mm
 
 L I E> RA FLY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 U N I VLRSITY 
 
 or 1 LLl NOIS 
 
 m
 
 SEVEN AETICLES 
 
 ON 
 
 LONDON PAUPERISM 
 
 AND ITS RELATIONS WITH 
 
 THE LABOUE MAPvKET 
 
 PUBLISHED IM 
 
 ^THE PAROCHIAL CRITIC AND 
 WEEKLY RECORD OF METROPOLITAN ORGANISATIONS' 
 
 IN JULY AND AUGUST 1870 
 
 SIR CHARLES TREYELYAN 
 
 LONDON 
 
 BELL S^ DALDY, YORK STREET,- COVENT GARDEN 
 
 ^> . , . 
 
 P7nce /Sixpence
 
 LONDON: PUINTEl) HV 
 
 S?OTTIS'.VOOUU AND CO., NEW-.STUEET SQUARE 
 
 AND PAUI.IAMKNX STItliEX 
 
 • #
 
 SEVEN ARTICLES 
 
 ON 
 
 LONDON PAUPERISM 
 
 I. 
 
 A REMARKABLE PROOF has lately occurred of the extent to 
 which metropolitan pauperism, that is, physical and moral 
 degradation, has proceeded. As the spring advanced it 
 became known at the Council of the Charity Organisation 
 Society, that a new demand for labour had sprung up in 
 the North. For instance, Mr. Palmer, of the Jarrow 
 Works, was ready to take any number of boiler-makers, 
 which is the name by which the skilled workmen em- 
 j)loyed in building iron ships are known ; and Mr. Nelson, 
 the contractor for the Team Valley Extension Railway, 
 wanted unskilled labourers who could handle the pick and 
 spade. Here, at least, a vein of pure gold had been struck. 
 The boiler-makers were the very class of workmen who had 
 thrown themselves, and the much larger number of unskilled 
 labourers dependent upon them, out of employ a few years 
 before on the Thames ; and any poor fellow who could trundle 
 a barrow would now have an opportunity of earning 18s. or 20^. 
 a week. A considerable number of both classes of work- 
 men were accordingly helped to transfer themselves from the 
 banks of the Thames to those of the Tees and the Tyne. 
 
 But many weeks had not passed before rumours began to 
 circulate that many of these men were tramping back to 
 London through the casual wards of the provincial work- 
 houses. Mr. Nelson was applied to for information, and his 
 
 A 2
 
 4 LOXnON" PAUPERISM. 
 
 answer threw the first clear li«^ht upon this painful subject : 
 ' I scarcely know how to reply to your letter. I certainly do 
 want men very much, but really such as have already come 
 are of no possible use, and I had much rather they had not 
 come. They do not seem to have been accustomed to hard 
 work, and are not worth two shillings a day to me. I intend 
 to write to other gentlemen who have sent me men to the 
 same effect. I have been obliged to pay off some this after- 
 noon, as they will not work ; and since I have been writing 
 this letter I have received a note from a friend, brought by 
 two Londoners, requesting me to give them work if possible, 
 as they were iinahle to do the work he required, that is, fill- 
 ing coke into trucks. Should any good labourers or exca- 
 vators come I shall be glad to employ them, and pay them 
 Avhatever wages I find them worth, the same as I do to other 
 men.' 
 
 And Mr. Charles S. Smith, Secretary to the Charity Organi- 
 sation Society at Newcastle- on-Tyne, writes : ' I regret ex- 
 ceedingly to inform you that, while I find that there are 
 nearly 3,000 men required in the next six mouths, nearly every 
 employer refuses to receive London men. Messrs. Strakers 
 and Love say they have had men from London — 32 of them 
 — of whom only three or four were worth anything. Mr. 
 Langdale, who will require about 300 men at the end of the 
 year, writes : — " It will be no use sending men from the 
 Thames or similar places, whose constitutions are broken, 
 and the men enfeebled by dissipation and excesses of all 
 kinds." It is very evident from these and similar remarks, 
 that any attempts to supply our labour market from the Me- 
 tropolis, will be attended with very considerable difiiculty — 
 difiiculty which I am afraid will prove insurmountable unless 
 eveiy man sent to the North is carefully selected by a practi- 
 cal person accustomed to employ workmen. Mr. J. W. Pease, 
 M.P. for South Durham, points out that this is the great 
 difiiculty ; and success will result according to our skill in 
 surmounting it. Every one of his men (300 in number) was 
 carefully picked by those who knew what the work was, 
 and what kind of labourers were required. I am applied to 
 for labourers from Buckingham, Bedford, and the country 
 districts — men from these parts having turned out well when 
 Londoners have failed.' 
 
 All this was in reply to a circular which Mr. Smith issued 
 to employers of labour, from the answers to which it appears 
 that an unlimited number of hands are required, at rates of 
 
 ^*'"\ '
 
 LONDON PAUPERISM. 5 
 
 wages varying from Ss. to Ss. 6d. a day for quarrying and 
 piling, to from 40s. to 50s. a week for puddling. 
 
 The case is even worse than this. A friend, whose life is 
 devoted to the best interests of the Metropolis, writes : — * I 
 have reason to know that even London employers do not like 
 or use London men. A large brewer told me some time ago 
 a fact which struck me very much. He said, ' we never take 
 a London man. If a man in our employ is ill and has to 
 leave us, we get his place filled up from the country. We 
 are afraid of London men. They are shuffling, lazy, and 
 know too much.' Mr. Nelson's letter attests that the change 
 of place does not change the man; that he- is as useless at 
 Sunderland as in London. It is partly a moral and partly a 
 physical deficiency,- each acting to {he increase of each. 
 
 If this be the condition of our able-bodied men in London, 
 what must be the case of the inferior population ! Unfortu- 
 nately, it cannot be said that indiscriminate charity and out- 
 door relief, idleness and mendicancy, the gin palace and the 
 brothel have done their worst. Social,- as well as physical, 
 evils have a tendency to increase so long as they remain 
 untouched at root. What the Americans call the ' dependent,' 
 and the Scotch the ' lapsed ' class is singularly prolific ; and 
 while the profits of mendicancy are greater than those of 
 honest industry, the recruits attracted from the other classes 
 will be more numerous even than those arising from internal 
 growth. Limiting our view, for the present, to children, 
 the estimate of 100,000 of the pauper neglected class in the 
 Metropolis is no loose conjecture. Besides 10,615 orphan 
 and deserted children in the Workhouses and District Schools, 
 there are 56,540 children on the outdoor relief list ; and the 
 large number supported by casual charity, and by various 
 street employments of a more or less questionable kind, 
 are in addition to these. What a seedplot is this of future 
 pauperism and crime ! The increase in the Metropolitan 
 Poor Law expenditure in the last five years is 509,000/., or 
 56 per cent, upon the previous expenditure, while the highest 
 increase elsewhere has been 23 per cent, in the South-eastern 
 counties. 
 
 In this state of things the Metropolitan Poor Eates have 
 been, to a great extent, equalised ; and the process is still in 
 progress. It began with the charge for vagrants. Then it 
 was extended to the salaries of officers, to schools, dispen- 
 saries, fever and small-pox hospitals, and asylums for insane 
 paupers. And now it includes the entire cost of in-
 
 6 LONDON PALTKRISiM. 
 
 door relief. The riitepayers in the quarters of the town 
 inhabited by the rich are already beginniii<^ to cry out, some- 
 times, after the maimer of our nation, in a Imniorous, as well 
 as oruiiiblinj^- manner. By heavens ! they will find it no joke 
 if they do not bestir themselves. Instead of calling uj^on Her- 
 cules, they should put their own shoulders to the wheel. God 
 never helps those w^ho do not help themselves. The evil 
 is not of a nature to be overcome by any namby-pamby, 
 half-hearted action, accompanied by the usual apologies for 
 any appearance of enthusiasm, and assurances that all that 
 is expected is gradual progress as time and circumstances 
 favour. The rising tide of pauperism and crime threatens to 
 overwhelm us ; and our only hope of saving the good ship 
 is by a long pull, a strong pull, and a pull all together, after 
 the manner of our fathers. We have to fight, not exactly 
 for dear life, but that the lives of ourselves and our children 
 may not be rendered burdensome by embarrassment and 
 disgrace. The British Isles are a small country — 'a pretty 
 little country,' as one of our Yankee cousins said, ' but I am 
 always afraid of tumbling out of it.' We can compete, 
 neither in numbers with the great Western Republic, nor 
 with the neighbouring great military monarchies in material 
 force ; and general and technical education, moderate wages, 
 and frugal habits are raising formidable rivals to us even in 
 manufacturing industry. We shall assuredly be left behind 
 in the race, if we continue weighted with this growing j^auper 
 semi-criminal class, and shall become to Eussia, Germany, 
 and America what Holland has become to us. Our only 
 chance is to make superior efficiency compensate for superior 
 numbers, by turning our entire proletaire class into orderly 
 productive workers ; to make them a cause of health, and 
 strength, and credit, instead of being a burden and disgrace; 
 and to face the remainder of our history as an united, thriv- 
 ing, moral, and, barring the unavoidable casualties incident 
 to humanity, an entirely self-supporting people. How to do 
 this is the problem.
 
 LONDON PAUPERISM. 
 
 11. 
 
 We have not yet fully surveyed the difficulties of our task. 
 When the last census was taken, in 1S61, it was found that 
 the town population of England and Wales was more, by 
 1,855,772, than the inhabitants of the villages and coun- 
 try i3arishes ; the town population having amounted to 
 10,960,988, and the rural population only to 9,105,226. The 
 difference in favour of the towns is now much greater. ' The 
 migration of the population from country to town,' the Re- 
 gistrar-General writes, ' has been in active operation since 
 the census of 1861; and the rate of increase in the town 
 population of England and Wales has been, in many cases, so 
 exceptionally great as to render any estimate of town popu- 
 lation at the present time unreliable. The estii^iated popu- 
 lation in the middle of IB 70, in each of the twenty largest 
 towns of the United Kingdom, is as follows. In several 
 cases the estimate has only been arrived at after careful local 
 enquiry.' [See Table on next page.] 
 
 This conversion of the English people from a rural to a 
 town population, is a circumstance of grave im]3ort. If the 
 influence of our town life was, upon the whole, salutary, 
 we might regard it with complacency ; but the ordinary 
 seductions of great cities, aggravated by the corrupting 
 influence of indiscriminate voluntary and legal charity, 
 and by deteriorating sanitary conditions, have made our 
 Metropolis a gigantic engine for depraving and degrading our 
 population. We have seen how they become unfitted for 
 hard work, and how this unfitness leads to the introduction 
 of more people from the country, who are deteriorated in 
 their turn. This state of things is at its maximum in London, 
 but it also exists in a great degree at Edinburgh, Glasgow, 
 Dublin, Liverpool, Manchester, Bristol, and other towns. 
 Our urban arrangements have not kept pace with this great 
 displacement of our population. A large proportion of our 
 rural parishes are models of good management, the circum- 
 stances of every family being known and cared for, in the
 
 LONDON PAUPERISM. 
 
 Increa.se 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ol' Topii- 
 
 
 
 Estimated 
 
 Persons 
 to an 
 Acre. 
 
 (1870.) 
 
 
 latiun. 
 
