314 



POOR-LAWS 



were gone,' and he hail come down to the pauper 

 level. In many places pauperism swallowed up 

 three-fourths of the rent. Nor was the mal- 

 administration conBned to the rural districts ; it 

 extended all over the country, and into the manu- 

 facturing towns, where outdoor relief was a source 

 of constant imposture. The administration of in- 

 door relief was also full of abuses, from want of 

 classification, discipline, and employment. Better 

 food and lodging were provided for idle paupers 

 than working- people could procure better, even, 

 ili.-iu could lie afforded by many of the ratepayers. 



In 1834 the commissioners reported that they 

 found the administration 'opposed to the letter 

 and spirit of the law, and destructive of the welfare 

 of the community.' The commissioners laid down 

 the principle that the condition of the pauper 

 ought to be below the lowest condition of the inde- 

 pendent labourer, because every penny bestowed 

 in rendering hU condition more eligible is a bounty 

 mi indolence and vice, and recommended ( 1 ) the 

 cessation of outdoor relief; (2) a central authority 

 to control the administration; (3) unions for the 

 better management of workhouses, and the classi- 

 fication of their inmates ; and (4) a complete and 

 clear system of accounts. The bill embodying 

 these recommendations was brought in, March 17, 

 1834, passed its second reading in the House of 

 Commons with only twenty dissenting votes, and 

 became law on the 14th August as the 4th and 5th 

 Will. IV. chap. 76. This act was not a change of 

 law, but of administration. The orders of the new 

 board restricted overseers, on the formation of a 

 union, to the collection of rates ; appointed paid 

 relieving-officers to dispense relief under the direc- 

 tions of the unpaid Boards of Guardians ; required 

 the gradual withdrawal of outdoor relief; and 

 enforced classification and discipline in the work- 

 houses. A rapid formation of unions took place 

 under the new board. In the first eight months 

 112 were formed including 2006 parishes. The 

 pauperised districts experienced a great and imme- 

 diate relief, numbers of paupers going off when 

 they found that relief involved adequate work or 

 the strictly-disciplined workhouse; wages rose, and 

 the expenditure was reduced on an average 20 per 

 cent. At the accession of (ieorge I. in 1714 the 

 poor-rates amounted, as nearly as can be estimated, 

 to 950,000, equal to 3s. 3Jd. per head on the 

 population of 5,750,000. At the accession of George 

 III. in 1760 the population had increased to 

 7,000,000, the poor-rates to 1,250.000 an average 

 of 3s. 6Jd. ; while in IH.'il tin- population, estimated 

 from the last census, wax 1 1,372,000, and the money 

 expended in relief 0,317,2.Vi equal to 8s. 9*d. 

 per head. In tlr he operation of the 



Amendment Act had reduced the expenditure one- 

 third vi/.. to i-t.im.741. In ISIS the eoniinis 

 Kioners were exchanged for a puMie board, which 

 became one of the government departments, with a 

 president, in whom was vested the power of the 

 commissioners, and who held olliee as one of the 

 ministers of the crown. Finally, in 1871, the 

 i'oor l\v Hoard was almli.xhed, and its powers 

 transferred (with various other powers) to a new 

 body, the Local (iovcrnmcnt Board (q.v.), which 

 accordingly liecame the central authority for Eng- 

 land and Wales in regard to poor-law Administra- 

 tion. The commissioners were unable to withdraw 

 outdoor relief, which continues to be in England 

 the most important item. With the aged, the 

 sick, and orphans the guardians deal at their 

 discretion ; but stringent rules for the relief of the 

 able liodied are in operation under the board, whose 

 orders have the force of laws. In the rural district* 

 guardians are prohibited from giving relief to the 

 able-bodied out of the house, unless under a supple- 

 mental order in emergency. For other places the 



general rule forbids relief to be given in aid of 

 wages, and requires work to be supplied. Excep- 

 tions are made by the hoard on the application of 

 the unions when necessity arises. The' expenditure 

 is stijctly guarded and examined by public auditors. 

 A district medical officer, of whom one or more are 

 appointed for each union, attends to all cases of 

 sickness among the poor. 



The fundamental rule adopted as to the relief of 

 the pom was that each parish in England and Wales 

 is bound to maintain its own poor. Overseers are 

 required to IM> appointed in each parish every year; 

 and these (till IBM, along with the church ward- 

 till then i,i' iifli<-'i<i overseers i have to provide tin- 

 requisite funds. This is done by means of a poor- 

 rate, which the churchwardens and overseers may 

 levy on all the occupiers of land in the parish, after 

 such rate has been confirmed by the justices. The 

 rate specifies a certain sum in the pound which is 

 to be levied, and the annual value of the various 

 lands is then specified. The rate is thus a local 

 tax on the occupier of the land, and not on the 

 owner, unless lie himself is also occupier. Owing 

 to the mischiefs arising from the officials of each 

 parish distributing the funds at their discretion, 

 without uniformity of plan, authority was given to 

 combine various parishes into one poor-law union, 

 and a central controlling power was created in 

 1834 in the shape of the Poor-law Board, now the 

 Local Government Board. When a union is 

 formed the control of the expenditure is chiefly 

 vested in the guardians of tnis union, who are 

 elected by each parish, and who supervise the 

 management of the union workhouse. They order 

 the overseers of each parish to raise their due pro- 

 portion of funds liy a contribution order issued to 

 such overseers, who are thereon bound to levy the 

 amount by including it in the next poor-rate. The 

 guardians are bound to contract for the provisions, 

 clothing, fuel, itc. supplied to the workhouse, by 

 means of sealed tenders, unless the quantity is less 

 than a stated amount. The guardians profess only 

 to relieve destitution already existing, and not to 

 enable persons to keep off impending destitution. 

 Hence they only supply the bare necessaries of life. 

 They cannot, for example, advance or lend money 

 to set up a poor person in trade. 



Minute regulations are contained in the con- 

 solidated I r law orders of the Board as to the 



classification of paupers in the workhouse, mode of 

 admission, diet, discipline, and outdoor relief. It 

 is provided that every able liodied person requiring 

 relief from any parish shall l>e relieved wholly in 

 the workhouse, together with his wife and family, 

 if any, and if not otherwise employed. But the 

 lelief may be given out of doors in cases of sudden 

 and urgent necessity, of sickness, accident, and a 

 few other cased. In general relief is routined to 

 persons aclimlly residing in some place within the 

 union, except in case of casual destitution, or sick- 

 ness and accident. Whenever outdoor lelief is 

 given to an ah]e-l>odied person half of it is to lie in 

 the form of articles of food or fuel, lielief is given 

 only weekly where the pauper is not required to 

 )e received into the workhouse. No relief is to lie 

 given to able-bodied persons while they are em- 

 ployed for wages or hire bv any iieixtn ; and every 

 able bodied male person, if iclicved out of the 

 workhouse, shall lie set to work by the guardians, 

 and kept so employed while he continues to receive 

 such relief. Wherever a person applies for pam 

 chial relief, if he or she has a father or grandfather, 

 mother or grandmother, or child, who is able to 

 maintain such pauper, the parish officers can 

 obtain an order from justices to compel such 

 relative to contribute a sum towards such mainten- 

 ance. In some cases the guardians or overseers 

 may employ the poor in public works ; but this is 



