workhouse a steady, cool- tempered man, who w as procured from a distance, and was not known in the parish, as master, refused all relief in kind or money, and sent every applicant and his family at once into the workhouse. The fare is meat three times a week, soup twice, pudding once, milk porridge five times. Surely no man who says that he cannot maintain himself, wife, and children by the sweat of his brow — who declares that he is starving, — who applies for charity, has a right to complain of being placed in a clean and comfortable house, of having a good bed to sleep on, and such fare every day as I have described above ; and had Mr. Lowe stopped here, matters would not have been much mended. But the applicant who entered the work- 390 Mr. CoweWs Report house " on the plea that he was starving for want of work ;" was taken at his word, and told that these kixuries and benefits could only be given by the parish against work, and in addition, that a certain regular routine was established, to which all the inmates must conform. The man goes to one side of the house, the wife to the other, and the children into the school-room. Separation is steadily enforced. Their own clothes are taken off, and the uniform of the workhouse put on. No beer, tobacco, or snuff is allowed. Regular hours kept, or meals forfeited. Every one must appear in a state of personal cleanliness. No access to bed-rooms during the day. No communication with friends out of doors. Breaking stones in the yard by the grate, as large a quantity required every day as an able-bodied labourer is enabled to break. What is there in all this of which an applicant for a portion of the property of others, on the ground that he is starving, has any right to complain ? He has a better house over his head ; better clothes on his back; better and more palatable food to eat; better medical advice than nine-tenths of the peasantry of Ger- many, France, Switzerland, and Italy, and he is not required to do harder work. But the monotony, the restraint, the want of stimulants, the regularity of hours, are irksome to the pretended pauper. He bethinks himself of liberty and work, and work he will find, if there is a job undone in the parish or neighbourhood within a day's walk. No man stood this discipline for three weeks. After a struggle which lasted a few months, the paupers of Bing- ham gave the matter up. The inmates of the workhouse dropped from forty-tive to twelve, who were all either old, idiots, or in- firm, and to whom a workhouse is really a place of comfort. The number of persons relieved out of the workhouse dropped from seventy-eight to twenty-seven. The weekly pay from 6^ to 1/. 16s. to pensioners, all of whom are old and blind, or crip- pled. These are permitted to live with their relations, as such instances of relieving out of the workhouse produce no mischief. AVasres rose to twelve shillinsfs a week, winter and summer, all the year through ; the labourer husbanded his resources, took a pride and pleasure in his cottage, and resumed his rank in the scale of moral being. The effect of this system is far more important in a moral point of view, than in a pecuniary or an economical one. The conduct and habits of the population of Bingham, accord- ing to the representations of Mr. Lowe and Deane, and by the consent of the neighbourhood, is now as different from wiiat it was fifteen years ago as can be conceived; no crimes, no mis- deeds, no disturbances. Bastardy Laics, ^91 The same sj^stem was afterwards, in the year 1821, introduced with the same results at Southwell, twelve miles distant, by Captain Nicholls; and since Captain Nicholls's departure in 1823, has been kept up by the bench of magistrates of that place. The Rev. Mr. Becher published an account of it in his well-known pamphlet entitled " The Antipauper System," where, however, the simplicity of jNIr. Lowe's principle is mingled with some extraneous matter. That principle is merely to render " the gaining a livelihood by relief more irksome than gaining a livelihood by labour." Relief becomes in consequence an object of aversion, and labour of desire. A well-regulated workhouse was the engine employed by Mr. Lowe for carrying this principle into practice, and it is the fittest instrument for the purpose. But thouo-h " the tenderino- relief on such terms as render it an object of aversion and not of desire to the applicants," is all that is ne- cessary for the abolition of pauperism, Mr. Lowe assisted this measure by another equally simple and equally efficacious : he rated all cottages, and steadily and perseveringly enforced the pay- ments. The sums were trifling, but the poor took a pride in finding that they, as well as their richer neighbours, contributed to parish burdens ; their motives to save, and their jealousy of each other, speedily led them to take an interest in the expenditure of those funds to which they contributed. Deane, the overseer, told me that since cottages had been rated, the poor contributors were excessively jealous of those who received relief in cases where it was not fairly required. They never object to relief being granted in cases which, in their opinion, require it ; but, wherever they think he has been imposed upon, some one or other generally comes and gives him notice. Only the week before I was at Bingham, Deane, on applying for a rate to a cottager, a woman, received it accompanied with the following warning : " I say, I shan't pay any more rates if my money is thrown away. — I liear that idle fellow Jack had 5s. from the parish some weeks ago, because he said his child was ill : I shan't pay my money to such like." I have already exceeded the limits prescribed by Lord Mel- bourne, but I hope to be permitted to add a few notices respect- ing the Bastardy Laws. BASTARDY LAWS. The theory of a law — the text of a law is nothing. The prac- tice of the law is the real law. It is according to the practice that men shape their actions, and according to nothing else. 392 Mr. CoweWs Report. The practice of the EngUsh law respecting bastardy is shortly this : — Whenever a woman is pregnant of a bastard child which the overseer apprehends may become chargeable on the parish, or whenever a woman applies for relief for her bastard after having given birth to it, the overseer has power to compel her to declare on oath the father, and then to compel him to pay the parish the amount of whatever order of maintenance the magistrate may make upon him. The sole object of this legislation is to save expense to the parish. The effect of it is, as might have been fore- seen, to promote bastardy ; to make want of chastity on the woman's part the shortest road to obtaining either a husband or a compe- tent maintenance ; and to encourage extortion and perjury. It would be impossible for the heart of man or demon to devise a more effective instrument for extinguishing every noble feeling in the female heart — for blighting the sweetest domestic affec- tions, and for degrading the males and females of that portion of the community connected with the receipt of parish relief, — than this truly diabolical institution. In the first place, I appeal to the experience of all overseers in rural districts, whether the instances of marriages taking place among the labouring classes, without previous pregnancy, are not so very rare as to constitute no exception to the general assertion, that " pregnancy precedes marriage." In the second place, I ask, whether marriages are not, in most instances, brought about by the threat which the woman holds out to the man of swearing the child to him if he does not marry her; and whether the power afforded to the man of sug- gesting to the woman that she may place him in this predicament is not the infallible topic of seduction and persuasion which he employs in the rare instances which require persuasion ? In the third place, I appeal to every assistant-overseer who has been any time in office, whether he has not, in his own ex- perience, known of several instances of perjury and extortion on the part of women in his own parish, and heard of many more. I proceed to give miscellaneous instances. DOWNHAM MARKET, NORFOLK. Order on the father, 2s., but depends upon the circumstances. I'iie overseers stated as follows : — " A woman refused to declare tlic father of the child of which she was jjregnant. They threatened her with imprisonment if she persevered in her contumacy-, whereupon she declared she would Bastardy Laws. 393 swear the child to one of them. This she proceeded to do. She appeared before the magistrate, and had the name of the overseer actually inserted in the order, but when the oath was tendered to her, relented. SWAFFHAM, NORFOLK. A woman in a neighbouring parish had five illegitimate child- ren, for which she was allowed lOs. per week, and Gs. for herself. Finding herself pregnant for the sixth time, she employed a man to go round to various persons with whom she might or might not have had connexion, to acquaint each of them separatelj- with the fact of her pregnancy, and of her intention of swearing the child to him unless he consented to send her a sum of money, when she would encraore to swear it to some one else. Her demands for this hush-money ranged as high as 101. in some instances. The first man to whom her ambassador applied, gave him 101. The ambassador returned, and represented to his employer that the man had laughed at her threat, but had sent her half-a- crown, out of which he thought she ought to give him l.s. 6d. for his trouble. To this she consented; so he benefited 9/. 19s., and she Is. by this first negotiation. She carried on this course with several persons with various success, and at last swore the child to a man who resisted, and on his appeal succeeded in getting the order on him quashed. The case was tried at SwatFham, where the above circumstances came to light in court. This woman was never punished. She gave birth to her child, was allowed 2s. for it by the parish, and is now in the receipt of 18s. per week, the produce of successful bastardy adventures. My informant in this and the following instance was Mr. Seweil, clerk to the mamstrates at SwafFham. A woman of Swaftham was reproached by the magistrate, Mr. Young, with the burdens she had brought upon the parish, upon the occasion of her appearing before him to present the parish with her seventh bastard. She replied, " 1 am not going to be disappointed in my company with men to save the parish." This woman now receives 14s. a week for her seven bastards, being 2s. a head for each. Mr. Seweil informed me that had she been a widow with seven legitimate children, she would not have received so much by 4s. or 5s. a week according to their scale of allowance to widows. A bastard child is thus about 25 per cent, more valuable to a parent than a legitimate one. Tlie pre- mium upon want of chastity, perjury, and extortion, is here very obvious; and Mr. Seweil informed me that it is considered a 394 Mr. Cowell's Report good speculation to marry a woman who can bring a fortune of one or two bastards to her husband. Mr. Sewell had never known in the course of his experience but two women punished for havino- illegitimate children. The profligacy in this neighbourhood is very great. WISBEACH. T witnessed the following case at the petty-session. A girl about eighteen, with a bastai'd child, was brought before the bench under the followinor circumstances. The real father was stated to be a married man, the driver of a coach, who had promised to allow the girl 4s. a week if she would swear the child to another man and not to him. This she had done, when the coachman had immediately abandoned her, and the putative father, a pedlar, could not be found. Consequently she Avas now a burden on the parish, which allowed her 2s. a week, and as she could not maintain herself on this, she would not quit the workhouse, whereupon the overseer brought her up before the bench to have her committed to prison. The girl did not deny, nor admit any part of the above story, nor did the magistrates enquire into it. They told her that if she did not quit the workhouse within a fortnight, and the overseer broucrht her up again, they would commit her for three months. The girl said she had no where to go to, having no father or mother, — that she could not leave her child under a year, so as to get her liveli- hood, and had besides no shoes and stockings, having borrowed those she had on to come to the bench. The overseer promised her two pair of stockings and a pair of shoes if she would quit the house in a fortnight ; and this bribe, reinforced by the threat of the magistrates, induced her to promise that she would go. ROYSTON. Informant Mr. Dockwra; order, 2s., — varies according to the circumstances of tlie father. Many girls have got as much as 20/. or 30/. from different youna men not to swear children to them ; has heard young men jeering one another in this way, — " Ah, you had to come down with a 5/. note, or otherwise she would liave sworn it to you." Some girls pretend to be pregnant when they are not so, to extort money, A girl, to extort money, swore a child to the clergyman's son, of whicli he proved himself not to be the father. One woman named Smith, has three children by three different fathers. She has never been punished, and the parish allows her Bastardy Laws. 395 6s, per week. Women are very rarely punished ; has only known one or two instances in his memory of the parish, Bastardy very common. HOLBEACH, LINCOLNSHIRE. Informants, the overseer and master of the workhouse. Many illegitimate children ; ten or twelve every year ; bastards increasing ; order from Is. to 25. 