MISCELLANIES. 
is composed of many different 
descriptions, consisting of ser- 
vants in and out of place, trades~ 
mien, attisans, labourers, widows, 
and beggars, who being fre- 
quently destitute of the means of 
providing for themselves, are de- 
pendant on their parishes for 
relief, which is seldom bestowed 
without the parish claiming the 
exclusive right of disposing, at 
their pleasure, of all the children 
of the person receiving relief. 
The system of apprenticeship is 
therefore resorted to of necessity, 
and with a view of getting rid of 
the burthen of supporting so 
many individuals ; and as it is pro- 
bably carried to a greater extent 
there than any where else, for the 
reasons here stated, your Com- 
mittee has been enabled to form 
an opinion, without the necessity 
of referring to any other part of 
the kingdom, whether it could be 
discontinued, without taking away 
from the parishes the meansof dis+ 
posing of their poor children. It 
certainly does appear to your 
Committee, that this purpose 
might be attained, without the vio- 
lation of humanity, in separating 
children forcibly, and conveying 
them to a distance from their pa- 
rents, whether those parents be 
deserving or undeserving. The 
peculiar circumstances of the 
metropolis, already alluded to, 
may at first seem to furnish an 
_ argument in favour of a cons 
tinuance of this practice; but 
it can hardly be a matter of 
doubt that apprentices, to the 
number of two hundred, which 
is the yearly number bound on 
the average of ten years before- 
mentioned, might with the most 
. trifling possible exertion on the 
Vou. LVI. 
5614 
part of the parish officers, be an- 
nually bound to trades and do- 
mestic employments, within such 
a distance as to admit of occa- 
sional intercourse with a parent, 
and ( what is perhaps of more con- 
sequence) the superintendance of 
the officers of the parish by which 
they were bound. That this is not 
attended with much difficulty 
seems evident, from the fact that 
many parishes have never follow- 
ed the practice of binding their 
poor children to a distance, 
though quite as numerous as 
those in which this practice has 
prevailed; and that some parishes 
which had begun it, have long 
discontinued it. 
In making these observations, 
your Committee beg to be under- 
stood as not extending them to 
the sea service, in favour of which 
they make a special reservation, 
on account of considerations of 
the highest political importance 
connected with~ the maritime 
interests of the country. They 
therefore carefully abstain from — 
recommending any interference 
with the law as it now stands, 
which admits of binding parish 
apprentices to the king’s or mer 
chant’s naval service. 
The system of binding parish 
apprentices, in the manner in 
which they are usually bound, 
to a distance from their parents 
and relations, and from those pas 
rish officers whose duty it is to 
attend to their moral and physi- 
cal state, is indeed highly ob- 
jectionable ; but the details and 
the consequences are very little 
known, except to those persons 
to whom professional employ- 
ment, local situation, or accident, 
may have afforded the means of 
20 
