

CHAPTER XVL 



A Poor Law Guardian— The Curse of Out-door Relief— The 

 Fortunes of Agriculture — Harvest Homes — Allotments and 

 Gardens — Steam and Spade — The Virtues of Co-operation — 

 Since 1830 — The Swing Riots — Cottage Accommodation — The 

 Smock Frock and the Black Coat — The Archdeacon and 

 Potatoes — The Better Part. 



In the year 1871 I consented to serve as guardian of the 

 poor, and went to my first meeting of the board deeply 

 imbued with the importance of my duties, and fall of 

 sympathy for the applicants. Our chairman and vice- 

 chairman were both excellent, kindly neighbours, one a 

 retired farmer from an adjoining village, the other a 

 grazier, a man of property, resident in the town. Under 

 their guidance and management the rates of the Union 

 were extremely heavy, the mass of the labouring people 

 paupers, and the out-door relief had risen to a very high 

 average, as compared with some of the best-managed 

 Unions. Not many weeks after my election, I began to 

 have my misgivings as to the humanitarianism of this 

 system, and, in conjunction with several of my brother 

 guardians, we were determined that a complete alter- 

 ation should be attempted, and, in direct opposition to 

 our chairman, we insisted on a more vigorous application 

 of the workhouse test. We were soon rewarded by a 