 Annual 
 Rate per 
 cent. in 
 
 Cities ami Boroughs. 
 
 Area iu 
 Acres. 
 
 Population 
 in the niid- 
 dlc of tlie 
 year 1870. 
 
 Enumerated 
 
 Populatiou, 
 
 18G1. 
 
 tlie 9 years 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 18til-70. 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Total of twenty Towns ] 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 1;74 
 
 ill the United King- ^ 
 
 - 
 
 213,281 
 
 7,216,325 
 
 33-8 
 
 6,176,311 
 
 1-53 
 
 London 
 
 77,997 
 
 3,214,707 
 
 41-2 
 
 2,803,989 
 
 2-85 
 
 Portsmouth . 
 
 9513 
 
 122,084 
 
 12-8 
 
 94,799 
 
 •89 
 
 Norwich 
 
 7,472 
 
 81,087 
 
 10-9 
 
 74,891 
 
 1-19 
 
 Bristol 
 
 4,688 
 
 171,382 
 
 36-6 
 
 154,093 
 
 2-04 
 
 Wolverhampton . 
 
 3,387 
 
 72,990 
 
 21-5 
 
 60,860 
 
 2-50 
 
 Bimiingliam 
 
 7,831 
 
 369,604 
 
 47-2 
 
 296.076 
 
 4-07 
 
 Leicester 
 
 3,200 
 
 97,427 
 
 30-4 
 
 68,056 
 
 1 ^ ^ ' 
 l-9o 
 
 Nottingham 
 
 1.996 
 
 88,888 
 
 44^5 
 
 74,693 
 
 1-72 
 
 Liverpool 
 
 5,108 
 
 517,567 
 
 101-3 
 
 443,938 
 
 114 
 
 Mancliester . 
 
 4,486 
 
 374,993 
 
 83-6 
 
 338,722 
 
 1-92 
 
 Salford 
 
 5,172 
 
 121,580 
 
 23-5 
 
 102,449 
 
 3-37 
 
 Br;idf()rd 
 
 5,590 
 
 143,197 
 
 21-7 
 
 106.218 
 
 2-54 
 
 Leeds .... 
 
 21,572 
 
 259,527 
 
 12-0 
 
 207,165 
 
 3-27 
 
 Sheffield . 
 
 22,830 
 
 247,378 
 
 10-8 
 
 185,172 
 
 3-31 
 
 null . . . ■ . 
 
 3,562 
 
 130,869 
 
 36-7 
 
 97,661 
 
 2-88 
 
 Sunderland . 
 
 3,806 
 
 100,979 
 
 30-5 
 
 78.211 
 
 2-26 
 
 Newcastle-on-Tyne 
 
 5,336 
 
 133,367 
 
 25-0 
 
 109,108 
 
 •54 
 
 Edinburgh 
 
 4,427 
 
 178,970 
 
 40-4 
 
 170,444 
 
 1-89 
 
 Glasgow 
 
 5.063 
 
 468,189 
 
 92-5 
 
 395,503 
 
 •25 
 
 Dublin 
 
 9,745 
 
 321,540 
 
 33-0 
 
 314,263 
 
 inaiiner "best calculated to promote their welftire, by those 
 who are superior to them in education and influence ; but 
 our large towns are chaos, and the population absorbed into 
 them becomes lost to sight and responsible care. 
 
 Another element has of late years been introduced into our 
 system, which both increases our difficulty, and renders it 
 absolutely necessary that we should earnestly apply ourselves 
 to the best means of overcoming it. The increased humanity 
 of the age will not tolerate the rough wholesale way in which 
 paupers used to bo herded together in the metropolitan work- 
 houses. There is now to be one set of asylums for the aged ; 
 another for the imbecile ; infirmaries for the sick ; district 
 schools for the young ; and a great extension of gratuitous 
 out-door medical relief through the dispensaries.. The imme-
 
 LONDON PAUPERISM. 9 
 
 diate increase of cost arising from this is very serious, for, 
 while the number of metropolitan panpers in the five years 
 from 1864-5 to 1868-9 has risen from 100,000 to 147,000, or 
 at the rate of 47 per cent., the expense has increased from 
 906,000/. to 1,415,000/., or at the rate of 56 per cent. But 
 we are far from having seen the full effect of this new 
 development. Even now parents desert their families, and 
 grown-up sons and daughters neglect their parents, in order 
 to throw the burden of maintaining them upon the rates ; 
 and, as the State provides the necessary insurance against 
 sickness and old age, the very idea of thrift has almost dis- 
 appeared from this portion of our population. How much 
 more are the ties of relationship likely to be relaxed, and the 
 motives to frugality to be neutralised, when, by the substitu- 
 tion of the asylum and infirmary for the workhouse. State 
 relief is clothed with new attractions, and is divested of a 
 large portion of the discredit which now attaches to it ! And, 
 while the pressure on the rates has thus been increased, the 
 resistance has been diminished by the extension of the area 
 of rating. Instead of setting their faces like flints against 
 additional expenditure, and easing the rates by finding em- 
 ployment for those who would otherwise be a J^urden upon 
 them, the tendency of the guardians now is to secure for 
 their respective districts a full share of the central fund. 
 The Poor Law in the Metropolis has been removed from its 
 original basis. The workhouse test and local chargeability 
 have practically disappeared before the equalisation of the 
 rates and the great improvement now in progress in the in- 
 door accommodation ; and it is indispensable for the safety 
 of society, that new safeguards should be provided suited to 
 this new state of things. 
 
 The existing pauperism is not caused by want of employ- 
 ment, but partly by the idle habits of the vagrant class, and 
 partly by incapacity to work, arising from the dissolute habits 
 of the paupers themselves or their parents. There is a small 
 residuum of cases caused by misfortune, but this is not 
 pauperism, but honest poverty. If this had been said last 
 year, before we had recovered from the collapse connected 
 with the American war and Messrs. Gurney's failure, it would 
 not have been believed. But now it is admitted that there 
 are scarcely any able-bodied persons in the workhouses — 
 that is, persons who are at this present time able to work ; 
 while there is abundant employment, in one part or other 
 of this small country, for the idle vagrant class, who are
 
 10 LONDON PAUPKiUSM. 
 
 most iniproiocrly maintained at the public expense in the 
 casual wards and iiioht refu^-cs. There is no occasion now 
 for concocting artificial schemes of unprofitable pauper 
 labour, because a wholesome natural demand for productive 
 labour at high wages has arisen, and branches of industry of 
 great national importance are suffering for war»t of it. It 
 has also become apparent that the emigration of a portion 
 of our population would not create a gap in the labour 
 market, wdiich w^ould be at once filled by those who swell the 
 ranks of pauperism. The colonies compete with "Northum- 
 berland and Durham for our insufficient stock of available 
 able-bodied labour, but they will not take our paupers, or 
 even our idle vagrant class, who can work, but vnll not. This 
 state of things is not without a parallel in other countries. 
 There is a r^al j^auper and vagrant class in New York and 
 Philadelphia, although unlimited supplies of land are to be 
 had, on the easiest possible terms, in the neighbouring 
 Western States. More astonishing still is the pauperism in 
 Australia, with mutton at l\d. a pound, and miners' wages 
 at 21. 5s. and upwards a week. 
 
 Before proceeding further, let us briefly review the conclu- 
 sions at which w^e have arrived. The future life of England 
 will be, in a far greater degree than heretofore, in its town 
 population. England is becoming every year more and more 
 like one great city; and the remaining rural districts are 
 becoming gradually appropriated to recreation, and to pro- 
 
 vidino' those articles of food which cannot be brouo-lit from 
 . ..... 
 
 abroad. This great town population is afflicted with a disease 
 
 called ' j^auperism,' which will assuredly consume us and our 
 children if w^e do not subdue it. The treatment recently 
 applied, through the equalisation of the rates and the im- 
 provement of the in-door workhouse accommodation, however 
 necessary in itself, will only aggravate the malady, if it is not 
 combined with other suitable remedies. And, lastly, emi- 
 gration to the colonies, and migration to other parts of the 
 United Kingdom where there is a demand for labour, al- 
 though very desirable as part of a general regimen, will not, 
 of themselves, suffice to cure the malady. In what quarter, 
 then, is restoration to health to be sought ?
 
 IX)NDON PAUPERISM. 11 
 
 III. 
 
 To prevent the last di'eadful consequence of destihttion — star- 
 vation — is the object of the Poor Law ; but it does not aim 
 at preventing or curing the destitution itself. On the con- 
 trary, destitution is encouraged by making it the sole qualifi- 
 cation for obtaining the benefits of the Poor Law, and by 
 requiring that every able-bodied applicant for relief shall 
 break up his home and workshop and go into the union 
 house with his family. The Poor Law makes no distinction 
 between the honest industrious labourer who is suffering 
 temporary distress from sickness or want of employment, 
 and the habitual idler. It grievously offends against two 
 divine institutions which lie at the foundation of human 
 society — the law which prescribes that man «hall live by 
 labour, and that which has set men in families with all their 
 supporting and refining influences. Parents desert their 
 children, and children neglect their parents in order that 
 they may transfer the burden to the rates. Nay, the Poor 
 Law has induced among our working people a general care- 
 lessness even as regards their own future. As they are 
 insured by it against all contingencies, provided only they 
 are absolutely destitute, the great body of our working classes 
 refuse to disqualify by frugality and prudence, and spend all 
 they get on present indulgence, and more especially on the 
 favourite English luxury, intoxicating drinks. Natural laws 
 cannot be systematically violated without causing social de- 
 rangements of various lands. And, after all, cases of star- 
 vation frequently occur. Having only a bare allowance of 
 the absolute necessaries of life, and being unsustained by 
 hope, and regarded as enemies by the poorer class of rate- 
 payers and their representatives the relieving officers, the 
 margin left to the widows and orphans, the aged and infirm, 
 on the out-door list is too narrow for the proper support of 
 human existence. But the damning fault of the Poor Law 
 is that it does not even profess to improve the condition of 
 the poor, so as to offer a prospect, however distant, of extin-
 
 12 LONDON PAUPERISM. 
 
 guisliing pauperism or reducing it to a minimum. It aggi-a- 
 vates the ulcer by prematurely skinning it over. It applies 
 one of those palliatives, which, while they give present relief, 
 end by stimulating the disease. 
 
 The reaction from the Poor Law system has taken the 
 form of profuse indiscriminate charity which has completed 
 the corraption of the lower classes of the Metropolis. Natural 
 and Christian feeling must have a vent ; and, under this 
 powerful influence, the great wealth of London has been 
 offered as a prey to its enormous population through the 
 medium of innumerable charitable societies and individuals, 
 without any attempt at territorial or individual apportion- 
 ment. The consequence has been the growth of a mendicant 
 system such as the world never before saw, the prizes of which 
 are for the accomplished rogues, while the honest industrious 
 poor are left to the tender mercies of the Poor Law. ' The 
 great evil,' the present Bishop of London lately said, 'is 
 that the money thus expended does not do the work which is 
 required ; for the money distributed by these many societies 
 goes to those who should not have it ; and those that should 
 have it — the meritorious and suffering poor — do not get any.' 
 Our excellent Bishop dwells on this as the crowning mischief 
 of the system, marking the point from which a rapid down- 
 ward course has taken place. ' But the evil does not end 
 here, for the money thus bestowed, instead of relieving 
 human misery, increases vice and beggary, for the impos- 
 tors find it very easy to have different places of abode, 
 and receive three, or four, or five families' allowances 
 from the various agencies. It is easy to conceive that they 
 thus have the means of obtaining larger incomes than they 
 could receive if they were to devote themselves assiduously 
 to the paths of honest industry. And can you conceive this 
 going on within sight of the labouring people, among whom 
 the impostors dwell, without deteriorating the honesty of 
 that population? When men, honest working men, see 
 another man, living in the same ranks of life as themselves, 
 obtaining more comforts by idleness than they can obtain by 
 industry, and learn, perhaps, that this is done by receiving 
 visits from societies, they, too, are ready to follow the ex- 
 ample, and independence is broken down. It is a sorrovsrful 
 thing when a working man, among v/orking men, finds that 
 the wages of mendicity are better tnan the wages of honest 
 industry, for he is tempted to continue the downward course, 
 in which he tempts others ; and, in nine cases out of ten.
 
