22 REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS. 



we shall be able to close the Commission by a final re- 

 port. Whether the time occupied by the Commission 

 be or be not unreasonably long, must wholly depend upon 

 the nature and extent of the subject ; the extent of the 

 district to which it refers ; the number of classes of per- 

 sons in those districts whom it peculiarly concerns ; the 

 willingness and ability for giving the required information 

 possessed by those of whom the Inquiry must be made ; 

 and finally, upon the minuteness of the investigation. To 

 estimate fairly the time necessary for an Inquiry, without 

 considering those circumstances, would be impossible : 

 one Commission might be fairly accused of being dilatory, 

 though it had existed but six months; whilst another 

 might have been most active and diligent, and yet have 

 extended over several years. An Inquiry for obtaining an 

 accurate body of statistics for ascertaining the numbers 

 of each religious denomination in a country, would require 

 far less time than an Inquiry, for instance, into the mental 

 and moral effects produced upon a population by various 

 systems of education. 



An Inquiry into the circumstances which retard the 

 prosperity of a nation, and into those circumstances which 

 might improve its general condition (the objects of our 

 Inquiry), is clearly very different in its scope and difficulty 

 from an Inquiry into the effects of a single institution, as, 

 for instance, into corporations. For an Inquiry relative 

 to corporations is not only confined to the effects of a 

 single institution, but even to its effects upon a very small 

 portion of a community. In like manner, an Inquiry into 

 the administration and operation of an existing system of 

 Poor Laws, though most extensive as regards the district 

 of country and the classes of persons affected including 



