321 



PART It 



REVIEWS. 



Art. I. 1. Essay on the beneficial Direction of Rural Expenditure. 



By Robert Slaney, Esq. 



{Concluded from p. 184.) 



2. Colonies at Home : or, the Means for rendering the indus- 

 trious Labourer independent of Parish Relief ; and for provid- 

 ing for the Poor Population of Ireland by the Cultivation of 

 the Soil. London. Pamph. 8vo. pp. 27. 2 Plates. 



3. Thoughts on the Expediency of a General Provident Institu- 

 tion for the Benefit of the Working Classes ; tvith Tables and 

 Examples of Contributions and Allowances. By James Ceeg- 

 horn, Accountant in Edinburgh. Edin. Pamph. 8vo. pp. 43. 



We are now to enquire whether there are any means by 

 which the superfluous agricultural population can be supplied 

 with work. If such work, at the same time that it gave them 

 employment, added to the capital of their employers, it 

 would then embrace all that is, at any time, or from any 

 cause, aimed at, in employing the poor; if, while it afforded 

 them employment, it added, not to the profits, but merely to 

 the gratification of their employers, still it is desirable and 

 useful both to the poor and their masters : and in the present 

 state of the country, we would almost go the length of em- 

 bracing the opinion of a late statesman, that employing the 

 poor to carry stones from one place to another, and to put 

 them back again, is better for them than sheer idleness. 



Let us enquire into the different species of these three 

 kinds of employment. First ; that kind which, while it gives 

 work to the idle, increases the profit of their masters. We are 

 afraid much cannot be done in this way: the complaint is, that 

 all kinds of labour and trade are overstocked. Still something 

 may be done : we confine our suggestions to agricultural 

 labour. Is there an estate in the kingdom which may not be 

 improved and benefited by having its bare and unfertile spots 

 planted ; by having its plantations, already made, kept cleaner 

 or better drained ? Are there no private roads to noblemen 

 and gentlemen's houses, by repairing, levelling, and new form- 



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