 LONDON PAUPERISM. 13 
 
 from that downward course there is no return.' Hanging on 
 the skirts of this vast mendicant system, and nourished by it 
 in a thousand ways, are the 100,000 neglected children, the 
 growing crop of future pauperism and crime, the 20,000 
 thieves, and the army of prostitutes, who are the cement, the 
 incentive, and the recruiting staff of the whole. 
 
 Thus much about the nature and symptoms of the disease. 
 We will now go straight to the remedy. The first step has 
 been taken, by dividing London into Charity Districts con- 
 terminous, as far as possible, with the Poor Law districts, in 
 each of which a committee has been, or will shortly be, 
 appointed, including the clergy of the district, representatives 
 of the local charitable societies, and select men of the upper, 
 middle, and working classes. By this simple arrangement 
 responsibility has been secured within defined limits, and it 
 has become possible for the managers of the local charities 
 to consult together in reference to the cases respectively 
 dealt with by them. Charitably disposed individuals also 
 have, in these committees, a trustworthy agency for giving 
 their alms after the merits of each case, and the best modes 
 of relieving it, have been fully enquired into. Above all, 
 cordial and effective co-operation may now take place be- 
 tween charity and Poor Law, on the principle that, while, on 
 the one hand, each of these agencies will be entirely re- 
 sponsible for their respective classes of cases, and there will 
 be no supplementing of Poor Law relief by charity, or of 
 charity by Poor Law relief; on the other hand, there will be 
 an unlimited exchange of information, and the cases them- 
 selves will be freely transferred from one to the other 
 accordingly as they appear to be better suited for legal or 
 charitable relief. The guardians have already consented to 
 increase the out-door allowances in several instances in which 
 the district committees have called their attention to the 
 inadequacy of the previous rates ; and the committees have 
 taken numerous cases in hand which must otherwise have 
 been dealt with under the Poor Law rules, however inappli- 
 cable these may have been. 
 
 The next step is, that the six or seven metropolitan relief 
 associations, which compete with each other and with the 
 district committees, should merge in those committees, as 
 they become fully constituted. Now that a responsible 
 local machinery has been established of a far more efficient 
 kind than any which is possessed by these roving societies, 
 there is no longer any excuse for their expensive separate
 
 14 LONDON PAUPERISM. 
 
 establish! uents. In dealing with three and a half millions 
 of people, unity, simplicity, strength, and economy are 
 indispensable. We have neither money nor energy to spare 
 for the conflicting, perplexing action of such a multiplicity 
 of agencies, all of which have the same object in view. 
 These remarks, however, only apply to ordinary relief 
 societies. Industrial schools, reformatories, penitentiaries, 
 homes for restoring to active useful life persons who have 
 been overtaken by misfortune, and the entire class of 
 hospitals and asylums for persons afflicted with the various 
 evils flesh is heir to, stand on a difl:erent footing. Without 
 being necessarily local, they are so definite in their object 
 and plan, that there ought to be no overlapping among 
 them ; and the district committees can co-operate with 
 them all by transferring to them cases suited to their respec- 
 tive objects. 
 
 But a single committee, with its paid charity agent, is 
 utterly unequal to effect any permanent improvement in 
 a district with a population as large as Edinburgh or 
 Bristol. For its effective management, the district should 
 be apportioned among sub-committees, each of which should 
 be responsible for a section conterminous with a relieving 
 officer's charge ; and the sections should again be subdivided 
 among special visitors, each of whom should have about ten 
 ordinary visitors under him, until we arrive at the unit of a 
 visitor for every ten or twelve families requiring regular 
 attention. By no machinery short of this can the pauperism 
 and vice of this great Metropolis be graj)pled with. Hitherto, 
 instead of operating upon the sources of supply, we have 
 contented ourselves with dipping a few ladlefuls out of the con- 
 taminated pool. We have reaped a bundle of tares here and 
 there, but have left the seed to produce future crops. It is 
 not money that is wanted. Half of what is now silent in 
 corrupting our metropolitan population would, if properly 
 laid out, suffice to relieve them in a manner which would 
 permanently improve their condition. What is required is 
 a thorough acquaintance with the character and wants of 
 the poor. The object is ' to befriend, aid, and elevate the 
 suffering and struggling poor, by sympathy, counsel, and 
 material lielj) ; to discourage idleness, improvidence, and 
 drunkenness ; to repress mendicancy, and expose imposition ; 
 to urge school attendance ; promote cleanliness of person and 
 dwelling; enforce, through the proper authorities, the re- 
 moval of nuisances ; and, generally, by timely and judicious
 
 LONDON PAUPERIS.Ar. 15 
 
 advice and help, to endeavour to prevent temporary destitu- 
 tion from lapsing into permanent pauperism, and in every 
 way to foster a spirit of independence and self-support ; ' 
 and, I would add, to strengthen the obligation of every 
 family tie, and especially of that which should bind parents 
 and children together. 
 
 If the rich, the educated, and the influential can be 
 brought into close and friendly connection with the poor and 
 ignorant, everything else will follow. Our statute book 
 abounds with benevolent laws for improving the dwellings of 
 the poor, and providing them with proper drainage, water 
 supply, and ventilation ; and now we have added an enact- 
 ment empowering a Metropolitan School Board to compel 
 the attendance of children at school. What a mockery all 
 this will be if some machinery is not set up by which prac- 
 tical effect can be given to it ! Take the juvenile prole taire 
 swarm, including the entire Street Arab class. How can 
 they be dealt with otherwise than individually — each boy and 
 girl by themselves, so as to train them in the manner best 
 suited to their age, character, and parentage (if they are still 
 dependent upon their parents) ? And how can this be done 
 by any multiplication of the regular force of paid charity and 
 relieving officers, without the support of a volunteer army ? 
 Regarded in the mass, metropolitan pauperism is appalling ; 
 but organise it in detail, by bringing it into due relation to 
 the astonishing amount of intelligent benevolent energy which 
 exists in the Metropolis, and the difficulty vanishes. The 
 publications described below,"^ which are to be had at the office 
 of the Charity Organisation Society at No. 15 Buckingham 
 Street, Strand, contain all that can be said upon the subject. 
 Only one indispensable caution should be repeated. Things are 
 capable of abuse in proportion to their intrinsic excellence ; 
 and if gushing, unreasoning benevolence entered without 
 
 * Address on the ' Systematic Visitation of the Poor in their own Homes an 
 Indispensable Basis of an Eflfectiye System of Charity,' delivered by Sir Charles 
 Trevelyan on June 27, 1870, at a conference of the Charity Organisation Society. 
 
 Report of a Sub-Committee of the Society on House-to-House Visitation adopted 
 by the Council, Jixly 18, 1870. 
 
 The two preceding papers, bound together, have been published by Bell & 
 Daldy, York Street, Covent Garden, price Sixpence. 
 
 Three letters from Sir Charles Trevelyan to The Times on London Pauperism, 
 with the leading article upon them, and extracts from ' How to relieve the poor of 
 Edinburgh and other great cities, without increasing Pauperism: a tried, successful, 
 and economical plan, 1867,' and from the ' Report on the Condition of the Poorer 
 Classes of Edinburgh, and of their Dwellings, Neighbourhoods, and Families, 1868.' 
 
 This is to be had from Messrs. Longman, price One Shilling.
 
 IG LONDON PAUPERISM. 
 
 control into the house-to-house visiting system, our last 
 state would be worse than our first. Two safeguards 
 are necessary for our security : first, that the visitors should, 
 on no account, give, even at their own expense, any relief, 
 without the previous sanction of their sub-committees ; and, 
 secondl}^, that ordinary visitors should act in all difficult and 
 doubtful cases, and in every case where relief appears to be 
 required, with more experienced persons selected for the pur- 
 pose under the designation of Special Visitors. 
 
 It may be asked what all this will grow to ? My answer 
 is, ' I do not wish to see the distant scene : one step enough 
 for me,' 'provided that step he a sure one. If the action, both 
 of charity and Poor law, is based upon a detailed knowledge 
 of the different cases, and out-door relief becomes at once 
 more adequate and more discriminating, the whole being di- 
 rected expressly with a view to the permanent improvement 
 of the condition of the poor, so as to make them self-respect- 
 ing and self-supporting, it may grow at last to this — that, 
 1st, the infirmaries and asylums required for a diminished 
 proportion of sick and impotent paupers — and, 2nd, the habi- 
 tual vagrants will be left entirely to official regulation ; while 
 the whole out-door relief will be entrusted to organised 
 charity, with only such aid from the rates as will be wanted 
 for chronic cases, which, for any reason, may not be taken 
 into the asylums.
 
 LOJVDON TAUPEETSM. 17 
 
 IV. 
 
 England has not yet taken in the full significance of the 
 discussion which has been going on for the last five years 
 between two men, who, together^ would have had full sway 
 over the destinies of Europe. The proposal was that Belgium 
 and Holland should be absorbed into the two great military 
 empires of France and Germany, and that England should 
 be left to do her worst. Her pledged faith, her cherished 
 policy, were to have been set at nought ; and, circled by 
 irresistible legions and impregnable harbours, she was to 
 have had the melancholy privilege of being eaten up last. 
 Such contumely as this could only have been based on con- 
 tempt ; and we know this to have been the fact. ' A mere 
 nation of money-makers. A commimity divided between 
 selfish aristocrats and abject paupers. War, under such cir- 
 cumstances, they know to be impossible. Give them peace 
 and they will submit to anything.' This has been the lan- 
 guage constantly held, not only by the world at large, but 
 by pei^sons of the highest position and influence. 
 
 It will be well for us if, while there is yet time, we take 
 this to heart, and reflect whether there is solid foundation 
 for it. The previous papers of this series, although written 
 without any view to the political crisis, furnish to a great 
 extent the answer. We have seen that more than half the 
 population of England has already become an urban popula- 
 tion, and that this proportion is annually increasing. We 
 have also seen that the ordinary seductions of great cities, 
 aggravated by the corrupting influence of indiscriminate 
 voluntary and legal charity, have made our Metropolis and 
 other principal towns gigantic engines for depraving and 
 degrading our population. It has also been shown that this 
 moral and physical deterioration has gone so far, that 
 naturalised Londoners utterly fail when they are brought to 
 the test of the ordinary hard work of the uncontaminated 
 portion of our industrial population, and that the word is : —
 
 18 LONDOX PAUPERISM. 
 
 * Send ns no more men from tlie Thames, or other similar 
 places, whose constitutions are broken, and the men enfeebled 
 bj dissipation and excess of all kinds.' 
 
