in writing for such relief as they shall think requisite, and shall inquire into and superintend the collection and administration of all money to be raised by the poors'-rates, and of all other funds and money raised and applied by the parish to the relief of the poor: and where any such select -vestry shall be established, the overseers of the poor are required, in the execution of their office, to conform to the directions of the select vestry, and shall not (except in cases of sudden emergency and urgent necessity, and to the extent only of such temporary relief as each case shall require, and except by order of justices in the cases hereinafter provided for,) give any further or other relief or allowance to the poor than such as shall be ordered by the select vestry." In the second clause, " After relief has been refused by the select vestry, and it has been proved on oath before two justices, that the party complaining is in need of relief, it shall be lawful for such justices to make an order, under their hands and seals, for such relief, as they in their just and proper discretion shall think necessary, reference being also had by such justices to the character and conduct of the applicant, &c." And by the fifth clause it is enacted, "That every order to be made for the relief of any poor person by the churchwardens and overseers of the poor of any parish NOT having a select vestry under the authority of this Act, shall be made by two or more justices, who shall, in making every such order, take into their consideration the character and conduct of the person applying for relief; provided, that in every such order the special cause of granting the relief thereby directed shall be expressly stated," &c. From ten years' almost daily experience of the practical good effects of the adoption f this law in an agricultural parish of some extent, I have no hesitation in saying, that I consider it as highly beneficial; but I recommend no less the adoption also of the other clause in the same Act, respecting the appointment of an assistant overseer. Combined with the attention of the select vestry, the continuance of the executive officer tends to that permanency of discriminative administration, which it is the object of the bill to create and enforce. On the character of this officer much depends; and in large parishes it is advisable to employ another person, with the title of vestry clerk, to keep the accounts; as the qualities of active out-door exertions, in addition to the labour of collecting the rates, are frequently not co-existent, especially in the country, with the minute attention which is found in the practical accountant. In the adoption of these two parts of the system, and in every step of it, I recommend a strict adherence to the legal provisions of the Act in the minutest particular. There are so many who profit by the abuses of the present administration of the poor-laws, who will be ready to take advantage of a deviation from this attention, that it is a necessary duty, especially on the first establishment of it. With the above-named officers, and an atten+i«. chairman, the business of the select vestry may be well managed; but it will in my opinion be facilitated by considering the following arrangements. The causes of indigence may be comprised under the three following heads *: I. Inability to Labour. II. Insufficiency of the Product of Labour. Indigence arising from the two first of these causes is contemplated in the clause of the 43rd Elizabeth, which describes those subject to it under the character of "the lame, impotent, old, blind, and such other, being poor, and not able to work." And it is this kind of indigence that I shall first consider. I. Inability to labour is, 1. Temporary with the sick. with lying-in women. 2. Permanent with the old and incurable. * De Gerando, Visiteur du Pauvre, p. 19. It may also be divided into total and partial. 1. Total with the bed-ridden, the paralytic, the decrepid, and in all cases of idiotcy, insanity, and helpless infancy. 2. Partial in all other cases, even that of the blind. II. Under the head of indigence, arising from the insufficiency of the produce of labour, are comprehended all those cases occasioned by age or infirmity, where strength is reduced below the average rate of exertion, or where it has not yet attained to it; and those cases, such as widows with families, where the strength, from the laws of nature, is inadequate to the average of exertion; and where even the average exertion of the able-bodied, from the excess of family above an average number, will be insufficient for their support *. On the state of indigence arising from the above two causes, no difference of opinion, I believe, exists in this country, or in any other, -that, in some manner, it should be relieved from the abundance of the wealthy. To the relief of it, however, the great rule of political œconomy most powerfully applies,-Do not interfere too much. Let not the dispensers of *This species of indigence, and its claim on public relief, is recognized by Dupin, p. 444. H the public charity undertake the whole system of management; let them not provide the detail of lodging and diet, and clothing and fuel. Feelings implanted by the Wise Author of our being in the human breast will most generally induce their natural relations to receive them into their houses, especially, provided they are under no apprehension of actual want. And in these instances policy is combined with charity, as their maintenance, in a pecuniary point of view, will be less than in any public establishment. Nor should the enforcement of the existing law, which compels relatives, in certain degrees, to relieve their indigent connexions, be omitted. This is also said to be the law in France *. If they have no relations, such an allowance should be given them as may induce friends or connexions to receive them. The kindly feelings of the poor towards each other, where nothing but such feelings are expected or required, have been subjects of frequent observation. It is the only mode in which they are justified in exercising the great Christian virtue of charity; but it is perhaps the noblest, and ought to be encouraged. I cannot refrain here from quoting the observation of a female writer, because it is probable that it is founded on actual experience, derived from her particular connexions. * De Gerando, p. 42. |