6d. and above, — depends on the circumstances of the father. An unmarried girl, upon leaving the Avorkhouse after her fourth confinement, said to the master, " Well, if I have the good luck to have another child, I shall draw a good sum from the parish, and with what I can earn myself, shall be better off than any married woman in the parish;" and the master added, that she had met with the good luck she hoped for, as she told him, a short time before I was at Holbeach, that she was five months gone with child. I asked him what she had for each child ? — He answered 2s. ; and that women in that neighbourhood could easily earn 5s. a week all the year through. Thus she will have 15s. a week. BASFORD, NOTTINGHAM. Population, 6325, the centre of the stocking manufactory. Informant, William Caddick, has been permanent overseer for twenty years. "Order on father, 2s., — depends on circumstances of father. If overseer says the father is rich, and apply for a larger order, magis- trates never refuse ; always give the mothers all that the parish re- ceives from the fathers ; thinks this makes women fix on rich fathers ; knows many instances of perjury, — sometimes can prove them. A case occurred yesterday. A girl, who had had two bastard children, was pregnant of a third, and swore it to a youno- man in easy circumstances. He appealed to the quarter-sessions, which yesterday decided in his favour. The child was thrown on the parish ; the man proving, by several witnesses, that the o-irl had said among her friends, that she had fixed upon him because he was rich, and the real father too poor to allow her anythino- ; and likewise that, after having sworn the child to him, she was unacquainted with him by sight, and mistook his brother for him in the presence of several persons. This girl had not been pu- nished for her two previous bastards. It is proverbial amono- aiHs and women, that they would rather their children were all bastards. 396 Mr. CowelVs Rqiort. —has often heard girls and women sdij fhat. There must be some- thino- wroniT- in the magistrates ordering a \Yoman 2s. for a bastard, when, if a poor family applies for relief, they direct the overseer to make up the earnings on the scale of Is. 3c?. for each child ; so that the poor man's children are worse off, we consider, than the bas- tards. A girl with three bastards will live better than a man working coarse stockings ; she will get 6s. for her bastards, and earn 2*. or 3s. besides, — he will only be able to earn, after clearing his expenses (viz. rent of frame, needles, seaming, &c.), 6s. per week. A widow with a legitimate child is never allowed more than Is. 6d., sometimes less, and sometimes nothing,— depends upon her earn- incrs; but a woman with bastards is sure of 2s, a week for each; — yes, even if she were earning 20s. a week. During twenty years he has been in office, magistrates would never punish a woman for having a bastard, though he has frequently applied for it. Bastardy is very much increasing in Basford : believes that one-third of all the number applying to the parish, old and young, are bastards." ST. MARY'S PARISH, NOTTINGHAM. Population, 39,500. Mr. Barnet, assistant overseer, informant. Annual average of bastard births, 70-4; and annual removals of pregnant women, 100. As the bastardy account is very heavy in this parish, amounting, upon an average, to 730?. per annum, on which the parish loses about 250?,, and sometimes more than 300?,, Mr. Barnet about four years ago introduced a new method of proceeding. The usual one is for the woman to swear the child before birth, which course the women always prefer themselves. He determined never to permit a child to be sworn till after birth, for the purpose of saving the 3?. or 41. expense, incurred in getting at and securing the father before birth, as he found this outlay fall mainly upon the parish. Since he has acted on this plan, he has been surprised at finding women continually naming and swearing their children to different fathers from those whom they named and wished to swear against before birtli ; and in these cases is convinced that they really name the true fathers after birth, and were ready to swear falsely before birth. The continual recurrence of this fact makes a strong im- pression upon him, and he accounts for it as follows : — Various motives iiilluence tliem before birth ; they wish to swear the child to a rich father, or to extort money ; they wish to spare the real father if they like him, and fix on another; they take a spite against some one, and rush to the overseer, and make him an instrument of vengeance in their hands ; but after birth, — when Bastardy Laws. 397 they are ill, — can extort nothing — have no hope of vengeance — and are serious from the dangers they have just passed, their minds are more open to the action of good principles, and they lose, besides, all hope of the overseer aiding them in marry- ing, if they fix upon an ex-parishioner, as the child, by being born, is already settled. He considers that this change has greatly diminished perjury; though, if generally introduced, it would still leave overseers open to the temptation of encouraging perjury, as they always wish women to fix on rich fathers, as the parish is thereby better secured. The order on the father varies accordino^ to his circumstances, and the parish always gives the mother all they get. This, Mr. Barnet is aware, operates as a direct premium on perjury. He has seen many instances where he has felt no conviction that the woman selected the right man, and knows of many instances of perjury. A young man courted a girl, aged seventeen, with intent to marry her; but they quarrelled. He was a journeyman, honest, industrious, and likely to do w'ell. She came to the over- seer, and wanted to swear a child to this young man. The overseer sent for him : he declared he had never had illicit connexion with her — had never suspected she was capable of incontinency, be- lievinof her above it, and would not credit that she was unchaste. However, she turned out to be with child, and, after much cross- examination, admitted that she had never had connexion with this young man ; and said that she had fixed upon him as the father, because she knew he was honest and industrious, and thouglit they would force him to marry her. Hitherto, if the father failed to pay, the parish allowed the mothers 2.v. for each bastard. They allowed widows but Is. Gd. for legitimate children, and have just lowered the allowance of the bastard's mother to the same sum ; but still, whenever the father does pay, the harlot is better off than the honest woman. Nine out of ten of the orders of removal which the parish receives are cases of bastardy. INIr. Barnet knows whole families in the town which are bastards, from generation to generation. He has observed that magistrates generally favour the mothers of bastards in their complaints against overseers. BINGHAM. Bastardy flourished in this parish in the usual way up to the year 1818. The practice was the same here as elsewhere, and the effects of course the same. In 1818, Mr. Lowe introduced a change marked by the wis- dom which characterises his other proceedings. 398 Mr. Cowells Report. For the seven years ending 1818, the average annual number of bastard births in Bingham was six; and the average annual number of marriages was thirteen and two-thirds. For the seven years ending 1824, the average annual number of bastard births was under two, and that of marriages ten. Dean, the overseer's, account is as follows : — Twelve years ago we introduced this custom : when a woman came, saying she was with child, she was taken before the magistrate in the usual way ; the sessions made the order on the father in the usual way. Then we told her she must get the money from the father herself, as we should never trouble him ; and that if she became chargeable to us, we should send her to the house of correction, and all women are invariabhj so sent. Before this we used to have five or six bastards born every year; now we have under two. These are still sworn and affiliated in the usual way ; there is no change in that respect; but if the mother applies for relief, we enforce the law, and send her to prison. So the mothers now never think of applying to the parish, but arrange with the fathers as well as they can, and maintain the children as well as they can. There are no bastards on the parish books now but one ; and this is a particular case, where the mother was ill-treated by the father. For nearly the first three years after the first example was made, there was not one bastard birth in the parish (except in the case of a woman who was an idiot) ; neither has there been any instance whatever, for the last twelve years, of any woman ever bavins' a second bastard child. Before this change there were many, — one woman had five; but at that time this parish paid as others do now, 2s. for every bastard, whether the money was obtained from the father or not. I'his method of dealing with bastardy sweeps away the motive to perjury — the power of extorting money — deprives the woman of the hope of getting a husband, or large weekly allowances by incontinency, and the man of the most powerful topic for effecting seduction ; and turns the moral sense of the poor into the right channel. All laws regarding bastardy, which contemplate the slight^est punishment on the man, have the inherent defect of encouraging what they aim at repressing. Such laws must give the woman power, cither directly or indirectly, over the man ; he will use ihat fact as a motive to induce her to yield; and she will yield because she knows she shall be able to effect his punishment if he deceives her. The man may in all cases be as guilty as the woman ; and it may seem hard or unjust to punish her, the weaker and more helpless of the two, and to suffer him to go unpunished ; but the Bastardy Laws. 399 object of penal law is to repress crime, and not to punish it. Punishment is a means to an end ; the end is the prevention of crime ; and a punishment which operates to encourage instead of to prevent crime (as is the case in bastardy when the father is punished), frustrates the very object which alone can justify one human being in inflicting pain on another. It may safely be affirmed, that the virtue of female chastity does not exist among the lower orders of England, except to a certain extent among domestic female servants, who know that they hold their situations by that tenure, and are more prudent in consequence. Among the residue, all evidence goes to prove that it is a nonentity. A daughter grows up ; she learns what her mother was; she sees what her sisters and neighbours are; finds that nobody thinks the worse of them, and that nothing is expected of herself, and that there is a short road to marriage or a mainte- nance. The English law has abolished female chastity, self-respect, proper pride, and all the charities of domestic life, derived from and connected with its existence. It has destroyed, likewise, the beneficial influence which this virtue in women reflects on the character of men. If it is considered desirable to restore it, the way is easy, and sure, and short. It is only necessary to enact that it shall be unlawful for parishes to give relief to a mother for a bastard, without sending her to prison for three or six months, and to deprive parishes of all claim on the father. By acting on a somewhat similar principle, TNIr. Whately, of Cookham, Berks, has reduced the annual bastardy births of his parish from fifteen to one. CUMBERLAND. CITY OF CARLISLE. My Lords and Gentlemen, In compliance with your letter of the 5fh December, I forward extracts from my report on Carlisle. These will show the good effects that result from the administration being con- fided to an elected select body, with paid officers to act under it. They likew ise point out a desirable change in the laws respecting the collection of the rates ; and they give instances of abuses in o-ranting an allowance to the mothers of illegitimate children : lastly, they describe a mode of farming the poor which seems peculiar to a part of the county of Cumberland. I have the honour to be. My Lords and Gentlemen, Your very obedient Servant, * J. W. Pringle. Population. Rate per £. S. d. 5071 . . 1 4 5104 .. 3 3 1448 .. 1 4 3773 . . 2 4610 .. 1 5 400 Captain Pringle's Report In submitting the following Report on the management of the poor in the city of Carlisle, I shall at the same time bring forward observations made in parishes in the adjoining districts, where they appear to come in illustration of any material point. The city of Carlisle is divided into two parishes, each of them includes also a considerable agricultural district. The total popu- lation by the last census is 20,006. These parishes are divided into sixteen townships ; but they have in several cases united for the management of their poor, as will be seen by the following table, showing the population of the districts, and the rate per £. when reduced to what is stated to be the rack-rent. Parish of St. Mary's. — District within the liberties, five Townships Caldew!i,ate, Township Rickergate, ditto Parish of St. Cuthbert. — District within, or English Street Township District without, eight Townships In Caldewgate a workhouse has lately been built, which tends temporarily to raise the rates. The management of the poor in these districts is nearly the same ; the difference in rates must arise chiefly from the nature of the population in each. St. Mary's Within is so far remarkable, that in three years from the period of the establishment of a select vestry, which took place in 1820, the rates were reduced from 6s. 6d. to 25. 