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 Okfuf. of thk Clerk of thk Peach, 
 
 Moot Hall, Newcastle, 
 
 ! i3th januar^•. 1882. 
 
 i 
 
 V AGR A N C Y. 
 
 POLICE.— ASSISTANT RELIEVING OFFICERS, &t 
 
 Sir, i 
 
 As directed by the Court of Quarter Sessions, I beg to enclose a Copy of 
 a Report on the subject of Vagrancy, lately made by |i Special Committee to whom the 
 matter had been referred, and I am to mention that the recommendations of the 
 Committee were unanimousl) approved by the Bench. 
 
 I am, Sir, 
 
 Your obedient Servant, 
 
 STEPH. SANDERSON, 
 
 i Clerk of the Peace.
 
 COTJITT-Z- OB^ nsrORm3:TJMBERL.A.DSriD. 
 
 EPIPHANY QUARTER SESSIONS, 4irH JANUARY, 1882. 
 
 -^.A^GrTtJ^jsro^^ 
 
 POLICE.— ASSISTANT RELIEVING OFFICERS, &c 
 
 Resolutions of the Special Committee of Justices appointed to consider the 
 hove subject, submitted to, and approved at the Epiphany Quarter Sessions, 1882 ; — 
 I.- Tluu the employment of the PoUce as Assistant Relieving Officers lor Vagrants be continued. 
 2. — 'J'hat the Chief Constable be instructed to direct I'olice, Constables to apprehend all persons 
 
 found infringing the Vagrancy ],a\vs, and take all lawful measures to detect and bring before a 
 
 Magistrate vagrants soliciting alms. 
 3. — That it is desirable that all .\cting Magistrates should apilyone fixed scale of punishment for 
 
 cases of simple Vagrancy, say not less than 14 days hard 1. bour, to be increased according to the 
 
 nature of the offence. 
 4. — That it he a direction to the Chief Constable to require ealh Constable to furnish on a prescribed 
 
 form a monthly return, nominal and descriptive of all vagrants, beggars, and other persons on 
 
 tramp challenged by him during the month. 
 5. — That the em[)loyment of children in begging be especially 'i^revented, and that the provisions of 
 
 the " Industrial .Schools Act " be applied to every suitabk case. 
 6. — That the Sanitary Authorities be requested to pay spi^ual attention to the registration and 
 
 inspection of common lodging-houses in this county. ,1 
 7. — That it is desirable that Casual Wards on the Cellular system should be provided in connection 
 
 with ever)- Union Workhouse. | 
 
 8. — That it is desirable that all vagrants relieved in Workhouse Wards should be subject to a 
 
 detention of at least 36 hours, with a suitable task of work, and be discharged at an early hour 
 
 in the morning. 
 9. — That the " Pedlar's Act " should be amended by restoring the provision for the registration of 
 
 certificates in each county and borough, but without charging an additional fee. 
 10. — That vagrants who have been convicted on more than (say) two occasions, shall be sentenced 
 
 to longer periods of imprisonment, in order that they may be trained to habits of industry ; the 
 
 whole or some part of their earnings, after paying for their maintenance, being handed over to 
 
 them on their release. 
 II. That, it being impossible that \'agrancy can be effectually checked if, throughout the country, a 
 
 system uniform on all main points be not maintained, a copy of these resolutions be sent to 
 
 the Secretary of State, with a recommendation that such legislation as may be necessary to give 
 
 them effect, may be initiated.
 
 TRAMPS AND VAGRANTS. 
 
 ■^»*^^4*«^ 
 
 PAPE R 
 
 SIR CHARLES TREVELYAN, BART,, K.CB. 
 
 Annual Meeting of the Newcastle-upon-T3me Charity- 
 Organization Society, 
 
 ON THURSDAY, DECEMBER 1st, 1881, 
 
 J. FoRSTER, Tynk Printing Works, Office— 36, The Side. 
 1831.
 
 TRAMPS AND VAGRANTS, 
 
 Paper read by Sir Charles Trevelyan, Bart., K.C.B., at 
 the Annual Meeting of the Newcastle-upon-Tyne 
 Charity Organization Society, on Thursday, the 
 first of December, 1881. 
 
