82. 
from the parish fund, it might be found 
highly, useful that the parish officers, with 
the consent of the Magistrates, should, 
instead of giving money to the parents, set 
to work their children, who would, at the 
same time, be removed from the example 
of idle or dissolute parents, But this re- 
medy must be used with caution, and 
might be inexpedient, if applied in cases 
where the best labourers, with their ut- 
most exertions, cannot earn sufficient to 
bring up their children without parish 
assistance, 
According to the system at present pur- 
sued in many counties, a scale of allowance 
is drawn up by the Magistrates, fixing in 
money the sums which a labourer is to re- 
ceive, in proportion to tlie size of his fa- 
mily, and the current price of flonr or 
meal. On this allowance, whether idle or 
industrious, the labourer relies as a right; 
and when he receives less, he makes an 
angry appeal to a Magistrate, not as a pe- 
titioner for charity, but as a claimant for 
justice. Without questioning the fitness 
of the scale upon which these tables have 
been framed, we cannot but regret that the 
Magistrates should promulgate general re- 
gulations, the obvious tendency of which is 
to reduce the rate of wages, and create 
dissatisfaction between the labourer and 
his employer. 
It has been thrown ont that the practice 
of giving reliefto able-bodied labourers on 
account of their impotent children ought 
to be positively forbidden by legislative 
enactment. Your Committee are not pre- 
pared to go this length; but they may 
venture to suggest, that where wages have 
been reduced, with a view to supply the 
deficiency from the parish rates, relief 
might be refused to any person actually 
in the employment of an individual, The 
consequence might certainly be to throw 
at first some married labourers entirely 
upon the parish, but in a short time it is 
probable a more wholesome system of 
paying the wages of labour would be per- 
manently adopted, 
Much good has been effected in some 
parts of the country, by the adoption of 
what has been called the Crojedy or 
Oundle plan, or labour-rate;’ and a Bill 
has been introduced into the House, for 
giving to such a plan, adopted under cer- 
tain regulations, the force of law. It ap- 
pears to us quite impossible to frame any 
Act on this subject which shall meet every 
case, but a general sanction might be ex- 
tremely beueficial; and the following 
form, which has been suggested, appears 
as unexceptionable as any. Indeed, it is 
very similar to one contained in a Bill 
brought into the House in the early part 
of the Session :— 
“ The parishioners in vestry shall, if they 
think fit, draw up rules aid regulations for 
the maintenance of the old and impotent. 
Political Affairs in July. 
[Aug. 1, 
and other poor unable to work, as also for, 
the employment of the able poor; and the 
same, signed or agreed to by a majority in 
value, shall be presented to the justices, 
to be by them amended, approved, or re- 
jected, or sent back for alterations, and 
when adjusted to the satisfaction of the 
justices and parishioners, to be parochial 
law tor one year.” 
With respect to the second object, the 
mode of finding employment for those who 
profess themselves unable to obtain it, it 
appears to your Committee, that the pa- 
rish should, if it be possible, provide them 
with labour less acceptable in its nature 
than ordinary labour, and at lower wages 
than the average rate of the neighbonr-: 
hood, Your Committee canadd, that this 
method has been found practically beue- 
ficial in all places where it has been carried 
into effect. 
It must never be forgotten, in consider- 
ing this subject, that the evils produced by 
the poor laws are different in different 
places; that all the good effects hitherto 
produced have been accomplished by im- 
proved management; and that, if those 
effects have not been more general, it is 
because the management of the poor has 
in the greater part of the country improved 
very little. 
For the purpose of hastening and en-. 
suring such improvement, your Committee 
feel inclined to recommend to more ge- 
neral adoption the appointment of select 
vestries, and of assistant overseers re- 
ceiving asalary. ‘The greatest evils arise 
from intrasting a business,so complicated, 
to inexperienced and inefficient officers ; 
and ‘much bencfit has been produced by 
taking advantage of the provisions of the 
59th Geo, III. c.12, on this subject. The 
greatest amendment may likewise be made 
by a judicious attention to that part of the 
Act, wherein a select vestry is required 
to “inquire into and determine upon the 
proper objects uf relief, and the nature and 
amount of the relief to be given ; and in 
each case shail take into consideration the 
character and condnet of the poor person 
to be relieved, and shall be at liberty to 
distinguish, in the relief to be granted, 
between the deserving and the idle, the 
extravagant or profligate, poor.” 
In a Bill introduced into the House in 
an early part of the Session, there is a 
clause imposing on the Quarter Sessions 
the duty of controlling the parish accounts, 
which ave ordered to be laid before them, 
and enabling them to appoint an examiner 
to look into the expenditure of each parish. 
Whether, in the shape in which it at pre- 
sent stands, this provision is fit to be 
adopted, we will not decide; but in the 
opinion of many persons it might be useful 
that the Quarter Sessions should appoint 
an inspector of parish accounts, whose 
duty it should be to report to the Ma- 
_ gistrates 
