FARMERS' REGISTER— OPERATION OF POOR LAWS. 



113 



given to the overseers to grant the flour, or place 

 the children in the poor-house ; the latter measure 

 is so unpopular that they dare not put it in prac- 

 tice. The effect of this forced rise of parish pay 

 was soon apparent : the sale of the farmer's pro- 

 duce could not suffice for both wages and rates; a 

 most injurious transfer took place of a portion of 

 the sum expended on labor to the account of rates. 

 The principal occupier in the parisli states the 

 relative proportion on his farm to stand thus in 

 round numbers : — 



. 1830. 1831. 



Labor - - £900 I Labor - - £700 

 Rates - - 300 I Rates - - 500 



"This- scale of wages has been continued to 

 those on parish pay to the present day. Being se- 

 cure of good wages for mere nominal work, the 

 ill-disposed and idle throv/ themselves wilfully on 

 the parish ; the effect is most ruinous on the small 

 householders, who being already on the verge of 

 pauperism, may be converted, by a slight addition 

 to their burthens, from payers to receivers of rates. 

 They have no means of protection, but by uniting 

 for the purpose of an expensive litigation; and 

 have not the opportunity, like the formers who 

 constitute the Select Vestry, and are principally 

 tenants at will, to throw part of their burthen on 

 their landlords. From a printed statement of the 

 expenditure of the parish, are taken the following 

 items of sums received by families of paiipers : — 



John Carter, bricklayer, aged 43, 

 wife, and 5 children, at an allow- 

 ance of 14s. Sd. per week, cost the 

 parish last year - - - £ 42 12 4 



Joseph Carter, 34, wife, and 7 chil- 

 dren, 16s. Sd. per week - - 49 11 8 

 J. Mitchell, 40, wife and 2 children, 



I2s. do. _ - - - 35 4 



G. Paul, 50, fisherman, do. do. 15s. 

 6d. do. - - - - - 25 8 91 



" This lavish expenditure, which has been ex- 

 torted by the violence of the able-bodied, is not 

 extended to the aged and intii-m, the proper objects 

 of the poor laws, as may be seen by the following 

 items : — 



Mary Carter, widow, aged 76, at 2s. 



0(Z. per week - - - £6 10 



Lydia Collins, widow, aged 90, at 2s. 



per week - _ - - 5 4 



Ann Chapman, widow, aged 75, at 



Is. Qd. per week - - - 3 18 



" In the month of December 1832, four healthy 

 young men, receiving from 12s. to 14s. per week 

 from the parish, refused to v>'ork at threshing for a 

 farmer at 2s. Q>d. and a quart of ale per day, and 

 the only punishment inflicted on them by the parish 

 officers, was taking off half a day's pay. Is. ; at 

 the same time, a poor widow, aged 75, could ob- 

 tain but Is. per week for her support from the 

 Vestry. The fishermen being secure of pay with- 

 out labor, refuse to go out to sea in winter: one 

 has said, ' Why should I expose myself to fatigue 

 and danger, when the parish supports my wife and 

 pays my rent?' The masters in the fishery have 

 in consequence been forced to send to Hastings for 

 hands requisite to man their boats. Rent of cot- 

 tages is generally paid for fomilies of three cliil- 

 dren, to the annual amount of £ 307. Since the 

 time of the riots, and the establishment of the pre- 



VoL. I.— 15 



sent scale of parish wages, the Vestries held every 

 fortnight for determining relief are very ill at- 

 tended, — the parishioners seeming to despair of 

 any improvement ; and anxious hopes are expressed 

 of the interference of government." 



" In Dun's Tew, as in all the Oxfordshire pa- 

 rishes, the early marriage of mere boys is frequent,, 

 for the avowed purpose of increasing their income, 

 by allowance for increase of children." 



"A debt of £700 was then due from putative 

 fathers; sixty-seven bastards were on the books; 

 one v/oman had borne seven, and had received pay 

 for each. The parish itself was in debt to the 

 amount of £500, the residue of a debt of £1100. 



"It has been the practice here to relieve men 

 with families, Avithout inquiring into the amount 

 of their earnings, and not to refuse relief unless 

 they were shown to exceed 25s. a week. The 

 people are chiefly engaged in the manufacture of 

 nails. A large family is considered to be a source 

 of profit. Women object to marry till they are 

 pregnant." 



" The clieck to the circulation of agricultural 

 labor is too notorious to be talked of. The case of 

 a man v.-ho has worked for me, will show the effect 

 of the parish system in preventing frugal habits. 

 This is a hard-working, industrious man, named 

 William Williams. He is married, and had saved 

 some money to the amount of about seventy 

 pounds, and had two covv's ; he had also a sow and 

 ten pigs. He had got a cottage Avell furnished; 

 he was the member of a benefit club, at Meopham, 

 from which he received 8s. a week when he was 

 ill. He was beginning to learn to read and write, 

 and sent his children to the Sunday School. He 

 had a legacy of about 46Z. but he got his other 

 money together by saving from his fair wages as 

 a wagoner. Some circumstances occurred which 

 obliged me to part with him. The consequence 

 of this laboring man having been frugal, and saved 

 money, and got the cows, was, that no one would 

 employ him, although his superior character as a 

 workman was Avell known in the parish. He told 

 me at the time I was obliged to part with him, — 

 'Whilst I have these things I shall get no work. 

 I must part with them all. I must be reduced to 

 a state of beggary before any one will employ me.' 

 I was compelled to part Avith him at Michaelmas 

 — he has not yet got work, and he has no chance 

 of getting any until he has become a pauper ; for, 

 until then, the paupers will be preferred to him. 



"Such an instance as that of William Williams 

 is enough to demoralize a Avhole district. I say, 

 myself, that the laboring man who saves where 

 such an abominable system prevails, is foolish in 

 doing so. What must 'be the natural effect of such 

 a case on the mind of a laboring man.? Will he 

 not say to himself, why should I save .? Why 

 should I diminish my present scanty enjoyments, 

 or lay by any thing on the chance of my continu- 

 ing with my present master, when he may die, 

 or the means of employment fail him, when my 

 store will be scattered to waste, and I shall again 

 be made a pauper like William Williams, before 

 I can be allovved to work for my living. ^^ This 

 system, so far as relates to the circulation of labor, 

 I am firmly persuaded, can only be put an end to 

 by utterly abolishing the law of settlement, and 

 establishing a uniform national rate, so as to allow 

 a man to be relieved at the place where he is in 

 want, instead of his being pinned to the soil." 



