440 
‘ance of works. suited to their several abi- 
Hties ; and their relief, when demanded, 
of their parishes be thus made to pro- 
_ceed wholly, or in great part, from its 
best source, the well-earned wages of 
their own labour. Every endeavour to 
relieve property from the heavy and in- 
creasing drain on it, for the maintenance 
ofthe parish poor, which dees not em- 
brace some sure and effectual mode of 
employing the able part of them, and 
which, for want of such mode, allows 
them to eat their parochial allowances in 
idleness, discontent, and mischief, will 
fail, as it has hitherto done, of effecting 
its end; but with such means, wisely re- 
gulated and duly enforced, the attain- 
ment of this great national object may 
be considered nearly as a matter of cer- 
tainty. That such places of divers em- 
ployments cannot he established in sin- 
gle parishes with any prospect of advan- 
tage, has already been shewn; we must 
therefore look to a combination of pa- 
rishes, within certain limits, for the set- 
tlement of such places, whereby the la- 
eal disadvantages incidental to small com- 
munities might be overcome in the 
extent and magnitude of the establish- 
ment. 
The co-operation of neighbouring pa- 
rishes, in aid of any other whose inhabi- 
tants could not levy among themselves 
sufficient money for the employment and 
relief of the poor, was enjoined by the 
act of Eliz. This principje was recog- 
nized and extended by the act 9th Geo.-I. 
c. 7, whereby parishes of smali extent 
might unite with them in support of a 
house for keeping, maintaining, and em- 
ploying their poor, and might contract 
for the maintenance of the poor of other 
. parishes; and since that time many neigh- 
bouring parishes in different counties 
have been incorporated, by private acts 
of Parliament, for these purposes; and 
to facilitate such incorporations, and re- 
medy some defects in the act last men- 
tioned, the public act of the 22d Geo. 
III. ch. 80, was passed, whereby pa- 
rishes, not more than ten miles distant 
from the common workhouse might, by 
agreement of two-thirds, innumber and 
value, of the owners and occupiers of 
land. &c. duly qualified to vote, be 
united for the better relicf and employ. 
ment of their poor, undey certain cendi- 
tions. This act, the provisions of which 
it is optional in parishes to adopt or not, 
does not appear to have been very ex- 
tensively acted on; by it the duty of 
Observations on the Poor-Laws, and on the most {June ty 
. . » 
oxerseers is confined to making and cols 
lecting the rates, and a new description 
_ of officers, called Guardians, are invested 
with all, the other powers in authority 
usually appertaining to the office of over- 
seer. The poor-houses to be provided 
under this act are for the reception of 
the “ sick, infirta, and aged poor, unable 
to procure their livelihood, together with 
children, orphans, and such as go with 
their mothers for sustenance.” These 
houses, therefore, under this character, 
are merely asylums for the unable poor; 
but, from what has been before observed, 
it should seem, that this description of 
paupers, if associated, had bétter be so 
disposed of, within their respective pa- 
rishes, than crowded, many-together, in 
larger houses of incorporated parishes. 
Let ‘us now see, how far it may be 
practicable to fulfil the intentions before 
suggested, namely, of providing ade- 
quate means whereby the overseers of 
parishes, throughout England and Wales, 
might be enabled to conform themselves 
to the spirit of the act of the 43d Eliz, 
bysetting to work all the able paupers of 
their respective parishes, who may ap- 
ply to them fer parish relief. 
To accomplish this ‘very important 
object, it is proposed, that the several 
counties of England and Wales, be die 
vided into districts, and that the several pa- 
rishes within each district, notacting under 
any special act of Parliament, nor that 
of the 22d Geo. III. for the better re- 
hefand employment of the poor, be in- 
corporated together, for the maintenance 
and employment of such of their poor as 
are able to contribute, by their labour, 
towards their support. ‘That these dis- 
tricts comprehend a greater or less num- 
ber of parishes, according to the extent 
aud populousness of them; no parish 
being included _ within any district, whose 
nearest limits to the place of employment 
exceed ten miles, and the number of in- 
habitants of no district to exceed 40,000, 
according to the abstract of returns to 
the Population Act. But for the accom- 
modation of parishes, which, by local 
situation, might not fall within the limits 
of any incorporation, it is proposed, 
that the overseers of such parishes be 
authorised to send their poor, of the de- 
scription mentioned, to the néarest dis-~ 
trict house of work, under regulated 
terms, and that no other farining of the 
poor be allowed. These work-houses, 
houses of industry, or, as I would denomi- 
nate them, District Manufactories, vi 
€ 