 Now let us see how this same urban population acquits 
 itself when tried by the test of emigration. The following ex- 
 tracts from the ' Toronto Globe ' and ' Ottawa Free Press ' 
 will suffice : — 
 
 A Bad Class of EiMIGRANTS. — We are sorry to observe tliat a large 
 number of the emigrants being sent out to this country tliis season by 
 the various emigration societies in England are not of such a class as 
 Avill tend to the development of its resources, or to the moral improve- 
 ment of its inhabitants. At the present time there are in the emigration 
 shed a large number of lazy characters, who will not accept a job when 
 offered them at a reasonable rate of remuneration, but spend their time 
 in loafing and drinking, and it is stated that they are almost continu- 
 ously engaging in most disgraceful quarrels. On Friday night a man 
 was lying in a beastly state of intoxication in the gutter in York Street, 
 while his wife, with an infant in her arms, jumped on his prostrate 
 form and dared any h'ish policeman to arrest her; if anyone was to 
 take her let him be a Canadian. On Saturday morning, again, a man 
 dragged his wife down upon the Grand Trunk Railway track, telling 
 her he was going to kill her ; and he would probably have been the 
 cause of her death had not some bystanders interfered and dragged her 
 off the track just as a moving train got within a very short distance of 
 her body. The engine driver of this train, seeing the affair as he 
 approached, endeavoured to stop, and as he was slackening speed a 
 train which was following ran into his train, and the funnel of the 
 engine in rear was knocked off, and other damages to the extent of about 
 ^'50 done. Both man and wife were arrested at the instance of the 
 Grand Trunk authorities ; and at the Police-court yesterday morning 
 the magistrate committed the husband for trial, while he ordered that 
 the wife be detained in gaol as a witness. Such acts as these are said 
 to be of almost daily occurrence. — Toronto Globe. 
 
 Emighants in Canada. — The Ottawa Free Piessoi Z\\\j^ gives 
 the following extraordinary account of emigrants recently arrived in 
 that quarter: 'During the past week 159 emigrants arrived in 
 this city; ninety -two were passengers by the steamer "Crocodile," 
 fifty-five by the "Medway," and twelve by the "Scandinavian." They 
 are mostly from London, England, and are called the London emi- 
 grants. They appear terribly dissatisfied at the state of affairs in 
 Canada, and complain bitterly of having been inveigled into this 
 country by promises of wages, such as ^'14 per month for female 
 general servants, and men's wages in proportion. They are not the 
 class of emigrants required for Canada. Although offered good wages 
 every hour of the day, they will not go to the country and work for the 
 farmers. The passengers by the " Crocodile " are especially hard to please,
 
 LONDON PAUPERISM. 19 
 
 and Mr. Willis has his own trouble with them. He sent five families 
 up to Huntley last week. They were of a better class than those in 
 town at present. Several smart-looking girls are now at the station ; 
 but they look for higher wages than they are likely to get in Canada, 
 and complain bitterly of the false reports circulated in the papers of the 
 old country. They will not think of working for less than ^16 per 
 month in the city ; and, as for working on a farm, they would not enter- 
 tain the idea for a moment. The men are engaging on the railways, 
 buildings, and other job-work in and around the city, and refuse to 
 work on farms, so that the farmers are likely to be as hard up for 
 workmen this season as they were last summer.' 
 
 There is yet one more test which is the most vital of all. 
 Certain of Her Majesty's ships are specially charged v^ith 
 the duty of entering boys for the royal navy. Among them 
 is the stationary flag ship in the Thames, which is the 
 nearest rendezvous for candidates from the London district. 
 The fitness of such candidates for the service is tested by 
 examinations, the principal conditions of which are that the 
 boys should be ' of sound constitution, not subject to fits, free 
 from any ph^^sical defects or malformation, and able to read 
 and write.' The result, during the last two years, is thus 
 reported by Dr. Ord, staff surgeon to H.M.S. ' Fisgard,' who 
 has been charged with this duty : — 
 
 Out of the total 5,567 candidates who appeared during these two 
 years, 4,410 were dismissed as ineligible for the service, and the re- 
 maining 1,157 eventually entered the navy. Out of 1,000 candidates, 
 this was equivalent to a ratio of 792 rejected against 208 accejDted. 
 Or, more familiarly, the rejections bore to the entries the ratio of 4 to 1. 
 In otherywords, no fewer than five candidates were required to supply 
 a single recruit. 
 
 The other places where boys are selected for the navy are 
 Liverpool, Portsmouth, and Plymouth. 
 
 But what is the out-turn of the boys who are thus wdnnowed 
 off from our town populations? In a paper submitted in 
 March last to the Medical Director-General of the ISTavy, by 
 Mr. Courtney, naval surgeon, the following statements occur: 
 
 We have now a vast number of men in the service who, in conse- 
 quence of their having been for the most part selected from the lowest 
 slums of the most populous towns in the kingdom, and the defective 
 system of examination, are both morally and physically bad, so that 
 they help to form that large class of persons who in all ships pass so 
 much of their time either on the ' sick list ' or the ' black list,' between 
 which there has always appeared to be a strange mysterious kind of 
 sympathy. The fruit is worthy of the blossoms. How can it be 
 
 B 2
 
 20 LONDON PAUPERIRNf. 
 
 otherwise ? As truly as ' the raven doth not liatcli a hirk,' so certain 
 may we be that sickly and vicious lads will not make good and tract- 
 able siiilors. What we want are strong lads, selected from respectable 
 sources, and examined on a totally different system ; for such boys 
 would not, as a rule, fail to make healthy and well-conducted men ; 
 and certainly they would be far better fitted for the purposes of war, 
 for we may be sure that the best and most valiant soldiers and sailors 
 have always been remarkable for a splendid physique, broad chests, and 
 sound digestion, and have thus enjoyed a buoyancy of temperament 
 and a fulness of vitality that has given them invincible energy and 
 courage. A cowardly heart and a diffident sjiirit are often the simple 
 results of a feeble constitution. 
 
 A reference to the medical statistical returns of the total naval force 
 for the year 18G7 (the last in my possession) shows that 130 per cent, 
 of the total force were under medical treatment; that the average 
 number of days' sickness to each man was 18 ; and that the ratio of 
 men invalided was nearly 3 per cent. If we refer to certain special 
 diseases which are considered the result of constitutional depravity, we 
 find that there are 375 cases of phthisis, 309 of heart disease, 60 of 
 scrofula, and 2,893 of debility. The above figures appear to indicate 
 an excessive amount of sickness, es-pecially when it is considered that 
 all the sufferers were supposed to have been ' picked lives,' and that the 
 society of which they are, or were, a part, contains no old people, and 
 no women or children, but is, as a rule, constituted of lads and young 
 men varying from 15 to 35 years of age. 
 
 Contrast with this the state of the navy in the time of our 
 fathers and grandfathers, as shown in the ' Memoirs of the 
 Earl St. Vincent.' 
 
 We there read that ' in the year 1800 the fleet before Ushant con- 
 sisted of never less than twenty-four sail-of-the-line, besides frigates, 
 sloops, &c. ; their crews always exceeded 23,000 men, and were con- 
 tinually on board. Not only did no hospital ship, the attendant- of 
 former cruizes, accompany this, to receive the worst cases, but each 
 ship "vvas ordered to retain her own invalids on board as much as 
 possible, instead of sending them to Plymouth and Portsmouth ; and, 
 what can scarcely be too often repeated, not one single fresh meal was 
 served out to the fleet.' This fileet, so circumstanced, after blockading 
 Brest for 121 days, arrived at Torbay in the month of November, and 
 all hospital cases were ordered to be landed :— r-' Out of the whole 
 fleet, the number of cases sufficiently serious for hospital care were six- 
 teen ! ' 
 
 Mr. Courtney's complaint is that the 
 
 Recruiting is too much confined to the large towns. The recruiting 
 officers are not required to travel in search of boys in other localities, 
 nor is there much effort made to entice boys from the country districts.
 
 LONDON PAUPERISM. 21 
 
 The result is, that three-fourths of the boys who enter the navy are 
 derived from London, Liverpool, and Manchester, and the remainder 
 are for the most part obtained from other large towns. In order that 
 some idea may be formed of the small number of country lads who 
 join the service in the London district, it may be quite sufficient to 
 state that out of 1,000 examined, only 3 or 4 stated that they had been 
 engaged in agricultural pursuits. I submit that large towns are, as a 
 rule, bad ground to work on. How bad London is as a source for ob- 
 taining boys is abundantly shown in an able article, Avritten by Dr. 
 Ord, staff-surgeon of H.M.S. ' Fisgard,' from which it appears that, out 
 of 5,567 candidates who appeared during two years, 4,410 were dis- 
 missed as ineligible for the service. How bad Liverpool is, may be 
 learned from the fact that I have hitherto rejected more than half of 
 those who have passed a preliminary examination by the marine 
 officer and the civil practitioner, before presenting themselves on board 
 H.M.S. ' Resistance.' 
 
 We would recommend Mr. Courtney to examine the table 
 of tlie population of twenty towns in the United Kingdom in 
 our second article, and the Registrar-General's remarks upon 
 it. He would then see the necessity of dismissing for ever 
 his romantic vision of ' a bold peasantry their country's pride.' 
 We are becoming more and more every year a town population; 
 and, if ' hearts of oak ' are wanted for the British navy, they 
 must be sought, not by still further exhausting the dimi- 
 nishing population of our rural districts, but by adopting 
 measures for improving the physically deteriorated and 
 morally depraved population of our great towns. 
 
 When I made my first northern journey, nearly fifty years 
 ago, I left London in the evening, and, after travelling the 
 whole of that night, the whole of the following day, and the 
 whole of the succeeding night, I found myself, on the morn- 
 ing of the third day, descending the hill at Gateshead, where, 
 greatly to my astonishment, I saw a train of coal- waggons
 
 22 LONDON PAUPERISM. 
 
 going uphill without horses, drawn by a stationary engine ; 
 and, soon after, crossing the Tyne on the beautiful coaching 
 bridge, which has lately been removed, I saw my first steam- 
 boat. The approach to Newcastle is a study of different 
 states of society. First of all, there is the steep and narrow 
 * side ' going from the nver straight up the face of the hill, 
 under the protection and control of the Castle (whence its 
 name). Then comes the long but still steep ascent belong- 
 ing to the mail coach era, which, in its time, was a great 
 step in advance ; and, last of all, we have the high level 
 bridge, with its double roadway for steam and horse traction. 
 There are some extremely curious houses on ' Sandhill,' at 
 the foot of the ' side,' which ought to be religiously j)reserved 
 as memorials of the past. 
 