2d. in the pound. This was partly accomplished by establishing a system of accounts, which are examined and closed at each meeting of the vestry ; by discontinuing relief to workmen, and making a careful investiga- tion [)revioiis to granting it to others ; and appointing an efficient person to the situation of assistant overseer and master of the workhouse, which is in good order, both as regards the house and the accounts. The person filling these two offices had previously been a pay-serjeant in the army. The work going on in the house was teazing hair ; 2 lbs. to 4 lbs. to be done as a task daily by each pauper; the value of the work one penny per lb. I may adduce Whitehaven as a similar instance of the good effects of the management being placed in the hands of an efficient committee, elected by the rate payers, with paid officers to act under it. The rates there, in 1822, when the Select Vestry was established, amounted to 4420/., and are now brought down to 2000/. The establishment of Select Vestries in rural and small town- fro7n Cumberland. 401 ships is merely nominal, inasmuch as there does not exist either means or often disposition to make them efficient. To recur, however, to St. Mary's, Carlisle. The payment of the rent of houses for paupers was at the same time discontinued in this district, and is almost so in the others. In St. Cuthbert's Within, 20Z. is still paid on this account. The rents of these houses is from 21. to 3/. 10s. each. When rents were generally paid, it w^as found that the better orders of the working classes had difficulty in getting houses, the landlords giving the preference to those tenants who were receiv- ing parochial relief. The mode of collecting the rates, adopted in St. Mary's Within, appears to be worthy of remark. The overseers, after calling twice on those rated, and demand- ing payment, give to the vestry, together with the money received, a list of the defaulters. The assistant overseer then obtains from the mao-istrates one summons for the whole, and all who cannot show sufficient cause for being excused, are then made to pay. By this means, arrears are never allowed, nor the collection of a new rate authorized until the previous one is settled. It is in the power, however, of an overseer to prevent the working of this system ; for the vestry have no authority to com- pel him to account for his collection by a given time, nor to make him furnish a list of defaulters. The advantages of a law, giving the vestry such authority over the overseer, was strongly urged, and the necessity for such a power was exemplified in the proceedings of a select vestry, which I attended, in an adjoining parish, Haytown. The over- seer there paid in 9/. " on account," but refused to furnish a list of those who had not paid, repeating, " they are good men, and will pay." In the large parish of Aldstone, another case bearing on this point w^as mentioned to me ; in the preceding year two assistant- overseers, at salaries of 40/. each, had been appointed, chiefly for the collection of the rates, which had been done from absolute necessity, as, previously, the yearly overseers would only collect and pay the money when they chose. Tlie parish also had no security, and one overseer went off last year to America with above 100^. There are three poor-houses in Carlisle ; they appear all to be well managed. The expense per head, for maintenance only, is is. Id. or \s. Sd. weekly. The diet — milk porridge for breakfast and supper ; meat and broth, with barley-bread, for dinner. The very old have white bread, and tea. The diet appears to be ample. The same cost for 2d 402 Captain Pringle's Report maintenance I found to be very general in the poor-houses of the neighbouring rural parishes. At Ai-thuret, and Aldstone, the only places where they were fed by contract, the sum was Is. Qd. per head weekly, and children under one year not charged for. At Pem'ith the expense is 2s. ; and at Milinthorpe, where there is a united poor-house for sixteen townships, 2s. bd. The latter sum beinor so much above the average of those in the neighbourhood was, I understood, owing to the interference of a gentleman of large property near it, who insisted on the pauper having many additional comforts. The general observation made by the farmers and small pro- prietors was, however, that even in those houses, where the ave- rage price was only Is. Qd. per head, the inmates were living not only better than many labourers, but even than small farmers, who were paying rates. In Kendal they had six couple in the house, each with two to fom* children ; one couple had been there five years, during which period two children had been born. In this house the cost of maintenance is 2s. lO'^d., per head, or, after deducting the earnings, Is. ll^d. These earnings arise from the weaving of coarse articles by hand-looms, a trade which is still taught the children, although worse than useless to them in after life ; inasmuch as it unfits them for husbandry labour, and hand- loom weaving is almost driven out of the market by machinery. The younger children, too, continue to be employed in making cards for the teasing of wool, a work hurtful to the eyes, and long since superseded by machinery, by which it is done both better and cheaper. In Haytown poor-house was a couple, the man lame and the woman nearly blind, who had married in that state as paupers, and now had four children. They had been during the whole period on parish relief, and had been taken into the house about twelve months, where they had a room to themselves. The children in the poor-houses of Carlisle are all taught read- ing and writing, and a few also arithmetic. The boys are apprenticed out at thirteen or fourteen, and 21. to bl. given as a premium. The girls get into service about the same age : there is a diffi- culty in finding places for the children, particularly the girls. In St. Cuthbert's, five girls above thirteen were in the house. Both boys and girls turn out fairly. Amongst the children there were nearly as many who had been deserted by their parents, as bastards and orphans. Of the tliirty-six children in the poor-house of St. Mary's, thirteen were from Cumberland. 403 bastards ; and twelve deserted by their parents. The children in the house are better clad, fed and taught than those of the same class out of it, and therefore encouragement arises to desert them. The nimiber on out-relief in Carlisle is very considerable, as may be observed by the published lists, from which the following is taken, namely, In St. Mary's within the Liberties, those on regular pen- sions, amounting to . . . . .48 In S. Mary's without the Liberties , . 74 St. Cuthbert's within, ditto . . .53 The assistant overseer of St. Cuthbert's Without having died a few days previous, and the lists not being printed, 1 could not ascertain the exact number, but comparing the amount of poor-rates, it may be taken at the same . 53 And in the small tow nships ... 30 Total . . 258 The number receiving casual relief was stated to be throughout the year about the same . . . 258 But during- the four winter months, there are double that number. Spread the relief given to these extra 258 during four months, over the whole year, and it is equal to an addition of paupers amounting to . . 86 By adding the number of paupers in the workhouses 183 And the mothers of illegitimate children . . .80 The total w ill be ... . 865 which, compared with the amount of poor's-rate, 4986/., gives about 2s. per w eek for each pauper, the officers' salaries, and the house expenses being included. The population being 20,000, the proportion is nearly one pau- per in twenty-three ; but it must be remarked that these returns do not contain all the persons actually in receipt of parish assistance, who are resident in Carlisle, a great proportion of the weavers being non-parishioners, and having an allowance from their own parishes ; but since it is not generally paid through the overseers of this city, the number cannot be easily ascertained. In referring to the printed lists, it will be observed, that out of sixty illegitimate children, the allowance from the father is only recovered for twelve ; five of the women on this list have also each two children. Punishment for bastardy appears to be very rarely inflicted, indeed only when the overseer makes such an applica- tion. Bastardy, and the litigation it causes, is referred to in this neighbourhood, in assigning reasons for the increase of the poor-rates. It seems not unusual for the daughters of the small 2d2 404 Captain Pringle's Report. farmers, or statesmen, as they are here called, (men farming their own property,) to have bastard children, and to come to the parish for an aUowance. It cannot be expected that the overseer will apply for the punish- ment of people in this station of hfe. The following extract is from a letter written by the overseer of the parish of ■ *' We at this time, in our parish, are supporting two bastard children whose mothers have landed property of their own, and would not marry the fathers of their children. " The daughters of some farmers, and even land-owners, have bastard children. These farmers and land-owners keep their daughters and children with them, and regularly keep back their poor-rate to meet the parish allowance for their daughters' bastards. We have no doubt the same grievance exists in many other parishes." I could adduce many townships where one or more cases of farmers' daughters receiving such an allowance had occurred, but shall prefer giving an extract from the letter of a clergvman of a parish more than twenty miles from that to which the above refers : — " A very different description of women have, of late years, be- come the mothers of bastard children ; formerly it was confined to the daughters of cottagers, and girls employed in farm husbandry : but of late very respectable farmers' daughters have been in that situation, and applied to have their offspring taken care of by the parish. As one plan to remedy the evil, the magistrates should impose a larger sum on the mother ; although this would not put an end to bastardy, the parish would not be so much burthened by this numerous description of mothers, as they would, in many in- stances, be kept at the expense of her parents, who, from their mode of management, are often too frequently to blame." In another parish, the clergyman said, that in one year, to seven legitimate children he had baptized nine bastards ; they were almost all of them, however, the children of women at service out of tlic parish, removed there to he in. One from Suffolk, at a great expense. It was an observation frequently made, that the custom of liiring farm servants to live in the house leads frequently to these contU!xions ; and that the certainty of an allowance of money to the mother, either from the father or from the parish, encourages it ; whilst in the south, the contrary system leads to improvident early marriages. A mode of farming the poor is common in the townships to the north and east of Carlisle, which, since it is, I believe, peculiar to from Cumherland. 405 this part of the country, I shall here notice, namely, to contract with a person for a fixed sum, who undertakes to satisfy all claims of the paupers belonging to the township. The township of Belbank, of which the population is 485, is farmed in this manner for the sum of 42^.; and Trough, population 169, for 32/. yearly. There is no poor-house belonging to these townships. Brampton, of which the population is 3330, is farmed for the sum of 656/. It has a poor-house, in which were 30 inmates, who appeared to be taken care of as well as in the generality of poor- houses ; indeed they were rather cleaner, and looked better^, than was usually found in the small poor-houses. The contract is offered by public advertisement, and the lowest tender is accepted, if the person making it be approved of at the ge- neral meeting of the rate payers called together for that object. The person taking the contract has the use of the poor-house and ground attached, where there is such an establishment ; if not, he takes the paupers whom he cannot satisfy with a small payment, into his own house. They are generally small farmers' men, who, in many cases, sit down to their meals with the paupers. This custom will cease to appear extraordinary, when it is stated to be usual for the farmer and his labourers to dine at the same table : and to give further proof of the different state of this part of the kingdom as compared with the south, I found the perpe- tual curate of a parish lodging and boarding in the house of one of these contractors. The prevalence of this system of farming will be sufficient to indicate that magisterial authority, in ordering relief, is very seldom exercised. As far as I could ascertain, the paupers, gene- rally, both on out-relief and in the poor-houses, in the townships thus farmed, were as well taken care of as in those conducted on the common system. The rates where it has been adopted are kept down as compared to the adjoining townships. The other advantages stated to result, are the saving vestry meetings and trouble to overseers ; the rendering almost all ac- counts unnecessary; the making the paupers sensible that their claims will be rigidly inquired into, and resisted, unless strong and just. As far as able-bodied and bastardy cases are concerned, there appears no objection to this system of farming. But it must be much feared that the old and infirm, who are unable to urge their claims, will often in consequence suffer. 406 Mr. TufnelVs Report HADDINGTON SHIRE. My Lords and Gentlemen, In compliance with your letter of the 5th of December, I have selected the Report of the parish of Dirleton, as it illus- trates the opposite effects of the assessing and non-assessing system. I have the honour to be^ My Lords and Gentlemen, Your obedient Servant, Temple. E. Carleton Tufnell. DIRLETON, Agricultural parish, Population 1384. This is one of the most interesting parishes I have visited, as it presents one of the very few instances that Scotland affords of the abolition of assessments. I have, consequently, thought it expedient to give a short history of its condition previous to that event. Before the year 1804, the poor of Dirleton were entirely sup- ported by the Church collections, and the interest of a small sum that had been left to their use. In fact, the money arising from these sources was occasionally beyond the demand for it, inso- much that the session found themselves at times in the possession of a residue, which they distributed among the poor of neigh- bouring parishes, a thing now, 1 believe, unheard of in any part of Scotland. The two unfavourable seasons that preceded 1804, caused a much greater application to be made to the poor's funds than before; and in this year the heritors and kirk session, unable to meet the demand by the ordinary sources of income, instead of enlarging their donations, introduced an assessment, which at first only amounted to 20/. The rate at which they increased, and their whole progress from beginning to end, will be seen in the annexed table. 