HISTORY OF STAFFORDSHIRE. [25 



which might be set apart on all titheable estates by proper com- 

 missioners ; and an equivalent in land must certainly be a more 

 solid property than tithes, as it may be improved by industry, and 

 managed with less trouble than tithes, even by clergymen them- 

 selves, or their agents. 



Poor's Rates have been gradually and greatly increasing. 

 From Parliamentary inquiries, from 1783 to 1786, the annual"J . s. d. 

 expence of the whole county, upon a medium of those three > 45,404 10 10 

 years, was j 



Of this, net money paid for the poor, 40,963 13 7 



County Rates, including Gaols, Houses of Correction, County") 



Bridges, Militia, Vagrants, &c. J 3,26] 



Churchwardens' Accounts for repairs of Churches, 1,179 11 li 



Total, ^45,404 10 10 



The total money raised within the year ending Easter, 1803, by 

 the Poor's-rates in Staffordshire, was ^109,456 



which was nominally stated to be 4s. 2|d. in the pound, and was 

 then probably, upon the real value, a little under 3s. in the pound. 

 In this proportion, the increase of 20 years is nearly as 2 to 5, and 

 this may be considered as permanently fixed, if our present state 

 of things be permanent also. 



Weights and Measures. Those customary in this county differ 

 considerably from the regular standard, and from each other : the 

 custom of Wolverhampton-market being 18 ounces to the pound of 

 butter, 120 to the hundred of cheese, 9| gallons to the bushel of 

 grain and pulse, and 72 to the bushel of wheat ; whilst that of other 

 markets in the county varies, some being more and some less than 

 the above. Malt is generally throughout the county sold by the 

 Winchester bushel of 8 gallons, and wheat-flour by the stone or 

 peck of 14 pounds weight. Much complaint has been made of this 

 variation, and much has been said about a regulation of weights 

 and measures ; and it is now understood that the business is in the 

 hands of the Legislature, who intend to establish one universal 

 standard of weights and measures upon the following principle : 

 A cubic foot of distilled water, at the temperature of 56| of Fahren- 

 heit, weight 1000 oz. avoirdupoise ; a gallon is to contain lOlbs. 

 or 160 oz. of such water, which is in its lowest terms 4-25ths of 

 such cubical foot or 276'48 cubic inches : the quart will be 40, and 

 the pint 20 inches, holding of pure water Iflb. the quart 2|lbs. and 

 the gallon lOlbs. ; the bushel of eight gallons being 221 184 cubic 

 inches, holding SOlbs. weight of water. An universal standard 6f 



D 



