342 Fundamental Principles of 



It is, however, only in very large cities that I would 

 recommend the forming parochial committees. In all 

 towns where the inhabitants do not amount to more 

 than 100,000 souls, I am clearly of opinion that it would 

 be best merely to divide the town into districts without 

 regard to the limits of parishes, and to direct all the 

 affairs of the institution by one simple committee. 

 This mode was adopted at Munich, and found to be 

 easy in practice, and successful ; and it is not without 

 some degree of diffidence, I own, that I have ventured 

 to propose a deviation from a plan which has not yet 

 been justified by experience. 



But, however a town may be divided into districts, it 

 will be absolutely necessary that all the houses be regu- 

 larly numbered, and an accurate list made out of all 

 the persons who inhabit them. The propriety of this 

 measure is too apparent to require any particular expla- 

 nation. It is one of the very first steps that ought to 

 be taken in carrying into execution any plan for form- 

 ing an establishment for the poor, it being as neces- 

 sary to know the names and places of abode of those 

 who, by voluntary subscriptions or otherwise, assist in 

 relieving the poor, as to be acquainted with the dwell- 

 ings of the objects themselves ; and this measure is as 

 indispensably necessary when an institution for the poor 

 is formed in a small country town or village as when 

 it is formed in the largest capital. 



In many cases, it is probable, the established laws of 

 the country in which an institution for the poor may 

 be formed, and certain usages, the influence of which 

 may perhaps be still more powerful than the laws, may 

 render many modifications necessary, which it is utterly 

 impossible for me to foresee ; still the great fundamental 



