The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1878-02-26 00:00:00

THE ASSIZES.

The C imraisrion will he opened on Friday thelsth ol
March before Chief Barre Kelly and Mr. Justice Grove.
THE ADMINSTRATIONT OF THE POOR,
LAWS.
. _ . _ .

At the monthly meeting of the Dorchester Farmers'
Club on Saturday, which was held at the Antelope
Hotel., and at which the following members were
present : Mesas. Lush, G. J. Andrews, Henry
Lock, Arthur Lock, Alfred Pope, G. J. G. Gregory,
Robert Damen, W. Chick, It thnge, G. W. Homes,
H. W. Hawkins, Oakley Saunders, H. Taylor,
Loader, Chapman Saunders, Crowd, and Frond.
Hr. AKIHUK LOCK read a paper entitled The
Adminietration of the Piar•Laws, imiecially in connec-
tion with the gradual decrease of Oat-14 bd." Having
alluded to the general interest al taehinit to the subject be
affirmed there was • special roman for introducing it
at the meeting as the Aditonistratdoo of Relief In
this part of the country, is, according to the uniform
reports of the Local Government Board, carried on with
meter laxity than in almost any other dietrict The
lecturer then proceeded to divide his subject into two
portions. First, what are the causes of this state of thine.,
and, secondly, what are the remedies if any to be applied.
In considering the first they must bear in mind the principle
upon which the Sum acts, is order to provide against
social disorder occasioned by those sudden changes in the
employment of capital brought about by sudden changes
in Science or in Historyoras toxin, the meet...anew, • legal
claim to a minimum support from the more fortunate
members of the State. That principle was, no doubt,
beaet with ditlicultim, for no sootier hail the Act been
passed then it was taken advantage of by hundreds of
unworthy and uuthrif ty people for whom it was never
intended. The first Act which embodied the principle of
P.tate intervention was the wall-known Act of 43 Eli., c.
2, the immediate result of which was probably the
increase of niendicants, the overseers of parishes then for
the first time appointed being compelled to provide
materials and work for the able bodied, and relief for the
old and impotent. At this tiuie there was no law of
settlement, except • birth settlement, and no
machinery for removal. The next act was that of
Id and 14 Chas. 11, c. 12, which in its preamble
graphically set forth the abuses which had arisen, and it
...Med pariah officers to take steps within 40 days from
the nurvni of a stranger in • perish for his mooed to his
native place. This Act, however, was so stringent that a
whole series had to be palmed to remove the unnecemarl
h.d.hips east not only upou the paupers hut also the
parishes. Mr. Fawcett, in hia Political gsoamKY 03),
says of the working of this Act, 'the circulation of
labour was almost prohibited, and incalculable lod was
Inflicted both upon employers and employed. In one
district there was of ten • superfluity of labour, sad in
another a comisponding dearth." A partial remedy WM
provided for this by S and 9 Wm., 3., c. 30 (ION), which
enabled poor persons with a certificate to travel and
reside for the purposes of work without gaining • settle-
ment. Other Acts were also passed- Now the principle
of all of them we; that with the exception of the poor-
houses which were built for the old and impotent, the
poor should be supported by out-door relief. Owing,
however to the large increase of p•uperiati and the laxity
with which relief was given. which 'bolded to demoralise
the working classes, the Poor Law Amendment Act of
Int was pessed—constitutina the present unions as the
areas of adminlatration. By • further Act HMb the
relief of the poor, both indoor and outdoor, was made
a charge on the common fund of the onion, but by
this, an evil was created by taking away the individual
Interest of the guardians of • particular perish. And the
consequence was that between the yews WE and 1870 the
mirage number of out-door paupers in Zealand and
Wales increased from 720,030 to 670,000 (from 37 to I per
cent of the population) Accordingly the Local Govern-
ment Board, In • letter to the inspectors, called attention
to the promiseuou• administration of out-door relief, and
recommended a stricter application of time workhouse
.test. This had aready been brought to hear on the
Unions when iSc. Ooechen was President of
the Poor Law Board. Mr. Look have quoted the statistics
of the various anions, to show the result of this. They were
as follows :—Decrease of pauperism in S..poey Union, 80
fferd
cent;i Georges in the Cam, ; Strand. ;
ugh, 6; Whited:lap-1, 61. The whole showing •
decrease of out relief, varying from 70 to 93 pee cent., and
indoor from 55' It In Ireland attain, where wages are
lower than in England, whore the rule is to apply the
workhouse test, and in some parts no out-door
relief is given at all, pauperism is far lower
than England or Sootla. There the rate was only
one in 72 spina% Oda in 1111 in England. At Atc
la Shropshire, where the same rule had been adopted
enuperisui had been reduced to one in every 100 at a cost
of la 161. per head, while in the Unica of Ohm in flats maw
000nty It was one in 17 at a cost of Et 31 The Local
• Havoriumiat Board accordingly issued • steles of ream-
dation', nod the result had been that between 71 and
76 the oet relief had decreased nearly £1.000,000 while
the indoor bed only inereeeed £14500; and the Laical
Government Board uncharted if tut system bad been
carried out in all the Unions the redacuoa in the amount
of expenditure would have hew meek yleater. Lean in
the Dorchester Union the Laoal (ilovernment Board report
some improvement although their recommendatioes bad
been only used upon to • ray slight degree. Still more
otringest regulations had been adopted by the Manobroor
Union Mika boded to /bow the lora Gemmel
Solid had ad by say mew oyerstysinditbs Ms& The