1804 20 1814 1806 30 1816 1807 60 1818 1809 40 1820 1812 105 1822 It will be perceived that in the last year of their existence, they amounted to 73/. 10s. a considerable decrease on former years. £. s. 94 10 105 105 105 73 10 from Dirleton, — Scotland. 407 which, however, was not owing to any diminution of the poor, but solely to a decrease in the price of provisions, which took place in that year. The truth of this will be shown by reference to " Cleland's Statistics," which give the corn prices in Scotland for a series of years. It is to be observed, that the year after the assessments were begun, the difficulties that had caused their introduction ceased, but an increased demand for relief had been created by this pro- cedure, and could not be kept down, consequently, the rates went on increasing, till they had reached five times their original amount. In the mean time the condition of the poor, so far from being improved from the sums spent on them, was rapidly deteriorating. " We are prepared to state, on the authority of the father of the session, who has administered under both systems, that to his knowledge and belief, there has been decidedly more discomfort and- discontent among the objects of parochial aid since the introduction of assessments than formerly existed. In point of fact, it was notorious that a work of mischief was going forward. We felt convinced that the wants of the poor increased in the direct ratio to the augmentation of the means of supplying them. We saw an exasperated state of feeling burst- ing forth from high-raised and disappointed expectations, where formerly there would have been nothing but sentiments of gra- titude *." In this state of things every moral means were taken to allay the evil, a parochial library of religious books for gra- tuitous circulation was set on foot, a friendly society was esta- blished, as also a savings' bank, and both were attended with the greatest success. All these measures, however, though doubtless they had their utility, failed of the desired end, and it was determined to take some more effectual course. A meeting of the heritors and tenants was called, and after some deliberation, they decided on the bold step of at once abolishing assessments. At the same time they agreed to increase considerably their church donations, without which the change could not have been so rapidly made ; this, with an intimation from the pulpit of the new arrangements, caused an instantaneous augmentation in the collections, which have ever since supplied the place of assessments. * This is an extract from a book published by the Rev. Mr. Stark, the minister at Dirleton, entitled, " Considerations addi-essedto the Heritors and Kirk-Sessions of Scotland," from which part of this account is taken. To his untiring perseverance and excellent management, Dhleton is cliielly indebted for the improvement that has taken place in the condition of its poor. 403 Mr. TiifnelVs Report The change excited considerable clamour among the poor, who thought themselves robbed of their rights ; and the minister, the Rev. Mr. Stark, ^vho was the principal adviser of the mea- sure, had to bear much odium on that account ; it was, however, persisted in, and the result is given in the adjoining table. Comparative Statement of the Receipts and Disbursements to the Poor in the Parish of Dirleton for the years 1821 and 1831 respectively. 1821. Dr. £. *. d. 1821. Jan. 1. Balance 1 6 Assessment received . 97 18 6 Collections ditto 21 8 4 Int. of mortified money 44 l.S Mort. cloth money 2 11 8 Total of Poor Funds 167 12 1821. Cr. Paid to the poor on the roll 124 5 Paid legacies, per deed . 2 10 Casual poor and house-rents 11 16 Paid for coals Paid for educating poor ^^ scholars . . 3 Paid for book to ditto . Paid Clerk's salary Paid Beadle's ditto, and fees Paid Presbytery and Sy- | nod's dues . .J 1821. Dec. 31, Balance in hand . 4 7 1 5 3 14 1 6 d. 1 10 1 3 6 15 10 £167 12 1831. Dr. 1831. Jan. 1. Balance Collections Mort cloth money Paupers' eflt'cts sold Int. of money s. d. 35 9 lOG 19 4 2 9 44 11 9t 8 10 Total of Poor's Fund £193 1831. Cr. £. Paid to the Poor on the Roll, including three Lunatics 114 Paid Legacies Casual Poor and house rents For coals For educating poor scholars For books for ditto Clerk's salary Beadle's ditto . Presbytery and Synod's dues Incidental , 1831. Dec. 31. Balance in hand 20 13 6 1 5 3 1 16 10 o .5 5 1 3 11 d. 04 8 6 4 25 8 11 £193 2i Comparison between the years 1821 and 1831. Years. 1821. Population. 1315 No. of Paupers 36 Lunatics. 1 Collections. £. s. d. 21 8 4 Assessments. £. 100 1831. 1384 26 3 106 19 9^ none. The chief point to observe in this table is the diminution of paupers from thirty-six in 1821, to twenty-six in 1831, though the population has simultaneously increased. Still, however, this result from Dirleton, — Scotland. 409 of the non-assessing system is less favourable than it would other- wise appear, as 1831 happened to be a year of peculiar hardship to the parish, owing to a great deal of sickness among the poor. At the present moment the expenditure is considerably reduced, and the accounts of this year will exhibit the advantages of the pre- sent system of management in a greatly more favourable light. The increase of the church collections from 21^. to 106^. is also very remarkable. Population. Number of Poor. Amount of Assessments. Church CoUections. No. of Persons to one Pauper. Dirleton . . . 1384 26 £. none. £. s. 106 19 53 rVo Haddington. 5883 153 850 44 38 ,V5 Tranent .... 3620 90 400 13 40 T% The annexed table is given in order to contrast the condition of Dirleton with that of the two neighbouring parishes of Had- dington and Tranent, The effect, however, of the non-assess- ing system cannot at present be fairly seen, nor is it likely to be, so long as the places in the vicinity persist in following the an- cient practice of assessment. The present success of it has been obtained under every adverse circumstance, under all the diffi- culties of a new project, without the assistance or countenance of any neighbouring parishes, and with all the effects of their evil example to contend with. What might be the result in Dirleton, were it supported by the practice of its neighbours, can only be conjectured ; as it is, I was assured, that an improved moral change has already been wrought in the habits of the population. The diminution of paupers has been mentioned ; the friendly society, which before the abolition of assessments numbered eighty-six members, has increased to one hundred and twenty; though the times have been at least as hard since ; there are far fewer applications for relief, less clamour and discontent among the poor, and greatly diminished trouble in managing them. The result would have been more marked, had a similar treatment been adopted with the neighbouring poor. It may possibly be objected that the table of expenses for the years 1821 and 1831 proves little in favour of the new system, since subtracting in each year the sums paid for lunatics who cannot strictly be termed paupers, as no management can either increase or diminish their numbers, the money expended in 1821 for the regular and casual poor amounted to 1331. Is., find in 1831, to 115^. 3s., a diminution of only 111. 18s. It has 410 Mr. TufneWs Report. been already stated that 1831 was a year of unusual difficulty, owing to the prevalence of disease, and this explains why the saving has not been greater; the result this year will be very different. But the excellence of the non-assessing system must not be judged of from this test. It is not to save the pockets of the rich, but the principles and morals of the poor, that this sys- tem is introduced ; its invariable effect is to diminish the poor- rates, but this is of infinitely minor importance in comparison with the moral change it produces in the habits of the poorer classes. This change has been begun and is in progress in Dirle- ton; and though the expenses were even increased by the new management, the inhabitant would think it a cheap purchase, when the return is the increased industry and morality of the labourers. I have not met with more than one parish in Scotland, where the assessments could be felt as a real burthen ; the ex- penses and other evils of English pauperism are at present only in prospect. Therefore, the saving of money can never be an object with those who either oppose the introduction or desire the extinction of assessments in this part of the kingdom. In Dirle- ton, many persons now give voluntarily, more than they formerly were compelled to pay legally, towards the support of the poor, others again give less, and some little or nothing. But the minister was by no means desirous that each person should give in proportion to his wealth, as the apportioning to each heritor his due share of what was required would have the semblance of compulsion, and in fact would differ little from an actual assessment, and this the poor are quick enough to find out. As it is, they see that the donations are purely voluntary, and con- sequently are less eager to press their claims on a fund, whose existence depends on the kindness of their superiors, and re- ceive relief less as a matter of right, than as the effect of the consideration and benevolence of the givers. APPENDIX. INSTRUCTIONS FROM THE CENTRAL BOARD OF POOR-LAW COMMISSIONERS TO ASSISTANT COMMISSIONERS. INSTRUCTIONS. The Central Commissioners are directed by His Majesty's Commission to make a diligent and full inquiry into the practical operation of the laws for the relief of the poor in England and Wales, and into the manner in which those laws are administered, and to report whether any, and what, alterations, amendments, or improvements may be beneficially made in the said laws, or in the manner of administering them ; and how the same may be best carried into effect. This extensive inquiry may be conveniently divided into four heads : — I. The form in which parochial relief is given. II. The persons to whom it is given. III. The persons by whom it is awarded. IV. The persons at whose expense it is given. It is probable that this inquiry will suggest considerable alterations in the existing law ; and it is also probable that those alterations may be facilitated by some further measures, such as — V. Affording facilities for emigration. VI. Facilitating the occupation, and even the acquisition of land by labourers. VII. Removing the tax on servants, so far as it is found to interfere with iheir residence under their employers' roof. VIII. Improving the rural police. On these points there is already much information before the public, and much more may be expected from the replies to the queries circu- lated by the commissioners. Those replies must, however, in general, be imperfect, from the absence of details and vouchers as to matters of fact, and of reasons where opinions are stated. There is no comparison between the information afforded by them to the central commissioners, and that which could be obtained if it were in their power to sift the facts and the opinions contained in the different replies by the inspec- tion of documents and cross-examination of witnesses ; if they could ascertain the state of the poor by personal inquiry among them, and the administration of the poor-laws, by being present at vestries and at the sessions of magistrates. As the constitution of the Central Board renders it impossible that 412 Appendix. these offices can be adequately performed by them in person, it is pro- posed that they should be executed by assistant commissioners. The duty of an assistant commissioner will be, to proceed to the district, which will be indicated to him by the Board, taking with him whatever replies may have been returned from that district, and sets of blank queries for distribution. He will also be furnished with letters from the Home Department, which he can direct and deliver as he may find it expedient, requesting assistance in his inquiries. He will communicate with the clergy, magistrates, and parish officers, deliver the printed queries to those who have not received them, and arrange the times and places of meeting at which the replies already given, or to be given, are to be explained, and the parish books and other vouchers produced. The inspection of these documents will enable him to judge of the correctness of the replies, and probably offer him subjects of further inquiry. An investigation into all the circumstances connected with a single entry may give him a better insight into the actual management of a parish than could have been derived from any voluntary state- ments. He will endeavour, as far as possible, to be present at vestry meetings, and at the petty sessions of magistrates. He will keep a full daily journal of his proceedings, and give to the Central Board, at least once a week, a sketch of his proceedings. The commissioners wish to leave it in the discretion of each assistant com- missioner, either to make one final report at the termination of his labours, or distinct reports, from time to time, as soon as he has suffi- cient materials, but they would much prefer the latter course where it is practicable. The urgency of the questions submitted to the Central Commissioners is such, that it is highly desirable that they should make their report to his Majesty before the commencement of the next session of parlia- ment. And as the reports which they will receive from the assistant commissioners may be expected to form the most valuable part of their materials, it is important that they should all be received before the end oi' November^ A much larger district has been assigned to each assistant cointnissioner than would have been expedient, if it had not been necessary to reduce, as far as it may be practicable, the number of their reports, and the expenses of the commission. It will be impos- sible, thereibre, that each assistant commissioner should make a full, or even a cursory inquiry into the circumstances of each parish within his district, or even, in those parishes which he selects for observation, into all the subjects of inquiry which will be pointed out. He must use his own discretion as to the places which appear to be most deserving of investigation, and as to the points of inquiry which may be most suc- cessfully investigated in each particular parish: dwelling principally on those facts from which some general inference may be drawn, and wliicli form the rule rather than the exception. And as it is under- stood that, although his time, like that of the other commissioners, is to lie affi)rded gratuitously, his ex])enses are to be borne by the public, he will endeavour so to arrange his proceedings, as to render those Appendix. 