322 



Pro-posed Employment of the Poor. 



(May h 



each, (a rix tlollar is Is. lOd.,) sheep, 

 which sold on our arrival for two rix 

 dollars, now fetch 2| and three. A 

 horse will cost from fifty to 300 rix 

 dollars. 



As government are fast withdrawing 

 (he troops from tlie frontiers, they are 

 furnishing the settlers with the means 

 of defending themselves; the following 

 circular was issued from Bathurst the 

 beginning of August last : — 



" To heads of parties aud individuals of 

 settlers located in the district of Albany. — 

 A small supply of arms and ammunition 

 having been provided by His Majesty's 

 Government for the use of the settlers' 

 heads, whose parties actually require them, 

 will be pleased to send small requisitions to 

 the Provincial Magistrate at Bathurst, and 

 it is distinctly to be understood that per- 

 sons receiving them will be held respon- 

 sible for their being kept in a state of 

 thorough cleanliness and repair. By order 

 of the Magistrate, J. Hiles, Bathurst, Au- 

 gust 1, 1820." 



A canteen for the sale of spirituous 

 liquors has lately been established at 

 this place. Having omitted nothing 

 within our observation that is likely to 

 be of any interest to the new colonists, 

 or those who may intend to become so, 

 we now come to a couchision, assuring 

 the reader that should this little narra- 

 tive contain any information he may 

 profit by, it has answered the most 

 essential object of W. W — . 



Jlert/ord, Fe b. 6. 18 20. 



To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 

 SIR, 



THE provisional committee for en- 

 couragement of industry, and 

 reduction of poor's rates having sub- 

 mitted outlines contemplated as the 

 basis of a proposed bill for the purpose 

 of supplying employment to the unoc- 

 cupied of our industrious classes, by 

 the cultivation of land, a petition to the 

 House of Commons, founded upon the 

 same, will lie at the King's Head Ta- 

 vern, Poultry, for signatures. At this 

 period of its labours, it has been thought 

 desirable to review the steps which 

 have been pursued, terminating in the 

 above result. 



From the information received, and 

 facts communicated from almost every 

 quarter as well as rank in our commu- 

 nity, (and for which tlie provisional 

 committee desires its grateful acknow- 

 ledgements.) it was evident that the 

 abject circumstancesof our industrious 

 population, by the miserable effects of 

 which every portion of society is now 



oppressed, could alone be efficiently re- 

 dressed by the interference of the legis- 

 lature. Unprotected in the remunera- 

 tion of their labour,* and generally de- 

 void of aresource, which was once so im- 

 portant, in keeping them independent 

 of parochial aid — the use of commons, 

 and of small slips of land, the agricul- 

 tural labourers, aUhougli employed, 

 have been gradually alienated from 

 their former condition and comforts. 

 Manufacturers, in very considerable 

 numbers, have been of late added ; and 

 as tlie valuable improvements in the 

 application of mechanic powers will 

 preclude the possibility of a large pro- 

 portion of such persons being again oc- 

 cupied in tlieir accustomed employ- 

 ments, it has become also necessaiy 

 that permanent provision should be 

 made for them. Under these circum 

 stances, and recturing to the sagacious 

 statute of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, 

 than which there perhaps scarcely ex- 

 ists a nobler monument of human in- 

 telligence, we there find that provision 

 was made for the employment of the 

 unoccupied. The circumstance of 

 things having, since those times, under- 

 gone very considerable alteration, an- 

 enactment was passed in the last parlia- 

 ment of the late reign (59 Geo. III. cap. 

 12, sec. 12 and 13.) and upon the sub- 

 ject of which this institution had the 

 honour of receiving communications, 

 by which every parish is authorised to 

 occupy 20 acres of land for the purpose 

 of employment and letting ; thus recog- 

 nizing the important principle above 

 cited, and the acknowledged interest 

 of the beneficial effects of the cultivation 

 of the soil. 



It has, however, been demonstrated, 

 that obstacles exist to the carrying these 

 salutary provisions into eflect. The 

 attention of the legislature has since 

 been otherwise occupied. Still the 

 tracts of our waste, and other lands, are 

 offering themselves most prominently, 

 to dissipate the gloom of our prospects ; 

 and what is so loudly demanded by the 



* The remark of the Lord Chief Justice 

 (Kenyon) some years since, cannot be too 

 much admired : " The law of England will 

 lose the best part of its objects, ifit do not 

 attend to the interest of the lower classes, 

 as they have no protection but the law of 

 the land ; and undoubtedly all judges of 

 every description feel that the poor and im- 

 defcnded have a right to call on them for 

 protection ; and when they do they will not 

 call in vain." 



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