1807.] 
being impoffible in large parifhes where 
they are difperfed over feveral miles of 
country, furely it is defirable that there 
fhould be fome fpot, where employment 
may be had for them, and where their 
united labours may produce fomething 
towards their own fupport, which can 
feldom be done unlefs they are collected ; 
and therefore I think that a law prevent- 
ing any new houles of that fort trom be- 
ing eftablifhed, which I fear is a part of 
Mr. W.’s plan, will be wrong. No doubt 
fuch inftitutions have been eftablifhed 
where there was no need of them, and 
many of them are badly managed, but 
no man of underfianding willurge this as 
an argument again{t their general utility: 
undoubtedly parithes ought well to confi- 
der the necetlity, propriety, and proba- 
bility of fuccefs of fuch an initicution, 
before they proceed to petition the 
Houte for leave to incorporaie, and erect. 
Such is the ttate of the poor in fome 
parifhes where no fuch houfes are, that 
unlefs their employers will give them 
their price for {uch labour as they choofe 
to engage in, the an{fwer has been, ‘“ No, 
we will not work at that price, we will 
fooner go to the parih,”. This was an 
anfwer made in this borough by a wo- 
man to an offer of 1s. per day to plant 
beans; now, where houles of induftry 
have been eftablifhed, the poor are glad 
to be employed, and receive their wages 
with thankfulnefs. 
The profperous ftate of the manufac- 
tories in fome of thofe houfes, and the 
improved marals of the poor in others, 
might fairly be urged in the behalf of 
fuch inftitutions; but I think that there 
exifts a ftronger piea for them than thofe, 
namely, neceffity; for till by education, 
or tome other mode, that fpirit of in- 
dependence heretofore exifting in the ~ 
breatis of tle lower claifes can be again 
infuted into them, houfes of induftry will 
be found abiolutely neceflary, efpecially 
in large towns where there is no efta- 
blifhed manufaétory; even if they were 
only erected in terrorem, or by way of 
flimulant to exertion; and to aid in 
preventing that fyfiem of fraud and-pecu- 
lation, fo fucceisfully carricd on by the 
mere crafty among the poor; in which 
the parith officer is the dupe of their too 
often feigned tales of mifery and diftrets : 
for in many parifhes it is utterly impof- 
fible for the overfeer,during the thort pe- 
riod of his office, to get acquainted with 
half the poor he has to fuperintend ; or 
to underftand their real fituation, unlefs 
he entirely neglects his own -bufine(s : 
On Mr. Whiibread’s new Parochial Bill. 
329 
and this knowledge, fo neceffary to a due 
execution of the oifice, is rendered more 
dificult by the prevailing mode m moft__ 
large parulhes of electing to the office of 
overfeer, every new comer into the town ; 
who is doubly unqualified tor it, both on 
account of his utter ignorance of the fi- 
tuation of ihe poor, and the plans of his 
predeceffors if they had any : add to this, 
that he muft be bulily occupied in ar- 
ranging and inproving his new fituation, 
and confequently can aiford little ume 
for lis parochial labours; fo that a per- 
manent directory, fuch as is eltablithed 
in many parifhes where there is a houte 
of iduftry, in which nine or twelve di- 
rectors are chofen, three of whom go 
out of office annually, and three more are 
chofen, would be infinitely preterable. 
Another fubject intimately connected 
with the parochial fyftem, is the great 
abufe of the charities which have been 
left from time to time, to various de- 
{criptions of poor. Let a foreigner go into 
our churches and read the tabiets which 
record the various benefaétions and do- 
nations left tor the poor, and he will be 
aftonithed that any complaint thould 
arife of the heavy burden of the poors’ 
rates; but let him attempt to trace thofe 
charities from their fource, and he will 
find them make a very devious courfe, 
and, inftead of reaching at laft the ne- 
ceflitous cottage, and ‘adminiftering re- 
lief to its inhabitants, he will find them 
pampering the rich. 
Whether a revifion of the Charities 
fhould, or can with propriety form a part 
of Mr. W.’s bill, Lieave to that gentie- 
man; but certainly it is a matter that 
needs revifion, and regulation, as much 
as any part of the parochial fyltem what- 
ever, ) 
Evefham, 
March 5, 1807. 
——— 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
M* Whitbread’s bill will naturally 
excite the attention of humane 
people, of which number, no doubt many 
of your readers are ; indeed it feems, by 
its being printed and circulated, that it 
was intended fo todo. No people, Mr. 
Editor, fee more of the condition and 
fuiterings of the poor than medical men, 
of which profeffion LT am; and if they 
have had the regular education they 
ought to have, there are few people who 
are better qualified to inveftigate the - 
caufeof them than they are, There isa 
propriety too in treating the fubjedt of . 
Mr. 
Your’s &c. 
J. Cotierr. 