413 expenses as moderate as may be consistent with the full performance of his duties. Such is the outline of the general duties of an assistant commissioner. The following instructions are intended to point out the specific points of inquiry which appear to the commissioners to be the most material. They have been arranged, as far as it was practicable, under the heads into which the subject has already been divided. But it has been found impossible to keep the first and second heads distinct. I. THE FORM IN WHICH RELIEF IS GIVEN. The form in which relief is given must be either in kind or in money. 1. Relief in Kind. Relief, when given in kind, is generally given in a parochial or in- cor]jorated poorhouse, workhouse, or house of industry ; or by affording medical assistance, or lodging, or land. The assistant commissioner will inquire whether the parish, which is the subject of his inquiries, possesses or has the use of a workhouse, poorhouse, or house of industry, either confined to its own poor, or in common with any other parish or parishes. Where the parish possesses or has the use of such an establishment, he will endeavour to obtain answers, as full and as particular as possible, to Questions 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, and 20, of the town queries. He will also inquire whether the house possesses any garden or farm, and the use to which it is applied ; and whether any scliool is attached to it, or any place where children are kept apart from its other inmates, and their religious and moral education attended to. He will endeavour to ascertain whether any means are adopted to prevent residence in the house from being an object of desire or indifference to the able-bodied poor, either by forced employment, restrictions on leav- ing it, separation of the sexes, prohibition of fermented liquors and tobacco, or by any other expedients, and the success of those measures. If no such measures are adopted, he will inquire into the causes and the consequences of their omission ; and whether there is any and what class of persons who actually oppose, or may be expected to oppose, their introduction or enforcement. If such an establishment has been recently made, or enlarged, or discontinued, he will ascertain what have been the results : he will compare the condition of those parishes which do, and those which do not, give relief out of the house : he will inquire into the management and eflects of incorporated or hundred houses, as compared with parochial establishments, and ascertain whether, in any cases in which workhouses would be desir- able, the smallness of the parish forms the obstacle to their being established; and whether the rate-payers are acquainted with the con- ditions under which parishes can now unite to form workhouses, or would be likely to avail themselves of any additional facilities that might be given for forming united workhouses, or houses of industry, to the expense of which parishes might contribute in proportion to the 414 Appendix. number of paupers they might severally send to them : and he will cJect facts ^andopiuions as to the practicability and expediency of an enactment prohibiting, with any and what exceptions, relief to the able-bodied out of the workhouse or poorhouse m any parish possess- in"- or havina: the use of, such an establishment. Where relief is o-iven, bv affording medical attendance, he will mquire v\hether that relief is confined to the inmates of the workhouse, or is extended to any, and what, other class of persons, and what has been the average yearly expense of supplying it during the last three years If a contract is made with the medical attendant, whether that contract includes the paupers, either casual or resident, who have settlements elsewhere ; and, if it does not include them, what is the difference be- tween the sums charged for their treatment, and those charged tor tne treatment of the settled paupers. _ Where relief is given, by providing lodering, he will inquire whether this is effected by means of houses belonging to the parish, or by pay- ment of rent on the pauper's behalf: and, where the latter practice exists, he will inquire into its effects on the rent of the apartments or cottages inhabited by the poor. The remarks respecting relief in land will be found in page 424. 2. Relief ill Money. The questions concerning relief in money are so mixed up with those which respect the relief of the able-bodied, that it will be advisable to consider them under that head. II. THE PERSONS TO WHOM RELIEF IS GIVEN. The persons to whom relief is given may be divided into the impo- tent and the able-bodied. 1. The Impotent. Under this head are comprised all those who are prevented by disease of body or mind, by old age, or by infancy, from earning a part or the whole of their subsistence. The natural fund for the support of the legitimate children of the able-bodied is their parents' earnings. Paro- chial relief, when afforded to them, is afforded virtually to their parents. It is to be considered, therefore, under the head of relief to the able- bodied. The impotent may, therefore, be divided into the diseased, the aged, and orphan and deserted children : to whom may be added, as the law is now administered, bastards ; since the putative father, though he may be forced to contribute towards their support, never possesses the full rights or is subject to the full obligations of a father, and more freciueiitly avoids both. The assistant commissioner will inquire what provision is made for lunatics and idiots ; and into the amount and the degree of relief afforded to the diseased and the aged, and to orphan children ; and particularly how far the clause of the 43d of Elizabeth, which directs the grandfather and father, grandmother and mother, Appendix. 415 and children of every poor, old, blind, lame, and impotent person, or other poor person not able to work, to be assessed to the support of every such poor person, is put in force ; and, if not put in force, what are the obstacles to its enforcement. He will inquire into the treatment of children deserted by their father; and how far that crime appears to be encouraged by the father's reliance on their being maintamed, in his absence, by the parish. He will ascertain the practice of the parish in the apprenticing of poor children ; inquiring to what class of j)ersons they are apprenticed, and whether such persons take them voluntarily or by compulsion ; and, if the latter, according to what principle they are distributed : whether any, and what care is taken to see that they are well treated and taught ; and whether there are any grounds for supposing that a power to bind for less than seven years would be expedient. He will consider the law and practice concerning bastardy as one of the most important subjects submitted to his investigation. The bas- tardy laws appear to produce effects very different from what may have been supposed to have been the objects of their institution. The sum charged on the father appears to have been intended merely as an indemnification to the parish. It often operates, however, as a punish- ment to the father, a pecuniary reward to the mother, and a means by which the woman obtains a husband, and her parish rids itself of a parishioner. It appears that the sum varies from Is. to 2s. 6d. a week in country-places, and 5s. in towns ; that it is frequently sufficient to repay the woman for the loss which her misconduct would otherwise have occasioned to her ; and if she have more than one bastard, to be a source of emolument. The commissioner will endeavour to ascertain the practice of each parish in bastardy cases, and its effects on the morals of the inhabitants, both male and female, and on the increase of population; and to collect opinions in answer to the Questions 2, 3, and 4, of Queries No. 2. And with reference to the degree in which the public provision for sickness and old age interferes with the exercise of prudence, he will inquire whether the parish has any savings bank, or friendly or benefit societies, to which the labourers are contributors ; and the average amount of each labourer's annual contribution : and if that amount appears to be increasing or diminishing, he will endeavour to ascer- tain the causes of such increase or diminution. And he will collect facts and opinions as to the expediency and practicability of; any further legislative measures for the promotion or regulation of such institutions. 2. The Able-bodied. The able-bodied may be divided into the single and the married ; and, again, as a cross division, into the employed and the unemployed : and the employed may be divided into those employed on account of the parish, and those employed by individuals. The practice with respect to the relief of the able-bodied varies much 416 Appendix. in different parishes. In some, it is absolutely refused ; in others, it is confined to the married; in others, to those who have one or more children. In some, it is given only in kind ; in others, in money. When* given in money, it is generally effected in one of the five fol- lowing modes : — i • u * 1st, By the parish giving to those who profess to be without em- ployment a daily or weekly sum, without requiring from the applicants any work at all. The commissioners have heard of unemployed able- bodied young men receiving 2s. 6rf. a week from the parish, on condi- tion of their giving no further trouble. 2d, By the parish employing and paying the applicants for relief. 3d, By the parish paying the occupiers of property, to employ the applicants for relief at a rate of wages fixed by the parish, and depending not on the services, but on the wants, of the applicants ; the employer being repaid all that he advances beyond a certain sum. This is the roundsman, or billet, or ticket system. On this plan the pauper receives in general a ticket from the overseer, directing him to apply to a given farmer, and to work for him a day at a certain sum ; generally, about Is. if a single man; \s.3d. if married, without a family; 'is. 6d. if he have a wife and one child; and so on. The value of his services is charged by the parish to the farmer, at a sum sometimes as low as 2d. a day ; and all that the farmer has paid be- yond that estimated value is repaid to him out of the rates. 4th, By an agreement among the rate-payers, that each of them shall employ and pay out of his own money a certain number of labourers, in proportion not to his real demand for labour, but according to his rental, or to his contribution to the rates, or to the number of horses that he keeps for tillage, or to the number of acres that he occupies, or according to some other scale. Where such an agreement exists, it is generally enforced by an additional rate imposed, by general consent, on those who do not employ their full proportion. This may be called the labour-rate system. 5th, By the parish allowing to the labourers who are employed by individuals, relief in aid of their wages. In some places this is given only occasionally, or to meet occasional wants ; to buy, for instance, a coat or a pair of shoes, or to pay the rent of a cottage. In other places, it is considered that a certain weekly sum, or more frequently the value of a certain quantity of flour or bread, is to be received by each memlicr of a family. The amount of a man's earnings (those of his wife :ui(l children are seldom inquired into) is ascertained, or at leiist professed, or att(!mpted, to be ascertained ; and the deficiency, if any, paid by the parish. In other places no such inquiry is made after there are a given number of children, beginning sometimes at one, sometimes at two, sometimes at three, and sometimes at four; but a certain sum, or the price of a given quantity of (lour or bread, is given to tlie father for each cliild above the specified number, whatever may be the amount of his earnings. The word " allowance" is sometimes used as comprehending all parochial relief afforded to those who are employed by individuals at the average wages of the district. But Appendix. 