 During the late depression of trade some honest workmen 
 took to the road in search of employment, but in this part of 
 England vagrants may be said to be now entirely professional 
 tramps. With cheap Parliameatary trains, and wages at a 
 minimum of a pound a week, it is mere waste of time and 
 money to make a journey on foot; and if help is wanted by real 
 workmen, it is obtained, often Avith too great facility, from their 
 mates of the friendly and trade societies. 
 
 The basis of trampdom is the love of adventure. A free roving 
 life at others' expense is so much pleasanter than regular industry 
 that there are vagrants in every class of society, and that family 
 is fortunate which has not one or more members who say that a 
 sedentary occupation is unsuited to them, with tlie result that 
 they become dependent upon their relations for support, A 
 typical instance was Bamfylde Moore Carew, the " King of the 
 Gipsies." Born of a good Devonshire family, he ran away from 
 Tiverton school and joined himself to a party of tramps in whose 
 society lie sometimes appeared twice in the same day, in different 
 disguises, at the houses of his father's friends. At Tiverton we 
 used to speculate whether it would still be possible to follow his 
 example, and we considered that he had more in common with 
 Raleigh and Drake than with the vulgar ruffians of tlie present 
 day. The subject ought to be approached in a spirit of justice and 
 kindness. There are really two quesfions: first, what is best for 
 the public? and secondly, what is best for the vagrants themselves?
 
 Vagrants are essentially a criminal class. They repudiate 
 the common lot of humanitj^ " In the sweat of thy face shalt 
 thou eat bread;" and live, without regular labour, by preying 
 upon society in some form or other. Having no settled home, 
 they are under no concern to stand well with family and neigh- 
 bours. Their commonest pretence is that of being hawkers and 
 pedlars, although their whole stock-in-trade is often not sufficient 
 to maintain the party for a day. The women and children are 
 sent on in advance to beg, and pilfer anything they can lay their 
 hands on, while the men visit the neighbouring farm-houses and 
 cottages and levy black-mail by intimidation. This is by far their 
 most lucrative j)i'actice, and in this thinJy inhabited pastoral 
 district, where the men are generally occupied in the fields or at 
 market, it has become a serious public evil. From frequent passing 
 they have a perfect knowledge of the countryside, and they have a 
 common professional understanding which greatly assists their 
 operations. The Chief Constable of the West Riding of Yorkshire 
 reported in 1871: — "It frequently happens that tramps, when 
 searched by the police, have sums of money m their possession, 
 as well as the memoranda of names and residences of benevolent 
 persons from whom relief may be expected, and lists of unions 
 where no task is imposed. Thus do they move from place to place 
 giving information to each other." At my house they never call, it 
 being my habit neither to question nor scold them, but simply to 
 ignore them. Happening to have a new neighbour, I advised him to 
 do the same, but he was too tender-hearted to listen to their piteous 
 tales without giving to them, and the consequence was that when he 
 married, his young wife lived in constant apprehension of their 
 visits, and often had to lock herself up and stay uj)stairs. Even this 
 is not the worst aspect of the system ; it is a training school for 
 offences of the worst kind, full of tempting o^Dportunities which 
 idle brutal men cannot easily resist. The newspapers from time 
 to time tell the story of women and girls being violated, and men 
 being murdered by tramps, and sometimes rape and murder are 
 combined. The saddest thing of all is, that a large number of 
 children are brought up in ignorance and vice by the members
 
 of the fraternity, as if no Elementary Education Act had been 
 passed. The general demoralising influence of such an unsettled 
 criminal element floating on the surface of society, and insinuating 
 itself, often in the most unexiicctcd manner, into its joints and 
 crevices, may be more easily alluded to than described. 
 
