302 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1817. 



unless apj)lication shall have been 

 first made by the applicant to the 

 guardian, ai,d if he refuses redress, 

 to the visitor. In incorporated 

 parishes, the visitor is frequently 

 from ten to fifteen miles distant 

 from the residence of tlie pauper, 

 and frequently absent from home. 

 Some alteration in the law appears 

 necessary to obviate this incon- 

 venience. 



Your committee have thus stated 

 to the House the result of a la- 

 borious investigation, which has 

 been protrr^cted to a peiiod of the 

 session which precludes their pro- 

 posing at present such legislative 

 enactments as it might be thought 

 fit to adopt. They cannot, how- 

 ever, regret this circumstance; 

 for, conceiving that the House 

 expected at their hands a general 

 revision of the whole system of 

 our Poor Laws, in which, though 

 it be not diflicuU to point out in- 

 conveniences and mischiefs, yet 

 the task of providing practical re- 

 medies is so arduous that your 

 committee is persuaded, that even 

 more time and labour would not 

 have been mispent in considering 

 fvirther the various provisions of 

 the law, and the numerous pro- 

 posals which, from ditTerent quar- 

 ters, have been submitted to their 

 judgment. The House also will 

 not be called upon to adopt any 

 of the suggestions of this Report, 

 till an ample opportunity will have 

 been afforded to coriect any errors 

 in the judgment of your commit- 

 tee, or to confirm their opinions : 

 and this delay will ibove all be sa- 

 lutary, if the lajjse of time, aided 

 by a more favourable season, 

 should reitore the kingdom in 

 some degree to its wonted and 

 healthy state, for, though a pe- 



riod of depression and distress 

 may bring out more prominently 

 the weak and unsound parts of 

 the system, it is obvious that the 

 ai)plicati()n of the most effectual 

 remedies is at such a moment of 

 more than ordinary difficulty. 

 And if it should be the pleasure of 

 the House that the consideration 

 of this subject should be resumed 

 in the next session of parliament, 

 no inconsiderable advantage will 

 be derived from that mass of in- 

 formation contained in the returns 

 in 181.5, to which they have not 

 yet bad access, and from a further 

 valuable accession of detailed ac- 

 counts of the admirable practice 

 of Scotland. 

 July 4, 1817. 



The Connuittee appointed to examine 

 the several Petitions, which have 

 been presenied to the Mouse against 

 the Employment of Boys in sweep- 

 ing Chimneys ; and who were em- 

 powered to report the same, with 

 their Opinion and Observatiom 

 thereupon, together with the Mi- 

 nutes of (he Evidence taken before 

 them ; — having examined Evi- 

 dence upon the sulject, have agreed 

 to the following Report. 



Your committee have felt it 

 their duty, in the first place, to 

 inquire into the laws tlrnt at pre- 

 sent reg-ulate the trade of chinmey- 

 sweeping ; and they find, that in 

 the year I788 anactof parliament 

 ("28 Geo. HI. chap. 48.) was pass- 

 ed, entitled, " An Act for the bet- 

 ter regulation of Chimney-sweep- 

 ers and their Apprentices." To 

 the preamble of which, they wish 

 to direct the attention of the 

 House : — Whereas the laws now 



in 



