The Sun.
London, England, 1864-10-28 00:00:00

arising under the former statute that no person could be
considered as a destitute wayfarer or wanderer within its
meaning if he applied for relief in a parish where he was
legally settled.
The act does not extend to the resident poor, who ought
always to be received into the workhouse in the usual man-
ner, and should never, except under some peculiar circum-
stances, be admitted into the ordinary vagrant wards.
In the next place, it is proper to remark that the relief for
which the guardians will be entitled to be reimbursed is
such only as shall have been administered between the
hours of 8 o'clock at night and 8 o'clock in the morning.
But it is a condition before obtaining reimbursement under
the act that the Poor Law Board shall have certified that
proper wards or other places for the reception of the classes
in question have been provided by the guardians.
Without undertaking to prescribe with full detail what
provisions should be made, the Board desire to offer the
following observations on the subject :
With regard to the nature of the accommodation, they
consider it necessary that there should be at least two sepa-
rate wards, one for males and another for females and
young children.
There should be a yard containing a bath-room and water
closet attached to each department, and in the yard of the
male department a shed should be provided for the vagrants
to work in.
The most convenient form for a vagrant ward is, perhaps,
a parallelogram, and each ward, besides being of sufficient
capacity with respect to width and height to accommodate
the number of persons required to sleep in it, should be
fitted up with a sleeping platform or barrack bed, of ade-
Tuns depth along each side of it, with a convenient gang-
way down the middle. The platform should be divided by
means of boards, and the space allotted to each person
should be at least 2ft 3in wide. Above the head of each plat-
form there maybe a shelf the whole length of the room,
and divided into corresponding spaces for the deposit of
clothes.

The ventilation should be effected by means of openings
at proper intervals, and placed as near the ceiling as practi-
cable on each side of the room.
Means should be provided for heating the wards in severe
weather, either by hot-water pipes, gas, or other stoves.
Hot-water pipes will be found preferable to open fireplaces
or stoves.

The bedding, which should be sufficient for warmth, may
consist of clean straw or cocoa fibre, in a loose tick, with a
rug, or rugs, for each person, but for the women and chil-
dren some additional covering should be provided.
Where the additions are likely to be numerous, the wards
for each sex should be placed under a superintendent, a
male for the men and a female for the women, and the Board
consider that a reasonable allowance for the necessary re-
muneration of such superintendents would properly fall
within the terms of section 4 of the Act.

Without more precise information than they now possess
the Board are unable to lay down any exact rule as to the
extent of accommodation which should be provided in each
union or parish,but they may state generally that the wards
should be large enough to receive such a number as,having
regard to the peculiar circumstances of thi) locality, and the
maximum number of applications on ordinary occasions,
would be likely to require relief.

If any excess over the ordinary number of applicants oc-
casioned by unforeseen circumstances shculd arise so that
the accommodation provided by the guardians should be
inadequate, and the guardians should have to provide tem-
porary accommodation for such cases by making arrange-
ments for their reception in lodginghouses, the Board would
not recognize any such lodginghouse, as within the provi-
sions of the Act, unless it were registered, and thus brought
under the inspection of the police.

The food mpplied to the inmates of the vagrant wards
should be sufficient for their actual necessities, but not such
as, either in quantity or quality, would tend to increase the
number of applicants, or encourage imposture.
Tho Board consider it expedient that a task of work
should be required from each able-bodied person relieved,
in return for his food and lodging, in conformity with the sth
and 6th Victoria, cap, 57, sec. 6,:and where tho guardians
have not prescribed a task of work, the Board recommend
that they should at once do so, and forward their resolution
to the Board for approval.

Tho Board ar3 enabled to state as the result of their ex-
perience that in those unions where a task of work has been
systematically enacted, in pursuance of that statute, va-
grancy has sensibly diminished.

In many unions, however, a practice has crept in of dis-
pensing with the task of work when the vagrant prefers to
leave the workhouse without receiving an allowance of food
in the morning. The Board considers this practice very ob-
jectionable, and calculated, as the result shows, to encourage
vagracy. A task of work suited to the age, strength, and
capacity of the pauper should alwAys be exacted, whether
food be required in the morning or not, and a notice should
be hung up in some conspicuous place near th 3 entrance to
the wards, that any person refusing to perform filch task
will be liable to be imprisoned. under the act lastly referred
to, and kept to hard labour for one calender month as an
idle and disorderly person.

The Board likewise consider it very advisable that the
persons of vagrants should bo cleansed on admission, ac-
cording to the regulations of the workhouse. Care must of
course bo taken that no person who appears to be in such
a state of health as to be likely to suffer from bedag placed
in a bath should be subjected to that treltment.