 It has been proved by experience that amateur Mendicity 
 Societies, with their "way tickets" and "night refuges," are no 
 remedy. They merely add to the attractions of the profession 
 by mcreasing its emoluments and providing an insurance against 
 hardship. They give it, in fact, the regularity and certainty of 
 an ordinary profession by helping the tramps on then- way, and 
 providing hotels for them at every resting place for their enter- 
 tainment at the public expense. Neither these nor any other 
 arrangements will prevent the jDublic from giving. On one side 
 is an inexhaustible fund of unreasonmg, impulsive benevolence, 
 and on the other, experienced skill, practised in all the arts of 
 deception. But, in the vast majority of cases in this neighbour- 
 hood, the motive for giving is, not benevolence, but fear. How 
 can lone women, who have been intruded upon, mider pretence 
 of selling or begging, be dissuaded from buying oft" tramps in 
 whose power they see they are ? A delusive appearance of 
 success is given to such schemes by the fact that they are 
 generally accompanied by a strict application of the criminal law. 
 The Chief Constable for Dorset, their founder, reports " The police 
 act as Assistant Relieving Officers so far as giving orders lor the 
 Casual Wards. The Vagrant Act is strictly enforced, as also the 
 Pauper Discharge Act regarding false statements." Notwith- 
 standing this, there has been a gradual increase of vagrants in 
 Dorsetshire since 1875. 
 
 Neither will detention in workhouses abate this great evil. 
 Tramps have recourse to casual wards and workhouses only when 
 want of success on the road compels them, and the worst class of 
 tramps habitually avoid workhouses and frequent common lodg- 
 ing houses. In 1872, a census of vagrants was taken in the 
 West Riding of Yorkshire, and it was found that, while there were
 
 only 80 in tramp wards, there were 787 in lodging houses, and 23 
 elsewhere; and the result of another census in the following year 
 was that there were 107 in tramp wards, 723 in lodging houses, 
 and 15 elsewhere. On the 9th of last month the Chief Constable of 
 Berkshire reported, " It must be borne in mind that the returns 
 from unions shewing the number of vagrants admitted to the 
 tramj) wards are only a portion of that class — double the number 
 frequenting low lodging houses each night above those admitted 
 into unions." In London with its four millions of people, we 
 have had full experience of this mode of repression under the 
 ' Houseless Poor Act,' and the result has been far from satis- 
 factory. In a recent pamphlet on the subject Mr. Alsager Hay 
 Hill truly says : — 
 
 " The mere identification of a certain number of habitual 
 "vagrants has not led either to their extinction or reduction, and 
 "the Houseless Poor Act itself has generated a new class of 
 '•Metropolitan vagrants, whose attributes are as well known 
 "to the observer of street-life in London, as are those of tlie 
 " village ostler or the gamekeeper to dwellers in the coinitry." 
 ***** 
 
 " Some thousands of wretched beings, once on the sorry-go- 
 " round of the Casual Ward Machineiy, may continue there for 
 "years, with perhaps short spells of prison treatment between, 
 "contaminating and corrupting the fresh, if small, ciuTent of 
 "country labour which is ever feeding the maelstrom of Metro- 
 "politan Pauperism." 
 
 Being a criminal system, tramping can only be effectually 
 dealt with by the police. ]\Iuch may be done in the way of 
 prevention. The employment of the police as Assistant Relieving 
 Officers is indispensable for this purpose, because it brings tramps 
 under their regular supervision, and gives them special advan- 
 tages for preventing and detecting crime. Poor Law Believing 
 Officers and Masters of Workhouses are not generally able to 
 cope with this highly-organised criminal system, which is quite 
 outside their ordinary duties, and they cannot always be depended 
 upon even for effectually searching tramps and seeing that they
 
 perform a propor task of work in return for tlic relief given to 
 tliem. Mueli may also be done by instructing the police to 
 attach themselves to parties of tramps entering their respective 
 districts, and to take them at once into custody if they beg, or 
 deviate to lone houses for the jiurpose of intimidation. 
 
 Th(! root of the evil is the indifference with whicli the subject 
 is regarded by some magistrates, and the inade(piate punishments 
 awarded by them. In towns, especially, it is still a common 
 practice to release tramps without punishment on condition that 
 they leave the place, with the certain consequence that they will 
 exercise their profession elsewhere. The week's imprisonment 
 usually awarded only has the effect of hardening the offender and 
 enabling liim to corrupt others. Tramjjs do not care for it, but 
 accept it as a small price they have to pay for a life of freedom 
 and adventure. Sometimes it is positively acceptable to them 
 as furnishing an interval of needed rest, with good food and well 
 ■warmed rooms. At any rate these short terms of imprisonment 
 have positively no deterrent effect, as may be seen from the 
 history of any professional vagrant. 
 