 But our business now is, not with the past, but with the 
 present and the future. As members of the Society for 
 Organising Charitable Relief in the Metropolis, Mr. C. B. P. 
 Bosanquet and myself had conducted a correspondence on the 
 subject of the demand for labour in the ISTorth, and we wished 
 to see the matter nearer at hand, and to converse with those 
 who were immediately concerned. After fully conferring 
 with Mr. C. S. Smith, the zealous and intelligent Honorary 
 Secretary to the Newcastle Mendicity Society, we called on 
 Mr. Harrison and Mr. Hodgson, Engineers of the North- 
 Eastern Railway system and of many other works. These 
 gentlemen gave us, in few words, the sum of all we afterwards 
 heard. They said that they wanted, not only large numbers 
 of unskilled labourers for earthworks,but masons, bricklayers, 
 and carpenters for the structural parts ; and that the pro- 
 gress of each of the following works under their superin- 
 tendence, was more or less obstructed for want of sufiicient 
 supplies of labour: — the new railway between Pelaw and 
 Jarrow, the Team Valley Extension, the Saltburn Extension, 
 the new railway between Gilling and Helmsley, Yorkshire, 
 and the Middlesborough Docks ; and to this may be added 
 the Settle and Carlisle Railway, the contractor for which has 
 advertised for a thousand labourers. Messrs. Harrison and 
 Hodgson said that they did not know what was become of 
 the labour, and that they did not think that it was in the 
 countr}^, for they had in vain raised the wages of their plate- 
 layers a shilling a day, and their contractors were giving even 
 their unskilled labourers 3s. 6d. a day. We replied that we 
 could, to a great extent, account for its disappearance, for it 
 had been absorbed by London and other great towns, where
 
 LONDON PAUPERISM. 23 
 
 it was held in a state of unnatural congestion by many 
 deteriorating influences, of which a misdirected system of 
 charity is the most powerful. 
 
 Our next visits were paid to Mr. Mitchell's Iron Shipbuild- 
 ing establishment on the Lower Tyne, Sir William Arm- 
 strong's Ordnance and Civil Engineering Works at Elswick, 
 and the Consett Iron Company's Works in the county of 
 Durham. I cannot sufficiently express my admiration of the 
 magnificent class of merchant and passenger steamers which 
 we saw, in various stages of progress, in Mr. Mitchell's yard. 
 The plates, angle-irons, and other materials are received by 
 him ready-made ; while it is the specialty of the Consett 
 Company to prepare these materials, from the haematite and 
 ironstone to the finished plates and bars. These represent 
 two distinct categories of iron-works on the Tyne ; but they 
 are combined in Mr. Palmer's great establishment at Jarrow. 
 Sir William Armstrong is divided between the works of war 
 and those of peace ; and we could not help hoping that what 
 is now going on in Alsace and Lorraine will eventually lead 
 to the extension of his civil-engineering department, at the 
 expense of the monster instruments of destruction which 
 look as if they were the obsolete memorials of a barbaric 
 age. There was a general coincidence in the 'information 
 we received at these three works. The first class of skilled 
 workmen earn from ten to fifteen shillings a day. In Mr. 
 Mitchell's establishment, as in all other shipbuilding yards, 
 a large number of carpenters are employed, who are a well- 
 paid and very respectable class of workmen. The heavy 
 work, which does not require much skill, is done to a great 
 extent by Irish. In Mr. Mitchell's yard the plate- carriers 
 are nearly all Irish, and earn from 20s. to 30s. a week by 
 piecework. Of 3,000 workmen employed at Consett, nearly 
 half, including a majority of the puddlers, are Irish ; and it 
 was satisfactory to hear that, under the influence of regular 
 work and civilising surroundings, they had become more 
 orderly, and had improved in their personal character and 
 habits. ' 
 
 We had a delightful lesson in geography up the beautiful 
 valley of the Derwent, and so, by Witton-le-Wear, to Raby 
 Castle. I discovered that Raby Castle is not in Cleveland, 
 though, having a distant view of the Cleveland hills, the 
 ancestor of the present Duke adopted that title. This is 
 the charm of England. Standing in the ' Baron's Hall,' 
 here the Nevilles feasted the 700 knights who held of their
 
 24 LONDON PAUPERISM. 
 
 family, or lodging' at the g^and marble tomb, in Staindrop 
 church, of Ralph Neville Ijing between his two wives, 
 Margaret, daughter of Hugh Earl of Stafford, and Joan, 
 daughter of John of Gaunt and Catherine Swinford, who 
 could imagine himself on the border-land between the coal 
 and iron district ! ' Peace has her triumphs not less re- 
 nowned than war/ The descendants of our good patriots. 
 Sir Harry Vane the elder and younger, are installed at Raby ; 
 but the real representatives of the Nevilles, in the present 
 genei-ation, are the Peases, the Elliots, the Bolcliows, the 
 Palmers. Tenitorial possessions and political power are 
 passing into their hands ; and justly so, for they have done 
 more for the North of England than ever was accomplished 
 by Neville, Clifford, or Percy. 
 
 Cleveland is composed of scattered hills varied with 
 charming dales ; and the hills contain a seam of ironstone 
 about eleven feet thick, containing from 80 to 34 per cent, of 
 iron in a matrix of clay. We thoroughly investigated Mr. 
 J. W. Pease ^s Upleatham Works, as a fair specimen of the 
 whole. This is an isolated oblong hill, the northern face 
 of which overlooks the sea. On the southern side is the 
 Earl of Zetland's beautiful seat, Upleatham Hall ; and his 
 woods and pleasure-grounds overspread the hill. But woods 
 and fields must all submit to a descent of several feet, 
 for Mr. Pease has girdled the hill, and driven a gallery 
 through it, and the interior is honeycombed in every direc- 
 tion, leaving a roof of less than three feet, which is uniformly 
 separated from the rest of the stratum by a narrow sulphur 
 band ; so that, in less than forty years, the entire seam of 
 ironstone will be extracted, and the hill, with all the Earl's 
 woods upon it, will subside to that extent. As there are no 
 other heights in the immediate neighbourhood to compare 
 with it, no one will miss the loss of a few feet ; and Mr. Pease 
 has contracted to restore the surface to a state fit for agri- 
 culture, and to make it all look as well as ever. The other 
 Cleveland hills have their peaceful Nevilles and Percies, under 
 the modern designations of ' Attwood,' ' Lowthian Bell,"Bolc- 
 kow and Yaughan,' &c. ; and the vast supplies of ironstone 
 raised by them are reduced to a marketable state at the local 
 capital of Middlesborough, the reality of the sudden growth 
 of which beats all the imaginary creations of the Arabian 
 Nights. 
 
 But what is the effect of all this upon the labour market, 
 and consequently upon the well-being of the people ? These 
 great industries are as much a new growth as the settlements
 
 LONDON PAUPERISM. 25 
 
 in the backwoods of America. Thirty years ago the iron 
 shipbuilding yards on the Tyne, the ironstone mines in 
 Cleveland, and numerous furnaces and rolling mills at 
 Middlesborough, Consett, Jarrow, and many other places in 
 Northumberland, Durham, and the northern part of York- 
 shire, had no existence, while the complex network of 
 railways subsidiary to these works and still in progress, is, 
 of course, a yet later creation. The alkali manufactories on 
 the Tyne, which employ a great amount of unskilled labour, 
 have multiplied of late years to a degree which is equivalent 
 to a new creation. Although Clydesdale is still advancing, 
 Tynedale is perhaps going faster ahead ; for coal and iron 
 are so abundant there, that even Glasgow firms are forming 
 establishments on the Tyne in order to profit by the cheap- 
 ness of the materials of manufacture. In consequence of this 
 continuous growth, the demand for labour keeps well ahead 
 of the supply. Under the regime of the mosstroopers and the 
 wardens of the marches, the northern counties were thinly 
 inhabited, and the native population was utterly unequal to 
 the requirements of these imported industries. Hence the 
 great influx of workmen from the South and West of Eng- 
 land and from Ireland ; and, even so, the supply does not 
 keep pace with the demand. Wages have consequently 
 risen to a very high rate. I do not say that they are too 
 high, but there is a general concurrence of opinion that they 
 are higher than is consistent with the existing moral and 
 intellectual state of great numbers of the workpeople. Their 
 material circumstances have outstripped their mental con- 
 dition, and they do not know how to profit by their novel 
 state of ease and abundance. We were constantly met by 
 expressions of this sort, ' The work is never so well done 
 when wages are high. The men drink more, work shorter 
 time, and do less piece work.' Where the pay day is on 
 Friday, a large proportion of the men are absent on Saturday 
 and Monday ; and, where it is on Saturday, regular attend- 
 ance cannot be calculated on until Wednesday. Their 
 whole scheme and plan of life is pitched far too low ; intellec- 
 tual tastes they have none ; neither are they sensible of the 
 duty and advantage of providing for the future. Therefore, 
 when they have made enough for sensual enjoyment, they 
 stop work until they have spent it in debauchery. 
 
 Nevertheless, it is delightful to see the prevailing well- 
 being. The stalwart Northumbrian, the broadchested York- 
 shireman, the brawny Irishman are all in first-rate ph3^sical 
 condition. This is a great present good, and is also full of
 
 26 LONDON PAUPERISM. 
 
 promise for the future. The women and children are well 
 fed and well clothed ; and the contrast between the neces- 
 sary grimy appearance of the men and the neatness of 
 their wives and daughters is very striking. There is also 
 an obvious effort to keep the children clean; and, when 
 I once ventured to remark upon a child's dirty face, the 
 mother replied, ' Sir, if he was to be always clean, I should 
 be washing him all day.' The houses provided by the 
 Consett Company for their workmen, and by Mr. Pease 
 for his miners, left nothing to be desired ; and they are fully 
 appreciated by the occupants, for they are i)ictures of neat- 
 ness. Finding two rooms unoccupied in one of them, I 
 asked the young matron why she did not take in a lodger, 
 to which she replied, with a smile, that she and her husband 
 preferred not to do so. They had only lately married. 
 Ball-courts, cricket-fields, reading-rooms, savings' banks, and 
 excellent schools are provided, and a certain liberal super- 
 vision is exercised over the younger men. When we were 
 going the round of Mr. Pease's village, we found a young 
 man, to all appearance, sitting doing nothing in one of the 
 houses. The manager asked him whether he was sick, to 
 which he replied that he was, ' sick of love.' The excuse 
 was at once admitted, for there was more than one young 
 woman in the room with whom any young man might have 
 fallen in love. There is more than enough in all this to 
 account for the improvement of the Irish population of 
 Consett in civilisation. The sensual indulgence previously 
 alluded to is, we may hope, already an exception to the 
 general rule; and it must gradually disappear before the 
 growth of moral habits and intellectual tastes. It was 
 pleasant to see that the liquor generally used for supplying 
 the exhaustion caused by the heavy labour in connection 
 with the furnaces at Consett was ginger beer, which is 
 made on the spot in a wholesale way. 
 
 We inquired at all these establishments what effect the 
 war had had on them. In the iron ship-building yards the 
 first result had been to make all the orders already given 
 urgent ; so anxious are shipowners to make the most of the 
 present high rates of freight. The demand for iron plates 
 and angle-irons — the materials of iron-ship building — had 
 been increased from the same cause. But, as regarded the 
 general industry of the iron mines and iron works we could 
 not find that the war had made any actual difference, though 
 of course there was no want of conjecture as to what the
 
 LONDON PAUPERISM. 27 
 
 ulterior consequences were likely to be. The German cause 
 was the favourite one with all classes, partly because the trade 
 of those parts is more connected with Germany than with 
 France (two French gun-boats had been sighted oif Hartle- 
 pool and Tynemouth), but chiefly because the contest is 
 between German popular government and French im- 
 perialism. 
 