417 sometimes this term is confined to the relief which a person so em- ployed obtains on account of his children : any relief which he may obtain on his own account beinij termed " payment of wages out of rates." It will be the duty of the assistant commissioner to ascertain how far any one or more of these practices may prevail, or may have pre- vailed, in a parish. Where relief is given to able-bodied persons absolutely unemployed, he will inquire whether the parish adopts this system merely to save trouble, or to save expense, either because a person when in employment requires a more costly diet, or because the value of his labour would not be equal to the cost of tools and materials. Where labour is professed to be required in return for relief, he will inquire into the nature of the employment, whether it is paid for by the day or by the piece, the amount of payment for a given amount of labour, the variation of payment according to age, sex, celibacy, or number of children, the superintendence by which the amount of labour exerted is ascertained, and the value of the produce after deducting the expense of tools and materials. And he will com- pare the amount of work done, and of money received, by persons so employed by the parish, with the work which would have been exacted from the same persons, and the wages which would have been paid to them, if they had been employed by individuals. Places have bee^i mentioned, where a man with a wife might have the choice of receiv- ing 6s. a week from the parish for doing nothing, or 7s. 6d. from the parish for almost nominal work, from eight in the morning till three in the afternoon, or 9s. from a farmer for hard work during the regular hours of labour. The assistant commissioner will endeavour to ascertain the time at which the relief of the able-bodied originated in any parish; whether it is increasing, stationary, or diminishing, or has ceased ; and the causes and results of its origin, increase, continuance, diminution, or termination. Whether it arose in consequence of any sudden increase in the price of the necessaries of life, or any sudden diminution of the demand for labour, or any sudden increase in the number of labourers, or a desire to reduce the wages of men single, or with small families, or to throw on those who employ few labourers a part of the wages of those emploved by others, or the interference of magistrates or imitation of neighbouring parishes. He will also inquire into its effects on the industry, habits and character of the labourer, the increase of population, the rate of wages, the profits of farming, the increase or diminution of farming capital, and the rent and improve- ment of land. He will particularly inquire into the eti'ects of the labour-rate system on grass lands, and on small farms, particularly when farmed by their proprietors, and on shopkeepers, and the owners of tithes, and others having a small demand lor labo-ur. And he will endeavour to ascertain whether any or all of these effects have occa- sioned such a rate of wages, or such a deficiency of profitable employ- ment in proportion to the existing population, as to occasion any, and what, ditiiculty iu its discontinuance ; und by what class of persons, 2 t: 418 Appendix. and by what means its discontinuance is likely to be opposed. Where the difficulty appears to arise from a local redundancy of population, he will carefully distinguish between those cases of redundant popula- tion in which there are more labourers than could be profitably em- ployed at the existing prices of produce, although the labourers were intelligent and industrious, and the farmers wealthy, and those in which the redundancy is occasioned either by the want of capital among the farmers, or by the indolence or unskilful habits of the labourers. Where the redundancy is of the former description, he will endeavour to ascertain how far it has been occasioned by the stimulus applied to population by the relief of the able-bodied ; and for that ])urpose inquire into the frequency of marriages where the husband at the time, or shortly before or after the time, of the marriage, was in the receipt of parish relief, and into the proportion of the number of such marriages to those of independent labourers ; and compare the average age of marriage among paupers and among independent labourers. And, with a view to ascertain the effects of the relief of the able- bodied on the character of the labourers, he will inquire as to any dif- ference in character between those who have and those who have not settlements in the parish. He will, of course, give particular attention to those cases in which the practice has been diminished or discontinued ; to the class of persons by whom, and the means by which, such dimi- nution or discontinuance has been effected ; and to the class of per- sons by whom, and the means by which, that diminution or discon- tinuance has been resisted ; and to the etfects of such diminution or discontinuance on the industry, habits and character of the labourer, the increase of population, the rate of wages, the profits of farming, the increase or diminution of agricultural capital, and the rent and improvement of land ; and he will particularly inquire whether such diminution or discontinuance has in any, and what, degree been effected by executing, as nearly as possible, that part of the 43d of Elizabeth which directs the parish officers " to set to work the children of all such whose parents shall not be thought able to keep and maintain them," by feeding and employing such children, and refusing all other relief to the father. III. THE PERSONS BY WHOM RELIEF IS AWARDED. The persons by whom relief is awarded are — 1. The overseers. 2. The vestry, either general or select, or their officers other than the overseers. 3. Tlie magistrates. 1. Overseers. In most parishes the overseers are annual officers, compelled to serve in rotation. It appears probable that such agents will be pre- vented by their other avocations from giving the time necessary to the vigilant and effectual performance of their duties ; that neither dili- gence nor zeal are to be expected from persons on whom a disagree- Appendix. 419 able anrl unpaid office has been forced ; and that, even when zealous and diligent, they will often fail from want of experience and skill. To these sources of mal-administralion may be added the danger of the parochial fund being- misapplied, either in the way of actual em- bezzlement, or, what is more frequent, through partiality and favour- itism to the relations, friends, dependants, customers, or debtors of the overseer, or through the desire of general popularity, or through the fear of general unpopularity, or of the hostility of particular individuals. The evils arising from the want of zeal, diligence and experience, have been attempted to be remedied by the appointment of permanent assistant overseers with a salary : the degree in which this attempt has been successful is an important subject of investigation. The assistant commissioner will inquire what have been the professions or trades of the overseers in the parish during the last ten years, the periods at which they came into office, and their usual period of service. Where an assistant overseer has been appointed, he will inquire as to the effects, and where one has been discontinued, into the causes and con- sequences of such discontinuance. He will inquire how far the overseers or assistant overseers are competent judges of the work exacted from the paupers employed by the parish, particularly when that work con- sists, as is generally the case, of work on the road. He will inquire whether they unite to the office of overseer that of stone warden, or way warden, or surveyor of the roads ; and if they do not, into the obstacles to the union of those offices with that of overseer, and into the incon- veniences which arise from their separation. He will inquire into the mode in which the accounts of the parish are kept, audited and pub- lished ; and he will collect facts and opinions as to the propriety of their being kept under distinct, and what, heads of expenditure ; as to their being balanced and audited at more frequent, and what, periods ; by whom they should be audited, and whether any advantage would arise from their being periodically printed, with the names of those who have been relieved, the amount, and the grounds of relief, and as to the possibility of enforcing such measures by enactment. He will endeavour to ascertain in each parish how far the parochial funds appear to have been profusely or improperly applied, in consequence of all or any of the causes of mal-administration which have been adverted to. He will compare, on these points, the state of towns with that of villages, and of small with that of large parishes ; and will collect facts and opinions as to the effects that might be expected from the union or the subdivision of parishes, and from any change in the selection, and time ut service, of unpaid and of salaried overseers. 2. Vestries. So far as magistrates do not interfere, the superintendence of a parish devolves principally on the vestry. The assistant-commissioner will ascertain in each parish whether the vestry is open or select, either under the 59th George HI., cap. 12 (commonly called Mr. Sturges Bourne's Act), or any local Act. He will inquire into its periods of 2e2 420 Appendix. meeting;, the number of persons who usually attend, and their profes- sions and trades; inquiring particularly how many of them are em- ployers of labourers, landlords of cottan^es, or keepers of shops fre- quented by the poor; and how many of them, beinn- farmers, farm their own property, or hold under leases, or from year to year, or at will. He will inquire what degreeof authority or influence they exert over the parish officers. Where a select vestry has been established, he will as- certain what have been its effects ; and where one has been discontinued, into the causes and consequences of its discontinuance. He will collect facts and opinions as to the practicability and the probable effects of allowing' a landlord, though not rated, to vote in the vestry, in person or by proxy ; and if so allowed, what influence should be given to his vote, compared with that of the tenant, and how far that influence ought to depend on the amount of his property. Recollecting that, in the few cases mentioned in the parliamentary evidence of extensive reforms effected in country parishes, those reforms generally appear to have been effected by the clergyman, he will particularly inquire in each parish what part the clergyman takes in the proceedings of the vestry. And with reference to the twenty-fifth question of Queries, No. 2., he will endeavour to ascertain whether, if the decision of the vestry, or select vestry, in matters of relief were made final, the vestry would be more likely to err by general profuseness, or by general niggardliness, or by partiality arising from any of the causes which have been pointed out as likely to occasion it to occur on the part of overseers. 3. Magintrates. Great difTerence appears to exist in the degree in w'hich magistrates in different districts interfere with the management of the poor. In some places they appear to act as if the property of the rate-payers were an unlimited fund, to be drawn upon by the magistrates as the stewards for the paupers ; in others, they appear to consider the overseers, or the vestry, as the proper distributers of parochial charity, and interfere, if at all, only in favour of the impotent. It is probable that something between these two lines of conduct is the usual course, leaning towards the former in the worst administered rural districts, and towards the latter in the towns and the more prosperous parts of the country. This is a subject requiring the particular attention of the assistant-commissioner. Where he finds much interference, lie will incjuire whether the magistrates, who are most active or ready in such interference, are or are not resident within the parish in whose con- cerns they interfere, or within what distance ; whether they contribute to its rates, and attend its vestries ; whether any and what profit arises to their clerks from summonses and orders. Where there are, or have ])een, select vestries, he will incpiire how far the magistrates make orders for relief, without its having been previously proved on oath that application has been made to the vestry, and relief refused. He will inquire generally, whether they pay any and what attention to the cluiractcr of the a|)plicant, and tlie causes of his distress. He will compare the parishes in which the interference of magistrates is fre- Aiipendir, 421 quent, with those in v.'hich it is sparingly exercised, as to tlie compa- rative industry, habits, and character of the labourers, the increase of population, the rate of wages, the profits of farming, the increase or diminution of agricultural capital, and the rent and improvement of land. He will collect facts and opinions as to the practicability and expediency of exonerating the magistrates, wholly or partially, from their jurisdiction with respect to relief; and as to the means by which any enactment for that purpose could be made etfectual; and he will endeavour to collect facts and opinions as to the practicability and. expediency of appointing and paying persons having, for that special purpose, magisterial authority, subject to a strict superintendence, and removable in case of unfitness, and either itinerant or stationary, to perform, in the administration of the poor-laws, all or some part of the duties now imposed on the local magistracy. IV. THE PERSONS AT WHOSE EXPENSE RELIEF IS GIVEN. The persons at whose expense parochial relief is afforded, are those rated to the poor in the parish or township from which the jKiuper is entitled to relief, either by settlement or as a casual pauper. This sub- ject may be considered under two heads — 1. The mode in which the rate is assessed and collected. 2. The means by which a person, being an object of relief, acquires a claim to relief from a given parish or township. 