 Whenever the powers conferred by the Vagrant Act are 
 consistently ajiplied, an immediate reduction in the number of 
 vagi-ants is seen. After a careful examination of the different 
 systems adopted in other counties, the Chief Constable of Berk- 
 shire recommended a plan " very similar to that recently adopted 
 in Hampshire, and which up to the present time has worked 
 most successfully: — (a) that uniform punishment of not less 
 than fourteen days be given on conviction ot professional 
 vagrancy; (h) if found to have been impudent or to have used 
 threats, the full term of one calendar month." To illustrate the 
 the probable effect of this in reducing their number, the Chief 
 Constable added, " In 18G8, 9,97') tramps Avere relieved at four 
 unions in this County where the police acted as Assistant 
 Relieving Officers. In 1SG4 I ordered the police to use their best 
 endeavours to apprehend all beggars. The result Avas that the 
 number of applications at those lour unions was only 5,855, 
 shewing a reduction of nearly one-half." The West Riding Chief
 
 Constable reported that "in Lancashire the Court of Quarter 
 Sessions, in April 18G9, resolved that all vagrants and tramps 
 offending against the law should be apprehended. The result 
 of this increased action of the police and of the Justices 
 was very shortly apparent." Then follow the details of a 
 great reduction in petty larcenies and offences against the 
 Vagrant Act. "In Gloucestershire" he adds, "much has been 
 done, the Justices being determined, at the Midsummer Sessions 
 in 1869, that the Vagrant Act should be strictly enforced. The 
 result has been most satisfactory, and vagrancy has considerably 
 decreased. At Northleach, in that county, a portion of the 
 prison has been turned into a vagrant ward, each vagrant having 
 a separate cell and three hours task work; good results have 
 followed this arrangement." In conclusion the Chief Constable 
 says, " I feel that the greatest difficulty in dealing with this 
 subject is, that tramps are brought from the confines of the 
 Riding on short imprisonments, to the centre, and are there let 
 loose to ply their calling to the best possible advantage ; but, 
 taking all the facts into consideration, and until some universal 
 system be devised, I venture to suggest a rigid enforcement of 
 the Vagrant Act through the West Riding police districts, and 
 also that steps be taken to secure uniformity of treatment in the 
 different unions, as to food, shelter, and taskwork." The latest 
 Hampshire experience is contained in the following extract from 
 a recent letter from the Chief Constable, " We have not for some 
 years suj)plemented the laAV on vagrancy by any amateur work. 
 We neither give way-tickets nor lunch, but, as a rule, fourteen 
 days' hard labour. We rigidly carry out the law as it is, and 
 find it sufficient when our magistrates will put aside any soft- 
 heartedness." 
 
 On two points only the Vagrant Act is deficient: — 
 
 First, there ought to be a central institution, on the principle 
 of the French Depot de la Mendicite, combining the twofold 
 object of punishment and reformation. The first recommendation 
 of the committee of the Charity Organization Society on vagrancy
 
 in 187:3 was:— 
 
 ''Tliat it is desiiable that the law as to the imprisonment of 
 
 "vagrants should be strictly enforced, and that for vagrants who 
 
 "have been committed to prison on more than two occasions an 
 
 " Industrial House should be founded, with wholesome restraints, 
 
 "where vagrants could be gradually inured to work; and that 
 
 "magistrates should have power to commit vagrants to it on 
 
 " piinciples analogous to those on which children are now com- 
 
 "mitted to Industrial Schools." 
 
 The only further suggestion I would offer is that the vagi'ants 
 
 should receive the whole, or the greater part, of their earnings, 
 
 on their release from prison, which would give them some 
 
 experience of the advantage of regular industry, and would 
 
 furnish them with a small capital to begin a new mode of life. 
 
 The other point is that, both in mercy to the children, and 
 to break the entail of this inheritance of crime, the Elementary 
 School Act should be applied to the children of convicted tramps 
 by placing them in an Industrial School or Training Ship, upon 
 leaving which they should be provided with suitable employment, 
 either at home or in the colonies, without recognising any right 
 to reclaim them on the part of their parents. 
 
 J. FORSTER, TYNE EllINTING WORKS, OFUCE— 36 THE SIDE, NEWCASTLE-ON-TYNE.