 In m}^ next I will enter more into detail as to the nature 
 and extent of the demand for labour in the North of England, 
 and will make some observations upon the influence which it 
 is capable of exercising upon London pauperism. 
 
 VT. 
 
 After explaining the causes which have led to the present 
 demand for labour in the North of England, I promised to 
 show its nature and extent. Two disturbing influences in- 
 terfered for a time with the steady growth of this prosperity. 
 The pitmen and miners, relying too much on its uninterrupted 
 continuance, struck for higher wages ; and upon the strike 
 came the financial and commercial collapse ushered in by 
 Overend, Gurney's failure. These counteracting influences 
 having now exhausted themselves, the normal causes have 
 begun to act again with even increased force. Suspended 
 orders have to be satisfled, and accumulated savings to be 
 profitably invested, while the high rates of wages and Mr. 
 Dale's Darlington Board of Arbitration have, for the present, 
 banished all fear of the recurrence of serious difiiculties 
 between master and workmen. This will diminish the 
 surprise with which the replies to the circular issued by Mr. 
 C. S. Smith, from the Charity Ofiice at Newcastle, at the 
 request of the London Charity Organisation Society, would 
 otherwise have been regarded. Those replies are given, in a 
 tabulated form, word for word as they were received.
 
 28 
 
 LONDON PAUPERISM. 
 
 Address 
 
 John Middlcton, Bcd- 
 lington Collieries, 
 Northumberland. 
 
 Black, Hawthorn and 
 Co., Engineers, &c., 
 Gateshead. 
 
 A. Goold and Co., Bil- 
 son and Crump 
 Meadow Collieries. 
 
 rVUhusen and Sons, 
 Newcasde-on-T^ne. 
 
 Ilew many men are likely to be wanted 
 this year, aud of what class 
 
 Strakers and Lore 
 (William Wood, Ma- 
 nager), Brancepeth 
 Colliery, Willington, 
 Durham. 
 
 W. Jenkins, General 
 Manager,Consett Iron 
 Company, Durham. 
 
 We employ about 1,300 men in 
 all, who are chiefly plumbers, 
 millwrights, joiners, masons, 
 blacksmiths, fui:naeemcn, and 
 labourers. 
 
 Want 100 coal hewers, but will 
 obtain them in this district. 
 
 We are increasing our number at 
 an average of two per week. The 
 different classes we employ are : — 
 Pattern-makers, fitters, boiler- 
 makers, blacksmiths, labourers,&c. 
 
 There is no spare labour whatever 
 in this district; on the contrary, 
 according to my experience, there 
 is a great absence of skilled 
 workmen, arising from the fact 
 that a number of the best hands 
 have emigrated. 
 
 Wanted at present ten or twelve 
 strong labourers for filling coke 
 trucks in our coke yards ; must 
 not be less than 6ft. 6in. or 5ft. 
 8in., unless very powerful men. 
 
 So far as we can now judge, we 
 would employ 120 to 150 addi- 
 tional pitmen, and keep them 
 at full work over this year. We 
 could also take from 40 to 50 
 puddlers or undcrhands or as- 
 sistant puddlers. 
 
 "When they are wanted 
 
 We employ our men all the 
 year round ; but new en- 
 gagements must from time 
 to time be made to fill up 
 the vacancies which must 
 constantly occur amongst 
 so large a body of men. 
 
 Immediately. 
 
 Immediately, and for Bran- 
 don Colliery Coke Works, 
 near Durham. 
 
 It would suit us to take the 
 pitmen in batches of about 
 20 or so per week. As to 
 puddlers or underhand 
 puddlers, these might be 
 put on in batches of about 
 10 or 12 per week.
 
 LONDON PAUPEEISM. 
 
 29 
 
 "What wages 
 
 Millwriglits, 4.5. 8d. ; joiners, 
 45. 6d. ; masons, 5s. ; fur- 
 nacemen, from 45. 6d. to 
 45. lOd. ; blacksmiths, 45. 
 id. ; bricklayers, 45. 8d. ; 
 and labourers from 165. 
 upwards. 
 
 Piece work, earnings 55. 6d 
 to 6s. a-day. 
 
 Skilled workmen, 245. to 
 305. per week ; do, by piece 
 work, from 305. to 0O5. 
 Apprentices 45. to 1 25. per 
 week. Labourers from 
 17s. to 2O5. 
 
 How long employment can be 
 guaranteed 
 
 Men are engaged by the 
 fortnight. Some good men 
 remain with us for many 
 years, but unsatisfactory 
 characters and extra hands 
 are discharged when their 
 services can be dispensed 
 with. 
 
 Don't give any guarantee ; 
 receive or give one month's 
 notice to quit. 
 
 Oood men can make easily 
 45. 6d. a-day ; average 
 from 3s. 6d. to 45. 
 
 The wages of the pitmen 
 would vary from 45. to 6s., 
 and in some cases 6s. 6d. 
 per day, according to the 
 skill and power of the 
 workman. Puddlers could 
 earn, if good men, 8s. to 
 9s. per day. Under hands, 
 young men of from 16 to 
 25, could earn from ISs. to 
 21s. per week. 
 
 Twelve months. 
 
 We could not well bind our- 
 selves to guarantee them 
 permanent employment, 
 but the present prospects 
 are that all would certain- 
 ly be kept at work for the 
 whole of this year at the 
 least. 
 
 We would siiggest that the 
 names and qualifications of 
 men in want of employment 
 be furnished to the em- 
 ployers of labour w^ho have 
 frequently vacancies to sup- 
 ply- 
 
 We have had 32 men from 
 East London. With the ex- 
 ception of 3 or 4 they are 
 utterly useless for the work. 
 No comparison between 
 them and our ordinary hands. 
 Men from Bucks, Bedford, and 
 Cumberland we have got are 
 doing well. Please say if you 
 can supply the above hands. 
 
 For pitmen, we should, of 
 course, prefer men accustomed 
 to underground work, but 
 strong and healthy young men 
 might well be employed in our 
 pits. By puddlers we mean 
 men well trained to their work. 
 For underhands any able- 
 bodied young men of from 16 
 to 25 would suit, and by-and- 
 bye these young men might 
 with a little industry and 
 steadiness become puddlers, 
 earning from 85. 1 95. per day.
 
 LONDON PAUPERISM. 
 
 Thos. Clarke and Co., 
 Elswick Marine En- 
 gine Works, New- 
 custle-on-Tyne. 
 
 Losh, Wilson, and Bell, 
 Nowcastle-on-Tyue. 
 
 J. Lowthian Bell, The 
 Hall, Washington, 
 Durham. 
 
 Lustrum Iron Works, 
 Stockton-on-Tees. 
 
 S. Richardson, Merry- 
 bent Mining Com- 
 pany, 6, Paradise row, 
 Darlington. 
 
 C. Mitchell and Co., 
 Newcastle-on-Tyne. 
 
 Fox, Head and Co., 
 
 Newport Rolling 
 
 Mills, Middles- 
 borough. 
 
 Jones, Dunning and 
 Co., Normanby Iron 
 Works, Middles- 
 
 borough. 
 
 How many men are likely to be wanted 
 this year, and of what class 
 
 Generally work for good men, 
 number uncertain, — fitters, ma- 
 chinists, foundrymon, black- 
 smiths, and smiths' labourers. 
 
 We could take a few dozen steady 
 men on at general labouring work 
 in the next two months. 
 
 We could take a number of men at 
 Tinsdale Colliery capable of hew- 
 ing coal. If you can help us to 
 these we should be glad to afford 
 them employment. 
 
 It is quite impossible for i;s to say 
 how many men we may require. 
 At present, having been slack, we 
 have but few (about thirty). Be- 
 fore the end of the year wo may 
 have 150. 
 
 One hundred. 
 
 It being difficult to answer cate- 
 gorically the questions as put, we 
 beg to say that employment being 
 plentiful in this district, men are 
 very capricious and continually 
 changing. We could, therefore, 
 in a few weeks find room for say 
 100 workers of the various classes 
 employed in iron ship-building. 
 
 "When they are wanted 
 
 Can take two or three good 
 fitters at any time. 
 
 Part this month and part 
 next. 
 
 Four per week until the 
 end of the year. 
 
 Say twenty strong active lads of In four lots of five each. 
 15 to 18 years of age. 
 
 We are at present full, but have 
 considerable difficulty in getting 
 the men to work full time.
 
 LONDON PAUPERISM. 
 
 31 
 
 What wages 
 
 According to merit — average 
 245. 
 
 15s. to 185. per week, 
 cording to their ability. 
 
 35. to is. Gd. per day. 
 
 The wages of skilled work- 
 men vary from 205. to 305. 
 per week, and labourers 
 from 155. to 185., when 
 working on time, which, 
 however, is quite an excep- 
 tion. When working on 
 piece, their average wages 
 are 50 per cent, higher 
 than the above, and good 
 workmen make double 
 their time wages. 
 
 How long employment can be 
 guaranteed 
 
 Uncertain. 
 
 ac- Labour is somewhat scarce 
 here at present, but never- 
 theless we would not bind 
 ourselves to find a man 
 work, as he might not suit 
 us. 
 
 25. to 35. per shaft. 
 
 Our average wages amount 
 to about 285. 4:d. per week 
 per man. 
 
 As long as the iron trade 
 keeps good. 
 
 We would guarantee ' six 
 months' work to good, 
 steady workmen. 
 
 Any length of time if they 
 worked well. 
 
 We have constant employ- 
 ment for all our men. 
 
 The men wanted are quarry- 
 men and labourers used to 
 heavy work, such as loading 
 stones into trucks. 
 
 And we consider that if such 
 an organisation as is proposed 
 could be carried out, it would 
 very much promote the equal- 
 isation of labour throughout 
 the country, and be of equal 
 benefit to employers and em- 
 ployed. 
 
 They would be required as 
 underhand puddlers, and 
 would be put to learn with 
 puddlers. By the age of 21 
 they would become forehands, 
 and could then, if steady, earn 
 from 405. to 505. per week 
 clear. 
 
 A great number of men are 
 wanted in this district, par- 
 ticularly puddlers and miners.
 
 LONDON PAUPERISM. 
 
 T. R. Oswald, 
 Sunderland. 
 
 Addrosg 
 
 Pallic 
 
 W. R. Papo, 36, Wost- 
 gate street, Newcastle- 
 on-Tyne. 
 
 Eckerslcy and Bayliss. 
 William Mousley, 
 Chief Agent, Con- 
 tractor's Office, Scot- 
 by, near Carlisle 
 (Carlisle and Settle 
 Railway). 
 
 Shildon Works Com- 
 pany. W. Snaitli, 
 Casiiier. N.E. Rail- 
 way Locomotive De- 
 partment, Darlington 
 Section, Darlington. 
 
 Sampson Langdale, 
 Chemical AVorks, 
 
 Newcastle-on-Tyne. 
 
 H. Wrightson and Co., 
 Teesdale Iron Works, 
 Stockton-on-Tees. 
 
 Wallsend Cement Com- 
 pany. Francis Smith, 
 Managing Director, 2, 
 Lombard Street, New- 
 castle-on-Tyne. 
 
