REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS. 11 



the modes in which relief was afforded to the destitute, 

 and into the effects of those modes. 



The second, an Inquiry into the causes of destitution. 



It was considered advisable to subdivide this latter 

 branch into four distinct heads : 



1st. An Inquiry into the rate of agricultural wages, the 

 habits of farm labourers, the nature and extent of employ- 

 ment in agriculture, the nature and state of agriculture, to 

 endeavour to discover whether there might be any mea- 

 sures within the reach of the legislature which would tend 

 to increase the demand for labour. 



2nd. An Inquiry relative to the manufacturing popula- 

 tion, and to trade and manufactures, for similar purposes. 



3rd. An Inquiry relative to the fisheries. 



4th. And one relative to mining. 



II. Course pursued in collecting information. 



We will now state the course which we have pursued in 

 collecting information ; showing how far the evidence is full 

 and impartial, and therefore how far worthy of reliance. 



Our first act in the collection of information was to cir- 

 culate a set of Statistical Questions. These questions were 

 sent to the clergy of each persuasion, to the magistracy, to 

 the heads of the police, and to such educated persons as 

 had been named as able and willing to give us assistance. 

 The purport of these questions was to obtain an outline of 

 the extent and nature of each parish ; the number of desti- 

 tute persons it contained ; the number and nature of the 

 institutions for the relief of the poor ; the rates of wages, 

 rents of cottages, etc. ; about 7^00 of these questions were 

 circulated, about 3100 returned, and the state of about 

 1100 parishes was described by them. Many well-in- 



