STATE PAPERS. 



467 



fered much less than has been 

 almost general in England." 



Poor-Rates. 



The letters, containing i-eturns 

 idescriptive of poor-rates, are to 

 (to the following purport : 

 Letters, in which the rates 

 have increased since 1811 



and IHVZ 147 



N. B. In 54 of these let- 

 ters, the proportional 

 rise is given, and 

 amounts on the aver- 

 age to 43 per cent. 

 Letters, in which the rates 



have decreased 29 



N. B. In 8 of these let- 

 ters, the proportional 

 fall is given, and 

 amounts on an aver- 

 age to 28 per cent. 

 Letters, in which the rates 

 are stationary, that is, 

 neither higher nor lower 

 than 1811 and 1812 77 



253 



But this table gives by no means 

 B sufficient idea of the distress at 

 present arising from this heavy 

 tax ; as in a variety of instances, 

 the farmers who lately paid to 

 these rates, have been obliged to 

 ^ive up their farms, and are ac- 

 tually become paupers themselves, 

 receiving parochial allowances 

 like other paupers ; and this in- 

 creased burthen in many other 

 parishes occurs, while farms are 

 unoccupied or run waste ; and, 

 in the cases the most favourable, 

 the burthen falls with increasing 

 weight on the landlords. The 

 letters contain many complaints, 

 tliat while the manufacturers, who 

 lave occasioned the chief burthen^ 



pay scarcely any thing to the rates, 

 the accumulated weight falls on 

 the occupiers of land. 



The complaints almost univer- 

 sally made of the increase, heavy 

 burthen, and most mischievous 

 consequences to the industry of 

 the people, which result from 

 poor-rates, form a conspicuous 

 feature among the complaints of 

 the correspondents ; insomuch, 

 that many apprehensions are ex- 

 pressed of this system being per- 

 mitted to continue, and increase 

 till it will absorb, in union with 

 tithes, the whole rental of the 

 kingdom, leaving nothing more 

 to the landlords of it, tlian that of 

 acting as trustees and managers 

 for the benefit of others. 



But the surprising circumstance 

 of this result, is the increase be- 

 ing so general at the very period 

 in which, from the reduced price 

 of provisions, a directly contrai-y 

 effect might have been expected. 

 To find that rates have risen, 

 while the principal object in the 

 support and nourishment of the 

 poor has fallen in price above 100 

 per cent, seems to be extraordi- 

 nary ; nor could such a result 

 have been found, but in an ad- 

 ministration liable to so many ob- 

 jections. We cannot be surprised 

 at a great number of these cor- 

 respondents calling with anxiety 

 for regulations in a system which 

 tends directly to the annihilation 

 of all industry. 



The extreme burthen arising 

 from poor-rates, is a subject 

 which can never have too much 

 attention paid to it ; and its na- 

 tiue can be well understood only 

 by reference to particular cases : 

 thus, it desei-ves attention, that 

 this tax has been collected in cer- 



2 H 2 tain 