 West Stockton Iron 
 Company. William 
 Prosser, Stockton-on- 
 Tees. 
 
 J. Wigham Richardson 
 
 How many men are likely to In; wanted 
 this year, and of what class 
 
 50 for shipyard "I As 
 
 100 for 7-()lling mills V labourers, 
 tjO fur fitting shops J good men. 
 
 When they are wanted 
 
 Some at once ; others at 
 three months' time. 
 
 and Co. 
 on-Tyne. 
 
 Four skilled workmen for action- Immediately, 
 filling, wages 40.s. to 505. per 
 week. General jobbing men SO*-, 
 per week. 
 
 We can give immediate employ- 
 ment to 500 navvies and la- 
 boiii'ers ; and a further number of 
 500 can find employment in a 
 month or two. 
 
 Fitters, smiths, 
 
 smiths . 
 Waggon Wrights 
 Labourers . 
 
 Total 
 
 boiler 
 
 200 to 400 strong able-bodied men. 
 
 Newcastle- 
 
 At the present time we are pretty 
 well supplied with men, but we 
 can generally (and could now) 
 find room for some good moulders 
 and bridge or boiler makers, also 
 labourers. 
 
 Ten labourers, those only who 
 have worked in cement manu- 
 factories. 
 
 We could take 20 young men, say 
 from 16 to 18 years of age, of 
 the strong labouring class, to make 
 underhand puddlers. 
 
 Twenty labourers to help in an 
 iron ship yard ; six blacksmiths 
 and strikers. 
 
 Immediately, 
 
 In December, 1870, and 
 January, 1871. 
 
 We are likely to be busy 
 during the whole of this 
 autumn, and want as many 
 men now as we are likely 
 to do during the next few 
 months. 
 
 Could all be taken on in 
 about two months, say two 
 or three weekly. 
 
 Labourers at once, and 
 blacksmiths later on a 
 little.
 
 LONDON PAUPERISM. 
 
 33 
 
 What wage's 
 
 lOt*;. to 17-5.! ship yard; 155. 
 to 2(\>?., rolling mills; 18s. 
 to 205., fitting shops. 
 
 40.S. to 505. 
 
 Wages average from 3^. to 
 35. 6d. per day. 
 
 Fitters, smiths, and boiler 
 smiths, id. to o^d. per 
 hour ; wnggon wrights, id. 
 to od. per hour ; labourers, 
 3d. to 3^d. per hour. 
 
 185. to 245. per week. 
 
 Our wages are about 275. to 
 285. per week, but we do 
 most of our work by 
 ' piece.' 
 
 The minimum is 185. per 
 week ; but ' piece work ' 
 Would be given, for which 
 the wages usually earned 
 range from 235. to 305. per 
 week. 
 
 How long employment can be 
 guai-anteed 
 
 Six months in advi 
 
 Five years ; agi-eemont, if 
 required, to find constant 
 employ. 
 
 rwo 
 
 years. 
 
 Twelve months at least. 
 
 Constant employment if 
 good, steady, industrious 
 
 We could not guarantee em- 
 ployment, but if the men 
 are steady and good work- 
 men, we should be able to 
 employ them for several 
 months. 
 
 If the men gave satisfaction, 
 they would be regularly 
 employed ; but we would 
 not continue to employ 
 them if they proved to be 
 indiiferent workmen. 
 
 Remarks 
 
 From 35. 3d. to 35. 6d. per :Const:int employment, 
 diem. 
 
 Lrbourers, 165. to 205. per 
 week, according to ability ; 
 blacksmiths, 275. to 285., 
 ditto ; strikers, 175. to 185., 
 ditto. 
 
 As long as tliey behave pro- 
 perly, at least for a year or 
 two. 
 
 We already have a large num- 
 ber on, but are generally 
 short supplied with ordinary 
 labourers. 
 
 I don't think any class of men 
 will apply for ti-amps, as I 
 never found anything but 
 worthless men on tramp. 
 
 We enclose one, of our bills 
 now being posted about the 
 country, which will give all 
 further information. 
 
 The men being required for 
 work in a chemical manufac- 
 tory, it will be of no use send- 
 ing men from the Thames, or 
 similar places, whose consti- 
 tutions are broken, and the 
 men enfeebled by dissipation 
 and excesses of all kinds. 
 
 The young men must be fairly 
 robust, as they would woi'k 
 night and day alternate weeks. 
 Eventually, after two or three 
 years' service, they would earn 
 from 355. to 505. weekly.
 
 84 LOXDOX rAL'PERl.S>f. 
 
 And all this in addition to the skilled and nnslcilled labour 
 required b}' Messrs. Harrison & Hod^^son, or their contraetors, 
 iilhided to in onr last article, and by numerous other estab- 
 lishments from which no answers were received. 
 
 Those who hitely urged Parliament to employ the produce 
 of the ta.xes in sending away the bone and sinew of the coun- 
 try, cannot have been aware of this state of things. This 
 great home demand is not confined to any particular class of 
 labour. The artisans in the iron-ship-building yards at the 
 East-end, who threw themselves out of work, and initiated 
 the poor law and charity pauperisation which has disgraced 
 that part of London, and their more numerous unskilled 
 assistants who were thrown out of work by them, could all be 
 absorbed without sensibly diminishing the demand. The 
 men in the ' building trades ' in London, who complain of 
 being out of work in the winter, could find employment in a 
 district Avhere the work goes on all the year round. But the 
 most blessed result of all would be the depletion of our 
 southern and western counties of that excess of agricultural 
 labour, which, with the exception of Cornwall,* has reduced 
 their population to a state of virtual serfdom. Those who 
 read the answers to Mr. Smith's circular cannot fail to be 
 struck with the great demand for unsMlled labour in the iron 
 and coal mines, the coking and chemical works, the iron 
 works, the ship-building yards, and the railway works of the 
 North. The only qualification required is sound health and 
 readiness to work ; and, b}^ entering as ' underhands ' in the 
 iron works and ship-building yards, young men would soon 
 rise to a rate of wage, which, with ordinary prudence, would 
 place them in an independent position for life. The addresses 
 of the managers of the different works have been given in 
 order that those who wish to obtain employment in the 
 North, or their friends for them, may enter into direct com- 
 munication with the works which they prefer. Listead of 
 
 * Mr. ])olitlio's answer to Mr. Smith's circular was as follows : 'Penzance, July 
 25, 1870. There are many infirm men out of employment, but of good miners — 
 such* as would suit your purpose — there is a scarcity. Emigration has carried oif 
 all the good men, leaving the drones.' Nothing can be more honourable to the 
 Cornishmen than their determination not to lose their independence of position and 
 character. When their mining industry failed, owing to the competition of foreign 
 mines, the young men set out in batches to the countries from which the competi- 
 tion came; and so many of them have returned with little fortunes, that, although 
 Cornish tin is looking up Hgain, the emigration continues. Eut it is not every- 
 body who could succeed in the mines of Mexico and Peru as Cornishmen have 
 done.
 
 LONDOX PAUPERISM. 35 
 
 the larg-e sums required for passages to Canada or Australia, 
 from ten shillings to a pound will suffice for the expenses of 
 this home migration ; and, if an advance is required, it will 
 generally be given where good testimonials to character and 
 ability are forthcoming. London would be as much benefited 
 as the country by the transfer of the surplus agricultural 
 labour to the industrial establishments of the North, for it is 
 the constant influx of this surplus which swamps the labour 
 market of London, and throw^s the unemployed population 
 upon the poor rate and charity. 
 
 This ' Labour Return ' has extended to such great length 
 that we must reserve for our next number the remarks we 
 have to make upon the special bearing of the subject upon 
 London.
 
 ;)G LONDON rAl'TKUISM. 
 
 VIL 
 
 Mr. J. W. Pease, writing lately to the Secretary of the 
 Newcastle-upon-Tyne Charity Committee, said : — 
 
 I am sorry to henr tliat your London men Lave turned out badly. 
 Tliree out of three liundred and twenty turned out badly with us; but 
 our manager says that, on the whole, a finer lot of men he never saw. 
 They settled well to work after they found that the charity, which they 
 seemed to have received in London in such abundance, was not to be 
 had, and that it was ' hard work and plenty of pay.' 
 
 A month ago ' upwards of seventy of the men had gone 
 inside ' — that is, they had left the easier work outside with 
 which they were at first indulged, and had accepted the hard 
 work and high pay inside the mine. 
 
 The principal object we had in view in visiting the Cleve- 
 land district was to find out what Mr. Pease's secret was, 
 and this we are able to tell in his own words : — 
 
 You ask me about the men we have received from London. I hand 
 you, in the first place, a copy of our rules and regulations under which 
 our men are hired. They were very carefully drawn, and we have 
 been complimented upon them by one or two of the county court 
 judges. Every man who enters our employment receives a copy of 
 these rules, and he signs the duplicate in the ollice. I enclose you a 
 copy of the instructions to ]Mr. Watson, of East London, who hired 
 these men for us. Our manager, Mr. Cockburn, tells me that the rule 
 he acts upon is to pay w^hat you promise, and to promise nothing 
 which you cannot frankly and honestly carry out. 
 
 We have paid the passage-money for 502 ; but the fact of our 
 obtaining men induced many others to come into the district of their 
 own accord. You will see that we stipulated with them, that, unless they 
 stayed with us twelve months, on leaving they were to refund the 
 money, which was, I believe, 75. Gd., and 35. bd. in their hands for 
 provisions. There are at work in the mines now about 310 or 312 of 
 these men; consequently we have lost about 190 of those brought 
 down, of whom only one has not returned his passage-money. They 
 were, first of all, set to connnon earthwork ; either filling up the places 
 damaged by the workings, so as to restore the ground ibr agricultural 
 use, or baring ironstone by removing the superincumbent earth from 
 off it. 'J'he [)rice paid to them was that which we were paying to
 
 LONDOxNf PAUPERISM. 37 
 
 others — Qd. a yard. We have had it done as low as 4|c/. per yard. 
 The men's earnings average from 3s. 4cZ. to 5s. 6d. a day. We gave 
 the new hands a ' subsist ' (advance of pay for subsistence) of from 
 2s. 6d. to 3s. 4d. Altera week or two sixty of these men went into the 
 mine. They had either been at similar work before, or had been at 
 tiumeling for the Metropolitan Railway Company. Those who went 
 inside had their ' subsist' increased to 5s. a day; and if they had not 
 earned it by pay-day, as they were new hands, we were not very par- 
 ticular about it. There are now 154 in the mines entirely on their 
 own hook, receiving no extra wages, but taking their regular place 
 with the other men. Those who did not like the work left it. Some 
 are at work in the district around. 
 
 On going tlirough the mines the other day I spoke to a man who 
 came from Oxfordshire. He said he had never before earned more 
 than Is. ^d. He was now averaging 4s. 9d. His mate came with him, 
 but had gone back to Oxfordshire ' because his wife was there.' I 
 asked him why he had not brought his wife with him. He said, 
 ' because the man could not find a house.' I said, 'I suppose he found 
 the work rather harder than the Oxfordshire work.' He laughed and 
 said, ' There is some truth in that.' There is no doubt that there is a 
 scarcity of houses. At the same time many of the men have brought 
 their wives wdth them, and have obtained houses; and we have bought 
 a stock of furniture of a suitable kind with which we are helping them 
 out, and they pay for it out of their wages, so much a week, as they 
 can afford. 
 
