The Sun.
London, England, 1837-04-05 00:00:00

POOR LAWS.

The people have, during the past week, been called'on
to discharge an important local duty—the election of
Guardians to administer the New Poor Law ; and the be-
nevolent will earnestly hope that the selection may prove
not only advantageous to the rate-payers, but to the needy
and suffering poor whom hard necessity compels to seek pa-
rochial aid. A considerable portion of the evidence taken
by the Committee of the House of Commons in their in-
quiry into some of the regulations issued by the Commis-
sioners and their Assistants, which by some are consi-
dered to be oppressive in their application, has been
already published ; and the necessity for that inquiry
was, we think, obvious—first to remove from the minds
of a portion of the public that prejudice which
exists—and secondly, to ascertain whether the law, as
hitherto administered, does not operate, in some cases at
least, with too great severity, especially in the denial of
ont-door relief to the labourer, without regard to the num-
ber of his family, except in sickness. The order to limit
relief in such cases has not, it is true, yet been generally
enforced, although the Commissioners had the power of
doing so at the expiration of the first year after the passing
of the Act ; but the evidence before the Committee re-
specting the Petworth Union, where it has been acted
upon, clearly shews the effect which it produces upon the
poor man, especially in the interval between the disconti-
nuance of relief and that rise of wages, which, it is ex-
pected, will eventually ensue.
A writer in the Essex Herald—where we find the fore-
going remarks, discusses the question of Out-door Relief,
which he thinks ought to be left at the discretion of the
Guardians either to grant or to withhold—concludes a tem-
perate and well-reasoned article on the subject of the Poor-
law Amendment Act in the following terms :
" The good effects of the present system—its tendency
to induce the labourer to seek for employment, and to spend
his earnings with caution—and the moral improvement
which it has effected amongst the poor, are so apparent,
that we would urge perseverance—temperate perseverance
—and the result will not fail to reduce the Poor-rate within
still more moderate bounds, though certainly it cannot be
abolished, for it would be deceptive to encourage an expec-
tation that the poor will ever cease out of the land.' In
this county, we are happy to say, the discretion of re-
lieving the deserving poor man who seeks for work, and
performs it diligently when found—who spends his wages
with economy, and sets his children examples of honest in-

dustry and moral habits ; but who, from the number of his_
children, is unable to provide for their maintenance, has
never been wrested from the Guardians ; and we feel as-
sured that to discriminate between such characters, and the
vicious, the profligate; and the idle, will be no difficult task
if the gentlemen who have been elected to office will dili-
gently attend to those duties in which they have voluntarily
engaged?

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

HOUSE OF COMMONS, ArRIL 4.

The SPEAKER took the Chair at the usual hour.

Mr. COLLINS, the new Member for Warwick, was
introduced by Sir Ronald Ferguson, and another Hon.
Member, and took the oaths and his seat.

Mr. Adams appeared at the bar, and presented the
annual Rep'ort of the Commissioners of the Holyhead
Loans, which was laid on the table.

Mr. Bousfield, from the Bankruptcy Court, presented
returns, which were also laid on the table. .

Mr. LOWTHER—P;;;;;;er;Petition from York
against the North Midland Railway Bill.
Mr. DOTTIN brought up the Report of the Committee
on the London and Greenwich Railway Bill.

The LORD ADVOCATEpresented a petition against
the Trinity Harbour Bill, and a petition from Leith in
favour of the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway Bill.
Mr. TOOKE presented petitions from the Trustees of
the Chester and Woodside Ferry Roads against the Chester
and Burtonhead Railway. On the motion of the Hon.
Gentleman, the Leicester Small Debts Bill was read a
third time and passed.
Mr. H. HUGHES presented a petition from the Cor-
poration of Oxford, praying that the Oxford and Chelten-
ham Railway Bill might not pass, without a clause giving
them compensation for their tolls.
On the motion of Lord W. BENTINCK. the Pollock
and Govan Railway Bill was read a second time.
On the motion of Sir A. L. HAY, the evidence taken
before the Committee of 1835 on the Trinity Harbour Bill
was ordered to be referred to the Committee now sitting on
the said Bill. _ _ _