Tho Board think it expedient that a separate admission
and discharge book should be kept by the master of the
workhouse, or under his supervision, for this class of pau-
pers, in which the followino particulars should be recorded
—v.z , the date and hour of admission and discharge; the
name, presumed ego, and occupation of each pauper; where
the pauper slept on the preceding night, and where ho or
she is going to, and the quantity and cost of the food, or
other relief, supplied to each person within the hours pre-
scribed by the act.

At the same time it must be recollected that no relief is
money given to any such person can be reimbursed under
any circumstances.

The Board having thus stated generally their views with
reference to the provision which should be made for the re-
lief of the classes in question trust that the guardians will
experience no difficulty in epeedily making such arrange-
ments for that purpose as will enable the Board to certify
that proper wards or places of reception, under suitable
regulations, have been provided in conformity with the in-
tention of the Legislature.—l am, your obedient servant,
G. GILPIN, Secretary.
To the Clerk to the Guardians of

Union.

Mr, Cobden and the Newspaper Press.

(From the Scotsman.)
11/41inurnsT, October 22, 1864.
Sir,—Absenee from home for a week has prevented me
from troubling you sooner with this communication.
In my former letter I invited your attention to a leading
article in the Scotsman of the 14:1, respecting the agitation
for the repeal of the taxes on knowledge, and I bagged to
be furnished with your authority for the following stater(
ment :—" But what were the anticipations of the chief
agitators for the change ? Mr Cobden stated, over and over
again, in public speeches, that his object or hope was to see
a newspaper press which would abstain from discussion)
and confine itself to reporting events, especially platform
speeches and police trials,"
Your response to this appeal is now before me. You say
"Speaking at Holmfirth in Feb., 1853, he (Mr Cobden)
thus depicted ono of the blessed effects be expected to flow
from a revolutionising of the newspaper system :—.

" People would [I ask the reader to bear in recollection
this " would"] resort to newsrooms, not to read the leading
articles—for I regard the leaders as of far less importance
than the articles of news in the paper. I believe these ori-
ginal articles, so far as guidance and direction are con-
cerned, are the least useful and interesting parts of the
papers—facts and intelligence being more sought after by
readers. There are far more newspapers in America than
here, but they have less political influence."
In my capacity of member for the West Riding of
Yorkshire, I attended, on Feb. 3, 1853, the anniversary
soiree of the Halrnfirth Mechanics' Institution. On arriving
at the place of meeting, I remember to have put myself in
communication with some of its most active and intelligent
members with the view of obtaining such information as
would enable mo to plead the cause before a large and re-
spectable gathering of the inhabitants of the neighbourhood.
I was informed that a newsroom had been recently added
to the institution; and finding that there still lingered
in influential quarters some eld-fashioned objections to this
innovation, I endeavoured to remove them by a few obser-
vations which I copy from the very full report of my rather
lengthy address which appeared in the 2'imes of Feb. 5,
1853 :

"I am glad to hear of this new feature the newsroom
and have no doubt it will be one of the most attractive
features in your institution. This has been found to be
the case in other places. For many years these institu
tions could not have newsrooms, because they were
objected to by influential parties as being political. But
there is nothing. less political than a newsroom, if the
newspapers are fairly selected, because you will have
newspapers of all kinds. You will find that people will
resort to newsrooms, not to read the leading articles—for,
with all respect for the able writers for the public press, I
regard the leaders as of fur has importance than the articles
of news in the paper. Take up a newspaper, and you will
find news fl our all parts of the world ; 19-20ths el the whole
paper consists cf news, and only I_•'oth part of original al ti-
dies or leaders; therefore, with all respect for the editors of
these papers, I believe the original articles, as far as guid-
ance and direction are concerned, aro the least useful and
interesting parts of their papers— facts and intelligence
being more soucht after by their roalors. There are far
111)ro newspapers in Ann: jolt tiHn here, but they have less
political influence."

Now, let it ho diatinc;ly understood that the ?alerting
which I was addressing had no connection whatever with
the agitation for the repeal of the taxes on knowledge; and
that, so far from appearing there as an advocate for any
such political object, I should have violated all propriety
if, on the neutral platform of a mechanic,' institution, in
the presence of men of all shades et political opinion, and of
a large number of ladies, I hai introdu.:ed any topic of the
kind.

It will bo eeen, on cprnpariaon, that the pasqnges retained
iu your qutatiou f:ow wy speech Lre t.; tCl&ttiin Copy of