 We spoke to maiij of the London men, both in and ont of 
 the mines. They seemed contented, and even pleased with their 
 present position. There is reason to believe that not a dozen 
 men have gone back to London of those who were originally 
 engaged by Mr. Pease, the great majority of those who have 
 left the mines having taken other employment in the neigh- 
 bourhood. Where there is plenty of work at good wages, 
 both above and below ground, men may be excused for 
 exercising a choice. The Londoners we conversed with had 
 a strong impression of the difficulty of inducing ' a regular 
 Cockney' to follow their example. One said, 'All the engines 
 on the Thames Embankment works would not drag them out 
 of London ; ' and another, ' They had rather clam in London 
 than live on good beef and mutton anywhere else.' On the 
 other hand, the persons requiring labour must have reason- 
 able confidence that the right men will be sent to them. 
 The key to Mr. Pease's success is that his London men were 
 selected by an agent of his own in London, who knew what 
 sort of men he wanted, and was able to explain to the men 
 what their prospects w^ere. The instructions to the agent 
 will be found at the end of this article. Most large estab-
 
 0« LONDON PAITEHISM. 
 
 lishmenfs have confidential i^ersons in London whom they 
 can employ for such a purpose ; and builders and others in 
 the North of England, whose work is almost at a standstill 
 because they cannot get even ordinary hodmen to supply 
 their skilled hands, would do well to make a similar arrange- 
 ment. The same person might with great advantage act as 
 agent for several employers of labour. 
 
 How much the success of any plan for the migration of 
 labour depends upon the original selection will be seen from 
 the following letters from Mr. Jenkins, the able and enlight- 
 ened manager of the Consett Company's Works : — 
 
 Consett, July 12, 1870. 
 
 I have had some very fliscouragiiig experience in the introduction of 
 strangers to these works. Still this in no way alters my belief as to the 
 desirability of transferring workmen from the places where they are 
 abundant, to works whore hands are scarce. On Tuesday last I got 
 from Staffordshire nineteen puddlers and thirty-six pitmen, in all fifty- 
 five men. These were obtained for me by an agent for this kind of 
 work, who, though I had strong suspicion of his character, would not, 
 1 thought, have sent me such a complete lot of vagabonds. "We paid 
 the men's- fare from Bilston here, we fed them and found lodgings for 
 them on the night of their arrival, and all promised fairly for a good 
 st-art in a day or two afteiwards. From the appearance of the men, I 
 must say, they did not look like steady, good workmen. However, to cut 
 this short, I will say that three-fourths of them have absconded, and 
 are very likely prowling about the workhouses, deceiving parish officers 
 all over the district. The bulk of them had signed agreements forgoing 
 on with the work, and many of them actually conunenced work, and 
 received a small trifle in cash on account of their work ; but the 
 cash soon led them to the beershops, at which they remained, and 
 fhially skulked away. I repeat all this to show you how difficult it is 
 to deal with tliese men ; and also to show you that, if workmen are to 
 be removed at all, regard should be had to the careful selection of 
 tolerably steady men, willing to work for the current prices. In the 
 above ca«e I have simply been deceived I fell among thieves, and 
 must just do the best I can. I have had simimonses issued for the 
 appreh; nsion of some of these defaulters, to show those who remain 
 that we are not to be so treated with impunity ; but, even if the men 
 are taken and punished, I fear there will be little good done. 
 
 The lesson given us last week will make us very cautious as to advan- 
 cing money for the conveyance of men ; but we are willing to do this if we 
 have a reasonable assurance that the men (say from Cornwall) are likely 
 to be steady, and to remain with us, say for six months. The same 
 will apply to pitmen, as to young men for the puddling ; and further, 
 what we think ought to be a temptation is, tliat, besides assisting them 
 to come here, deducting fortnightly from their wages the expense of 
 such assistance, we should, in the event of thoir remaining six months,
 
 LONDON PAUPERISM. 39 
 
 refund to them tlie cost of the removal so charged to their accounts. 
 However this is done, you must see that some risk must be taken by 
 some one. Cornishmen, we think, would suit us very well for our pits, 
 and young Cornishmen, of from sixteen to twenty-five, would suit us 
 as underhands in the puddling. Have you observed the great scarcity 
 of work for colliers in the forest of Dean, Gloucestershire ? These pitmen 
 would suit us well, but we are too full with oiu* daily business, just now, 
 to tout about for them. If you have machinery in motion for this work, 
 pray see whether it is worth your while to look out for Cornishmen or 
 Forest of Dean men for places like ours where workmen are so scarce. 
 
 Consett, July U, 1870. 
 Our hope is to have a careful selection of men made, adapted to the 
 Avork we have to give them. For pitmen here, where woi-k is abundant 
 and well-paid, we should try and get ready-made pitmen from districts 
 where work is scarce and wages low, as appears to be the case now in 
 Gloucestershire. The same also with regard to puddlers. We do not, 
 however, expect to get many ready-made puddlers, as the demand is so 
 very great; but young men of from sixteen to twenty-five, able-bodied 
 and disposed to work, might do well, and would suit us well to begin 
 as underhands, and to learn their business. 
 
 This last suggestion is full of promise to all concerned. 
 Young men w^lio are unmarried, or have only recently mar- 
 ried, can easily move, and readily apply themselves to new 
 kinds of work ; and, after a short probation, they often 
 become better workmen than older hands. ' Puddling ' (for 
 which no machinery has been invented to supersede the 
 human hand) is no doubt hard worl?:, but it is far from being 
 unhealthy. An experienced manager once told me that he 
 had never seen a dead puddler. After a few years puddlers 
 go to other lighter kinds of labour. This is, however, only 
 one class of highly paid labour. The skilled workmen in the 
 iron ship-building yards, for instance, get still higher wag-es, 
 and there is nothing in that work which an intelligent, 
 willing young man, either from town or country, could not 
 soon lea.rn. 
 
 In rural districts, where the character and circumstances 
 of every person are well known, clergymen, country gentle- 
 men, and others may with advantage act as intermediaries ; 
 but in large towns, and especially in London, no detailed 
 charitable organisation has yet been established able to cope 
 with the prevailing mendicant habits. Therefore, instead of 
 trusting to charitable societies, employers of labour should 
 select their men from large towns through authorised agents, 
 who would know, from their own experience, whether the 
 candidates for employment would be likely to turn out
 
 40 LONDOX PAUPEKISM. 
 
 useful workmeu. But they should not expect too much. 
 The morality and physique of the lower orders in our large 
 towns are at a low ebb, while, on the other hand, they are 
 extremely intelligent. With good food and regnlar work, 
 they would rapidly improve. In the cotton ftimine the 
 question arose whether factory hands, not accustomed to 
 outdoor work, would be able to earn enough on the public 
 works to support their families without further help ; but 
 experience showed that two months' training at out-door 
 work so strengthened their frames and improved their skill, 
 that they could earn at piece-work enough to support their 
 families without undue exertion. Owing to the overcrowd- 
 ing, the vitiated air, the stimulating unnourishing food ob- 
 tained from the cook-shops, and the other unwholesome 
 conditions of living in great towns, a high standard of work 
 is not to be expected there ; but a great change for the 
 better is often brought about by the substantial fare and the 
 atmosphere of labour of the North. The manner in which 
 Mr. Cockburn, who manages the Upleatham and Hobhill 
 Mines for Mr. Pease, bears with his London recruits, and 
 trains them by degrees to harder kinds of work, is deserving 
 of all j^raise. It is essential that, when men have families, 
 their wives and children should go with them to the North ; 
 and this ought always to be enquired into and arranged for 
 before the men are engaged. Another indispensable arrange- 
 ment which governs the whole subject, is the provision of 
 proper houses for the workmen and their families ; for, 
 without this, there can be neither health nor morality. 
 Still less can there be any aspiration after a more refined 
 and intellectual state. As the rapid growth of the popu- 
 lation in these northern parts is entirely due to the demands 
 of the great industrial works, the proprietors of those 
 works are under the double obligation of duty and interest 
 to see that proper arrangements are made for housing their 
 workpeople. 
 
 The object is to decentralise the congested masses of labour 
 in our large towns, and to prevent their further accretion by 
 directing the streams of fresh labour from the rural districts 
 to the hives of industry in the North. Our greatest obstacle 
 is the mistaken charity of which London, and especially the 
 east of London, is the centre. While the ' Friends ' at Dar- 
 lington are training our people by the discipline of honest 
 labour, another set of 'Friends ' in London (equally benevolent, 
 but sadly mistaken) are corrupting them by indiscriminate
 
 LONDOX PAUPERISM. 41 
 
 charity. There is a phice at the East-end called the ' Bedford 
 Institute,' at which from 150 to 200 grown-np men are fed 
 upon bread and butter and coffee, every Sunday morning, 
 besides occasional ' breakfast meetings ' on other days, after 
 which they sing a hymn and join in other religious exercises. 
 There is also a liberal distribution of tickets for tea, bread, 
 coals, &c., besides large issues of nourishing food of various 
 kinds from the ' Invalid Kitchen,' and daily dinners of soup 
 or pudding for the children. This is only a single example 
 of the concentration of misdirected charity from many and 
 various quarters on this unfortunate district of London. The 
 Report of the Bedford Institute complains that ' a large 
 portion of the population of the East of London is in a state 
 of chronic pauperism.' With such treatment how can it be 
 otherwise P And how is it possible that this pauper popula- 
 tion can disperse and betake itself to self-supporting industry, 
 if such inducements are held out to it to cling to the East 
 of London ? 
 
 Instructions to Mr. Watson^ East London Contractor's Office^ 
 Rotherhithe, London. 
 
 1st. All men engaged must he strong able-bodied men, competent 
 to use a pick and shovel. 
 
 2nd. Their wages will be paid once a fortnight. Piecemen will 
 obtain an advance, or ' subsist,' at the rate of 35. ^d. per day. The 
 hours are as specified in the rules — summer, from six in the morning 
 to six at night — winter, seven till five. Every man will be subject to 
 the rules and regulations in force in the mines or quarries. 
 
 3rd. The quarrymen and barers generally earn from 35. 4cZ. to 45. Qid. 
 or 45. 9ri. ; labourers from 2.9. 106?. to 35. 4cZ., according to age and 
 ability. 
 
 4th. The passage of the men will be j^aid down to the mines, and we 
 will make provision for lodgings for them. If they leave the Company's 
 employment within twelve months, their passage money will be deducted 
 from their earnings. 
 
 5th. The men who are engaged will be sent by steamer to Middles- 
 borough, and thence by rail to their several destinations, some one being 
 appointed to meet them at Middlesborough. 
 
 6th. The number per week must not exceed twelve good barers or 
 quarrymen. We shall want at least 250 of these. 
 
 7th. These men can earn by piece as before stated. The price per 
 yard is from 4^cZ. to Q\d.^ and even more sometimes. 
 
 8th. The men should always be sent by the Saturday's boat. 
 
 9th. All the men's names should be furnished to the managers at the 
 mines before they are sent ofi", and their names should also be entered 
 in a book in the Agent's ofifice.
 
 LONDON: PRINTED BT 
 
 SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUAEB 
 
 AND PARLIAMENT STBEET
 
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