112 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1800. 



who may provide a supply suited to 

 tliewantsof their respectivedistricts, 

 and proraoteits consumption by their 

 persuasion and example. In all con- 

 siderable towns a weekly supply may 

 be provided and retailed to the in- 

 habitants in general as well as distri- 

 buted to the poor by the overseers, 

 in a certain proportion to their paro- 

 chial relief. It is more peculiarly 

 desirable that such societies should 

 be formed in the metropolis, and 

 such other places as are situated at 

 the mouths of great rivers, and form 

 thecentres of extensive inland navi- 

 gations, such as Liveii)ool, Bristol, 

 Hull, and Lynn. 



By forming considerable stores in 

 each of those places, and such others 

 as may be found most convenient 

 for general communication, and by a 

 correspondence established betv.'cen 

 the societies at each of those central 

 places, and those of the surround- 

 ing district, the demands of every 

 part of the country may be regularly 

 supplied. And your committee have 

 the satisfaction to find that, even 

 previous to their inquiries into this 

 subject, an association formed for 

 other useful purposes, the "Society 

 for bettering the Condition of the 

 Poor," had undertaken in London 

 the execution of a plan similar to 

 what ishere recommended; and that 

 as far as their operations have yet 

 extended, they have met with all 

 the success which could be reason- 

 ably hoped for, and have obtained a 

 degree of public countenance and 

 approbation which strongly marks a 

 general disposition to forward de- 

 signs of thisnature, aswell as others 

 of active benevolence. But as the 

 execution of such plans on the ex- 

 tensive scale here pointed out will 

 necessarily in the fii'st instance re- 

 quire an advance of capital beyond 



what can reasonably be expected 

 from the voluntary efforts of indi- 

 viduals, even where they have a fair 

 prospect of being ultimately repaid, 

 your committee think it essential, in 

 order that the public may reap from 

 them all the advantages which they 

 appear capable of affording, that 

 public aid, by a temporary advance 

 of money, should be furnished in 

 such places as are most conve- 

 nient for the formation of large 

 deposits. 



There is also a fishery carried on 

 in the western parts of the kingdom, 

 from which some supply of pilchards 

 may be expected to a limited ex- 

 tent. The season for this fishery is 

 at present over; and your committee 

 are informed that about ten thousand 

 barrels of this fish are now cured, 

 and ready for exportation. As they 

 have been prepared in expectation 

 of the bounties granted by former 

 acts of parliament, your committee 

 do not think it u'ould be just to the 

 adventurers, to deprive them of this 

 bounty, by prohibiting the exporta- 

 tion; but in order to remove the 

 temptation of carrying to a foreign 

 market such proportion of the fish so 

 cured as may find any demand at 

 home, they beg leave to recommend^ 

 to the house, that the bounty to 

 which the adventurers are now en- 

 titled, upon the exportation of the 

 pilchards actually prepared for that 

 purpose, should be paidto them,not- 

 withstanding such pilchards should 

 not be exported. This measure will 

 bring no additional charge upon the 

 public, as the money is already due; 

 but it may operate in retaining for 

 the subsistence of those parts of tlie 

 kingdom which are farthest removed 

 from the herring fisliery a supply of 

 cheap and wholesome food of the 

 same nature. 



