284 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1817. 



have been the object of all the old 

 statutes to which your couimittee 

 have before alluded. Your com- 

 mittee, howexer, think it extrenie- 

 ly doubtful, whether peiscms who 

 may from time to time be out of 

 work, but who for t lie most i)art 

 occupy themselves in a d.aily Hade 

 ouglit to be comprehended within 

 tiie description of the statute. 



IJut whatever may be the class 

 of persons to wliich the description 

 of the statute applies, it is clear, 

 that the powers of the overseer as 

 to setting them to work, are, by 

 the existing law, confined within 

 narrow Hmits ; they are to be em- 

 ployed in working " flax, hemp, 

 wool, thread, iron, or any other 

 ware or stuff." 



Your conniiittee have already 

 explained the manner in which 

 they think provision should be 

 made for sucli children as it may 

 be necessary to maintain and em- 

 ploy; it is their duty now to state 

 to the House, their opinions on 

 the subject of providing work for 

 all such persons as may retpiire it. 

 If the object of the statute was 

 merely to set to liard labour such 

 idle wandering persons as might 

 be found in a state nearly ap- 

 proaching to that of vagrancy, 

 such an object might possibly be 

 carried into effect, with a fair 

 hope of beneticial consequences ; 

 but if the object of the statute 

 was (as it is now interpreted) 

 that the state is to find work for 

 all, who in the j)rcsent and in all 

 succeeding time may reipiire it, 

 your conniiittee are of opinion, 

 that this is a condition which it is 

 not in the power of any law to 

 fulfil. What number of persons 

 can be emidoyod in laboui', must 

 dei)cnd absolutely in)()n the amount 



of the funds which alone are ap- 

 jdicahle to the maintenance of la- 

 bour. 



In whatever way these funds 

 may be applied or expended, the 

 quantity of labour niaintained by 

 them in the first instance, would 

 be very nearly the same. The 

 immediate effect of a compulsory 

 aj)plication of the whole or a part 

 of these funds, is to change the 

 application, not to alter the a- 

 mountof them. Whatever portion 

 is applied under the provisions of 

 the law, would ha\e been ap- 

 plied to some other object had 

 the money been left to the disti i- 

 bution of the original owner ; 

 whoever therefoie is maintained 

 by the law as a labouring pauper, 

 is maintained only instead of some f 

 other individual, who would other- ■ 

 wise have earned by his own in- 

 dustry the money bestowed on the 

 pauper ; as long as the amount of 

 the funds remains the same, the 

 effect of a compulsory distribution 

 would not be such as materially 

 to alter the total number of la- 

 bourers employed ; but there are 

 many modes by which the com- 

 pulsory application under the pro- 

 visions of a statute, of the funds 

 which provii'e the maintenance of 

 labour, would ten«l most mate- 

 rially to place the labouring classes 

 in a much worse condition than 

 that in which they would other- 

 wise be situated. 



1st. An increased demand for 

 labom- is the only means by w hich 

 the wages of labour can ever be 

 raised ; and there is nothing 

 which can increase the demand, 

 but ti:e increase of the wealth by 

 which labour is supported ; if 

 therefoi'e the compidsory a])]dica- 

 tion of any part of this wealth 



tends 