1. Assessment and Collection. The assistant commissioner will inquire in each parish whether the assessment is considered as fair ; and if complained of as unfair, what would be the expense of enlbrcing a new assessment ; and he will collect opinions as to the means of reducing that expense. He will inquire whether there are any, and what, houses or lands exempted from assessment, or from which the sums assessed are not actually collected. In some parishes every tenement is rated, and the payment is uniformly enforced ; and it appears, from the evidence already before the Commissioners, that in such places the poor act as checks upon one another, and that improper application for relief is often pre- vented by the unpopularity of the attempt to increase a burthen in which all immediately participate, and is often rendered unsuccessful by being denounced to the parochial officers. In other places the rates are collected from the poor only when non-parishioners ; a practice which not onlv abandons the advantage of making the labouring class feel the pressure of the rate, but adds one more to the numerous im- pediments opposed by the law of settlement to the free circulation of labour. It must be added, that in many places, particularly in the neighbourhood of towns, and where rents are paid by the parish, a class of persons has arisen who speculate in cottages, and in letting apartments to the poor; and, since it has been discovered that the poor are willing and able to pay high rents for small portions of land, speculation will probably take that direction also, and persons will be 422 Appendix. found to purchase a field or two, to be divided into slips, and let to labourers. The practice of e'^^empting small tenements from rates is very favourable to both these speculations, as it enables the proprietor to increase the rent by the amount of rate remitted, and to be the owner of houses and lands, and yet escape the principal burthens to which such property is subjected. The assistant commissioner will inquire in each parish what persons are the occupiers and owners of those properties which are not assessed to the poor-rate, or from which the rates are not actually collected. What is their ability and rank in life ; and whether they are members of the vestry, or have any means of influencinj? its decisions ; and how far, and with what effect, the 19th section of Mr. Sturges Bourne's Act, which enables the proprietors of certain dwellings to be rated, has been acted on ; and he will collect facts and opinions as to the pro- priety of an enactment, making- it imperative with respect to tenements not exceeding a given, and what, annual value, or occupied by a given number or class of persons, to charge the proprietors either instead of the occupiers, or, which probably would be better, on their default of payment. 2- ^t person acquires a claim to relief from a given parish, either as ^ casual pauper, or as having a settlement in that parish. 1st, Casual Paupers. — The assistant commissioner will inquire in each parish what has been the expense of casual paupers during the last three years : what proportion it has borne to that of the settled paupers : how much of that expense has been recovered from other parishes, and what proportion has been incurred on account of Scotch or Irish poor ; and whether there are any and what number of casual paupers who have become virtually settled in the parish, from their having no known place of settlement to which they might be re- moved. 2dly, Settled paupers. — The possibility of acquiring, and conse- quently of losing a settlement by hiring and service, apprenticeship, renting and purchasing a tenement, and serving a parish office, appears often to occasion transactions, into which men have entered with very different views, to produce important and unforeseen effects on their own welfare, and on that of others ; and it also occasions acts to be forborne or done, in order to prevent or to produce consequences which have no natural connexion with those acts. It appears, from the replies to question 5, (Queries, No. 2.) that the fear of giving a settle- ment by hiring and service has a tendency to prevent steady employ- ment ; the labourer, in those cases in which he might otherwise have been hired for an indefinite period, or by the year, being hired for fifty-one weeks, and the service, if renewed, being renewed after a week's interval — an interval generally spent in idleness and dissipation. Cases have also been mentioned, where a person has hired for a year those among the labourers settled in his parish, whom he most wished to get rid of, and settled them in some other parish, by keeping them there during the last forty days of the year, and then dismissing them. "Where the rents of cottages are paid by the parish, the landlords of Appendix. 423 cottanes have taken apprentices for the express purpose of giving them settlements, in order that they might in time become their tenants. Threats have been held out in other places, that if cottages were rated, the rents should be raised to 10/. a year (of course collusively), and the parish punished by their being' let to out-parishioners. On the other hand, it iias been urged that, if all these modes of acquiring a settlement are abolished, villages may be seriously injured by the return, in old age and infirmity, of those who have left them in youth and vigour ; and that the paupers may suffer, by being removed from their acquired friends, to places in which they have become strangers. Settlement by residence has been proposed as an answer to these objections; but this again might perhaps be made the source of much fraud and oppression. There are country parishes in which every cottage has been pulled down, so that all the work is done by labourers who are legally resident in some adjoining parish. The assistant commissioner will endeavour to ascertain the amount and nature of the inconveniences arising from each of the existing modes of acquiring a settlement ; and inquire into the probable con- sequences, both immediate and ultimate, of abolishing any one or more of them, and substituting any, and what, other sources of settlement in their room. And he will particularly inquire, in each parish, what number of Irish or Scotch adults, or young children of Irish or Scotch fathers, have acquired settlements there within the last five years, and under what heads of settlement. The four other subjects to which allusion has been made, — emigra- tion, the acquisition of land by labourers, taxation on domestic servants, and rural police, though not strictly within the province of the com- missioners, are too much connected with it to be left out of their con- sideration. Emigration, indeed, and amendment of the poor-laws, must, for any useful purpose, be united. To attempt to diminish popu- lation by removing a portion of the people, and yet leaving in full force the most powerful machinery that ever was applied to their increase, is to attempt to exhaust, by continual pmiiping, the waters of a per- petual fountain. And, at the same time, it appears essential to any material change in the poor-laws, that the local superabundance created or perpetuated by those laws should be drawn off. V. EMIGRATIOX. The assistant commissioner will therefore pay particular attention to emigration. He will endeavour to ascertain all the facts connected with every case in which an emigration has been effected, and its influ- ence on the rates of the parish, and on the wages and character of the remaining labourers. He will inquire what sort of persons were sent out, and how many, and of what character, and within what period, have returned. Where no such attempt has been made, he will ascer- tain whether the omission is to be attributed to the absence of a redundant population, (and if so, how that absence is to be accounted 42 4 Appendix. for,) or to any, and what, difficulties or objections on the part of the rate-payers or of the labourers. And he will collect facts and opinions as to the propriety of an enactment enablinor any, and what, majority, in number and value, of the rate-payers, with or without the concur- rence of any, and what, majority, in number and value, of the pro- prietors, to raise money for emi2:ration, in what, if any definite pro- portion to the rental or rates, and as to the period within which such money should be repaid, and the portion, if any, which should be paid by the proprietors. VI, ACQUISITION OF LAND BY LABOURERS, The evidence already before the commissioners shows that the occupation of land by labourers is rapidly increasing. The assistant commissioner will inquire, in each parish, into the mode in which this is effected, and into its results. For these purposes he will inquire whether the lessors are the landowners, the farmers, or the parish officers ; distinouishing;, in the case of landowners, between the cases in which the lessors are the principal landowners, and those in which they are small proprietors. Whether any, and what, selection is made of the occupiers, and what terms, as to rent, period of enjoyment, abstinence from requiring relief, or conduct, are imposed on them. What quantity is allotted to each occupier, and on what principle. What assistance they receive in manuring, working, or seed. How long the practice has existed, and with what effects, as to the welfare and conduct of the labourers, and amount of rates. And he will endeavour to collect facts and opinions as to the average quantity of land which a labourer can beneficially occupy, without withdrawing liim from ordinary labour, and as to the expediency of any enactments either to facilitate the ])ractice, or to guard against the danger of its creating a cottier population resembling that of Ireland. He will inquire as to the existence of any lands now positively or comparatively useless, which may be applied to this purpose ; carefully distinguish- ing between that land which, though commonly called waste, is very far from being wasted, but is now turned to its best account as sheep- walk, and that which is really unproductive, or less productive than it might be made by a judicious and profitable application of labour. He will also inquire whether the actual ownership of land by labourers or small jiroprietors is less common than formerly, and whether that is to be attributed to the pressure of poor-rates, the obligation imposed on an applicant for relief of parting with his property, the stamp duties on alienation, or the expense of making a title. And with reference to ihe last point, he will inquire whether small proprietors are nnjre usual in any, and in what degree, among copyholders than among freeholders. Vir. TAXATION ON DOMESTIC SERVANTS. It has been supposed that the residence of farming labourers with their employers has been diminished by the tax on domestic servants; Appendix. 425 a tax to which the farmer" exposes himself, if he allows the labourers residing under his roof to perform menial offices. The assistant com- missioner will inquire whether this supposition is well founded, and whether there is any reason to believe that exempting from the tax all labourers principally employed in agriculture, though occasionally per. forming menial offices, would tend to make them more frequently resi- dent under their employers' roofs. VIII, RURAL POLICE. The last point which has been adverted to is rural police. The assistant commissioner will inquire in each parish into the ordinary and extraordinary means which it possesses of enforcing public order. The number of constables or tything-men, their general character and remu- neration, and the number of yeomanry and special constables, who might be depended upon on any emergency. And he will collect facts and opinions as to the propriety of any, and what, legislative measures on this subject. He will also inquire whether there have been any riots, disturbances, or fires, within the last two years, and endeavour to ascertain their causes, the etfects which have resulted or may be ex- pected to result from them, and the nature and success of the measures by which they were resisted, prevented, or punished. A brief and imperfect outline has now been given of the specific points of inquiry respecting the practical operation of the laws for the relief of the poor, and the manner in which those laws are adminis- tered. But there are two general inquiries, to which each specific inquiry may be made subservient. One is, the great question how far the law which throws on the owners of property the duty of providing the subsistence, and superintending the conduct of the poor, has really effected its object ; — how far the proprietors of land and capital appear to have had the power and the will to create, or increase, or render secure, the prosperity and morality of those who live by the wages of labour. It has been supposed that it was to the 43d of Elizabeth, and to the superintendence which it forced the richer to exercise over the poorer, that we owed the industry, the orderly habits, and the adequa- tion of their numbers to the demand for labour, which within the memory of man distinguished the English labourers ; and that the idleness, profligacy and improvidence, which now debase the character and increase the numbers of the population of many of the south- eastern districts, are owing to the changes, partly by statute, and partly by practice, to which that law has been subjected. On the other hand, it has been maintained, that it is the natural tendency of public relief, however purely and wisely administered, to become a substitute, and a very bad substitute, for private charity on the part of the rich, and in- dustry and forethought on the part of the i)oor ; that the pure or wise administration of that relief is the exception, not tlie rule ; that it has more frequently been used as an engine to reduce the wages of labour, or to shift their