98 
Farm Labourers, their Friendly Societies, 
and in all respects to be amenable to the law as at present in 
force. 
But in the case of those whose want arises not from their fault 
but misfortune, the care of the local board of guardians may 
properly be exercised with kindness, and even some indulgence, 
often, be it remembered, shown by them at present on the worth- 
less as well as the deserving poor. There is a class of able- 
bodied paupers whose necessities arise not from their idleness or 
other vice, but their incapacity in districts where there is some 
competition for farm labour to keep their employment. It is one 
of the advantages of the system of local boards that they can 
deal better in applying the principle of treating such applicants 
than any other organisation, past or present, in the relief of the 
poor. Taking care to avoid the rocks on which the old Poor 
Law struck and foundered, one of which was the contrivance of 
supplementing wages from the poor-rate,* there are many cases 
in which out-door relief might be afforded, to which, from a just 
fear of establishing a precedent liable to abuse, the guardians 
refuse relief other than the house. 
It is further germane to the improvement of the poor that a 
reform of the law in points in which it is confessedly at variance 
with laws designed by the Creator for the good of the human 
race should be made. The regulations which break up 
families, which separate husband and wife, parent and child, 
perpetuate greater evil than that inflicted on those who are 
thus parted. Results of this unnatural law are plainly and 
sadly traceable in the brutality of husbands towards their 
wives and families, the relaxation of family ties, or in 
the unnatural coolness with which an only son will leave a 
widowed mother to end her days in the workhouse, and will 
refuse, unless compelled by the magistrates, to contribute one 
farthing of his ample wages towards her maintenance. It is true 
that the Act makes a distinction between able-bodied married 
people and couples infirm from age or other cause. With respect 
to the former, if there is good reason why a man, crushed by 
adversity and not by vice, should desire the consolation of his 
wife, instead of being compelled to separate at the time when 
mutual support is most strongly needed ; if it is true that the 
* In some parts of Engl.md it was a common contrivance of the fanners undeT 
the former Poor Law to pay their labourers a fixed sum, and " make up " by an 
additional grant from the rate, sufiicient to support thciu and their families; by 
■which means the parson or vicar, who was rated on his tithes, and owners of 
property not agricultural, were compelled to pay part of the wages of the farm 
labourers. A mere abuse of this kind may raise a smile at the expense of the 
ratepayers thus victimised by the proceedings in vestry of other days, but the eviJ 
inflicted on labourers in thus degrading them into paupers is no trilling matter, and 
its effects are felt to this daj-. 