burthen from the employer, or to gratify the love of power or of popularity ; that where real humanity has been the motive 426 Appendix, of interference, it has been so little assisted by knowledge or diligence, as to produce, or aggravate, or perpetuate, the misery which it was intended to relieve ; and that the system appeared to work well only while balanced by an almost arbitrary power of removal, and the dread of the workhouse, and while the range of magisterial interference was closely limited. The other general question is, how far the evils of the present sys- tem, or rather of the law which allows, or at least does not prevent, the existence in every parish of every different system of abuse, are diminishing, stationary, or increasing. There can be no doubt that any change in the poor-laws, or in the manner of administering them, if great enough to be extensively beneficial, must be attended with immediate local suffering. If, however, the present evils, oppressive as they are, appear to be diminishing, or even to be stationary, it may be more prudent to endure them, than to encounter the certain incon- venience, and the probable hazard, of any extensive alteration. But if the conclusions drawn in the House of Commons' Report, o'f 1817, be correct, — if it be true, that " imless some efficacious check be interposed, the amount of the assessment will continue, as it has done, to increase, until, at a period more or less remote, according to the progress the evil has already made in different places, it shall have absorbed the profits of the property on which the rate may have been assessed, producing thereby the neglect and ruin of the land, and the waste or removal of other property, to the utter subversion of that happy order of society so long upheld in these kingdoms ;" — if the progress of the evil, even during the short period that has elapsed since that Report was made, may be traced in the diminished cultivation and value of the land ; the diminution of industry, forethought, and natural affec- tion among the labourers ; the conversion of wages from a matter of contract into a matter of right, and of charity itself into a source of discord, and even of hostility; in the accelerated increase of every form of profligacy ; in fires, riots, and organised and almost treason- able robbery and devastation ; — if such be the representation which the Commissioners have to make to his Majesty ; they cannot append to it a suggestion of mere palliative amendments. COPIES OF THE QUERIES CIRCULATED BY THE COMMISSIONERS. Queries for Rural Districts. — No. I. 1. Name and county of your parish or township? i 2. Number of acres in your parish or township ? 3. How much common ? How much woodland ? How much arable? How much ]iasture? 4. Number of labourers sufficient for the proper cultivation of the laud? Appendix. A21 5. Number of agricultural labourers in your parish? 6. Number of labourers generally out of employment, and how main- tained in summer and in winter? 7. Weekly wages, with and without beer or cider, in summer and in winter? 8. Whether labourers are apportioned amongst the occupiers according to the extent of occupation, acreage rent, or number of horses employed ? 9. Whether any distinction is made in wages paid by their employers to married and single men when employed by individuals? 10. Whether any and what allowance is made from the poor's rate on account of large families, and if so, at what number of children does it begin ? 11. Whether the system of roundsmen is practised, or has been prac- tised? 12. Is any work done for individuals, and partly paid for by the parish ? 13. What class of persons are generally the owners of cottages ? 14. The rent of cottages? 15. Whether gardens to the cottages? 16. Whether any land let to labourers: if so, the quantity to each, and at what rent? 17. What are your rates per pound by the year, at rack-rent, or how estimated? 18. Have they increased or diminished during the last year, compared with the preceding? 19. Have you a select vestry and assistant overseer, and what has been the effect? 20. Have you a workhouse? state the number, age, and sex of its inmates. 21. What number of individuals received relief last week, not being in the workhouse? 22. What can women, and children under sixteen, earn per week, in summer, in winter, and harvest; and how employed? 23. How many non-parishioners have you in general, distinguishing Irish and Scotch ? Queries for Rural Districts. — No. II. 1. Are there many or few landowners in your parish ; and are the farms large or small .' 2. What is the allowance received by a woman for a bastard ? and does it generally repay her, or more than repay her, the expense of keeping it? and is the existing law for the punishment of the mother whose bastard child becomes chargeable often executed for the first or for the second offence ? 3. What number of bastards have been chargeable to your parish, and what has been the expence occasioned by them during each of the last five years ? and how much of that expence has been recovered from the putative fathers ? and how much from the mothers? 428 Appendix. 4. Can you sug-f^est any, and what, change in the laws respecting bastardy ? 5. Do the labourers in your neighbourhood change their services more frequently than formerly ? and how do you account for that cir- cumstance? 6. Are there many cases in your parish where the labourer owns his cottage ? 7. What class of persons are the usual owners of cottages? 8. Are cottages frequently exempted from rates ? and is their rent often paid by the parish? 9. Is the industry of the labourers in your neighbourhood supposed to be increasing or diminishing ; that is, are your labourers supposed to be better or worse workmen than they formerly were ? 10. Have you any, and what, employment for women and children? 11. Is piece-work general in your neighbourhood? 12. What in the whole might an average, labourer, obtaining an average amount of employment both in day-work and piece-work, expect to earn in the year, including harvest work and the value of all his other advantages and means of living, except parish relief? You will observe, that this question refers to an average labourer obtaining an average amount of employment, not to the best labourer in constant employment. 13. What in the whole might his wife and four children, aged 14, 11, 8, and 5 years respectively, (the eldest a boy,) expect to earn in the year? obtaining, as in the former case, an average amount of employment. 14. Could the family subsist on these earnings? andif so, on what food? 15. Could it lay by anything? and how much ? 16. Is there any, and what, difference between the wages paid by the employer to the married and unmarried, when employed by indi- viduals ? 17. Have you any, and how many, able-bodied labourers in the employment of individuals receiving allowance or regular relief from your parish on their own account or on that of their families? 18. Is that relief or allowance generally given in consequence of the advice or order of the magistrates? or under the opinion that the magis- trates would make an order tor it, if application were made to them? 19. Is any, and what, attention paid to the character of the applicant, or to the causes of his distress? 20. Is relief or allowance given according to any, and what scale? 21. Can you state the particulars of any attempt which has been made in your neighbourhood to discontinue the system (after it has once j)revailed) of giving to able-bodied labourers in the employ of individuals parish allowance on iheir own account, or on that of their families? 22. What do you thiidc would be the effects, both immediate and ultimate, of an enactment ibrbidding such allowance, and thus throwing wholly on ])arish employment all those whose earnings could not fully support themselves and their families ? Appendix, 429 23. Would it be advisable that the parish, instead ofj^ivinf;: allowance to the father, should take charge of", employ, and feed his children during the day? and if such a practice has prevailed, has it increased or diminished the number of able-bodied applicants for relief? 24. What do you think would be the effect of an enactment enabling parishes to tax themselves in order to facilitate emigration? 25. What do you think would be the effect, immediate and ultimate, of making the decision of the vestry or select vestry in matters of relief final? 26. If an appeal from the vestry or select vestry shall continue, what do vou think would be the effect, immediate and ultimate, of restoring the law as it stood before the stat. 36 Geo, III. cap. 23, was passed, so that, in any parish having a workhouse or poorhouse, the magistrates should not have the power of ordering relief to be given to persons who should refuse to enter the workhouse or poorhouse ? 27. Do you know of any cases in which the clause of ■Mr. Sturges Bourne's Act (59 Geo. III. cap. 12, § 29), enabling relief to be made by way of loan, has been acted on ? 28. Is the amount of agricultural capital in your neighbourhood increasing, or diminishing ? And do you attribute such increase or dimi- nution to any cause connected with the administration of the poor laws ? 29. Can you suggest any improvement in the mode of keeping- and auditing and publishing parish accounts ? 30. Can vou suggest any, and what, alteration in the settlement laws, for the purpose either of extending the market for labour, or interfering less with contracts, or diminishing fraud or litigation ? 31. Do you think it would be advisable to afford greater facilities than now exist, either for the union or for the subdivision of parishes or townships, for any purpose connected with the management of paro- chial affairs ? 32. Can you give the Commissioners any information respecting the causes and consequences of the agricultural riots and burning of 1830 and 1831 ? 33. What is the name and county of the parish, township, or dis- trict to which your answers refer ? Town Queries. — No. III. 1. Have you a local act for the management of the Poor? what is its date, and what have been its effects ? 2. In whom does it invest the power of distributing relief? 3. In what other respect do its provisions differ from the general law of the land ? 4. Do you think any of its provisions might be advantageously applied to parishes in general .' 5. Are the concerns of the parish managed by any boards or com- mittees appointed by the vestry ? 6. Have you had any experience of a select vestry under ]\Ir. Sturges Bourne's Act, 59 Geo. III. cap. 12 ! and for what period i what have been its effects ? 430 Appendix. 7. How many overseers have you ? of what class of persons are they ? are they usually tradesmen, or men enp;aged in business ? 8. Do they often serve in successive years ? 9. Have you any assistant or paid overseer, or other salaried officer, to assist those who administer parish relief ? 10. Is your parish for any purposes divided into wards or districts, with parish officers resident in each ? 11. Do you think it would be advisable to afford greater facilities than now exist, either for the union, or, on the other hand, for the sub- division, of parishes or townships, for any purposes connected with the management of parochial affairs ? 12. Have you a workhouse in your parish ? state the number, age, and sex of its inmates, and, as far as you can ascertain them, their former occupations. 13. Are all or any, and which, of the paupers in the workhouse em- ployed, and on what description of work ? 14. What has been the profit or loss to the parish during the last year, in consequence of their having been so employed ? 15. Is any, and what, distinction made in fare or treatment between the aged and impotent, and the able-bodied inmates of the workhouse ? and is the allowance of food to the latter proportioned to the work done ? 16. Is there a separation of the male from the female inmates in your workhouse? 17. Do you farm atiy, and how many, of your poor ? and at what rate per head ? and since when ? and what has been its effect ? 18. What is the expense of the poor in the workhouse per head per week, including the expense of the establishment? 19. What is the average expense per head per year, including all the expense of the establishment ? 20. Have you any and what improvements to suggest in the manage- ment of workhouses ? 21. How do you provide for your infant poor? 22. State the numbers, ages, sexes, and description, and, as far as you can ascertain them, the present or former occupations, of the poor relieved out of the workhouse ? 23. Are the overseers or other persons who distribute relief to the out-poor acquainted with the persons of the out-paupers? 24. Is there any visitation of the poor at their houses ? or what other means are taken to ascertain the real necessities of the apj)licants for relief ? 25. Are there any means taken to ascertain whether the aged poor applying for relief have children able to maintain them ? 20. Arc any means taken to ascertain whether persons claiming relief on account of temporary want of employment have voluntarily thrown themselves out of work, or have previously received wages snilicicnt to enable them to make provision against the stoppage of work I and, in apportioning relief, is any, and what, attention j)aid to Ihc character of the applicant, or the causes of his distress ? 27. Is allowance or regular relief out of the workhouse given by your parish to any able-bodied mechanics, manufacturers, labourers, or Appendix. 431 servants ? state the number, '^X "AR 2 ■ URL iFEB24 13 ID JBL •p? mn ¥ BE SEP 101 l|L. DEC Rrec LD-uiiB MAR 1 101972] \:o URL iiirM\ U m RENBVAL /\pR LDURL. ilAY ,. RECD LO- UR MAY 2 on iD»U, f MAO '>*, 1972 'URL ■a )982 Form L9-25m-9,'47(A5618)444 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT LOS ANUKLES r I on A rt\r 3 1158 00434 6234 (Y UC SOUTHFRrj RFGIOrjAL LIBRARY FACILITY AA 000 415 493 I