The Sun.
London, England, 1831-12-24 00:00:00

chains, or be buried on the highway, after the manner in
which before the passing of the said first-recited Act, the
bodies of self-murderers were wont to he burie,f, as to the
Court may seem meet ; and that the sentence to be pro-
nounced by the Court shall express, inter alia, that the
body of the offender shall he hung in chains, or buried on
the highway, after the manner afores iid, whichsoever of
the two the Court shall order.

And be it enacted, that if any action or suit shall he com-
menced or brought against any person for any thing done
in pursuance of this Act, the same shall be commenced
within six calendar months next after the l'act committed;
and the defendant in every such action or suit shall and
may, at his election, plead specially or to the general issue,
Not Guilty, and give this Act and the special matter in
evidence at any trial to be had thereupon, and that the
same was done in pursuance and by the authority of this Act.
And in order to remove doubts as to the meaning of
certain words in this Act, he it enacted, that the words
" person and party" shall be respectively deemed to include
any number of persons ; and that the meaning of the afore-
said words shall not he restricted, although the same may
may be subsequently referred to in the singular number
and masculine gender only.
And be it enacted, that nothing in this Act contained
shall extend to Ireland.
And be it enacted, that this Act shall commence and
take effect from and after the

BILL forBETTERING THE CONDITION
of Me AGRICULTURAL POOR.

The preamble of this Bill states, that in consequence of
the increasing hardships of poor husbandry labourers from
the destruction of small farms, the demolition of cottages,
and the want of gardens, it is expedient to remedy their
condition. A. new officer, called " Patron of the Poor,"
is to be appointed in each parish, who shall visit all la-
bourers' cottages, and if he find them deficient in number
or accommodation for the labourers, he is to notify the
same to the parish-officers, who are to meet him to put
this Act into execution. The Act empowers these officers
to mark out sites for cottages, one at least to he annually
erected until all are accommodated, and, in the words of
the Act, " every such site shall include a plot of ground
for a garden, of not less than - square yards, or of
the yearly value of - shillings, exclusive of that pat
which shall be built upon, the rent of which ground,
when let to the cottager, shall not be higher in proportion
than land of a like quality in the immediate neighbourhood
let and occupied as arable or pasture land only. The
buildings, &c., including a rood of land, to be rented at
one shilling per week." The next clause in the Act pro-
vides for the similar accommodation and employment of
such cottagers as the preceding parts of this Bill have not
yet been applied to. It is further enacted, " with a view
to improve the character, as well as better the condition,
of the labouring poor, that certain advantages should be
restored and extended to the most deserving and industrious
of them, not only for the purpose of distinguishing and
rewarding their meritorious conduct, but in order perpe-
tually to incite others to follow their good example." These
advantages are, " sufficient land to keep a cow on, a com-
mon pasture for the cottagers ; the rent thereof to be
equally paid by them according to the rate of land of a like
quality in the immediate neighbourhood occupied as grass
and meadow land only, and in farms of not less than fifty
acres each."

In parishes where an alleged excess of agricultural
labourers has given rise to a disgraceful and injurious prac-
tice of paying the wages of those who are employed,
wholly or in part, out of the parochial rates, while those
who cannot find work, and who are therefore obliged to
apply to the parish for relief, are often set to useless, irk-
some, or degrading tasks, or kept in total idleness, or sent
to workhouses, where they occasion still g.eater expences
in their maintenance, the patron and parochial officer shall
obtain fields whereupon to employ the labourers in spade
husbandry, " one of the labourers of the parish, of honest
and industrious habits, and able to keep accounts, to
work with and have the superintendence over the labourers
so employed." This provision is not to extend to the
labourer in regular employment, and earning moderate
wages, who may apply for relief from the parish in conse-
quence of sickness, death, or other misfortunes in his
family, or when the number of his children, incapable of
earning their shall render an addition to the wages
generally paid necessary to the decent maintenance of him-
self and family.
Surveyors of roads are prohibited from employing
labourers in breaking stones, &c. during a certain period,
for the commencement and termination of which, blanks
are left in the Bill; and during the winter months such
labour shall he performed under moveable sheds to be pro-
vided by the Commissioners of the Roads or the parochial
surveyors, in order to prevent the painful and permanent
affliction which that employment, as now persued, in
severe weather, constantly occasions, especially to the aged
poor.
In parishes where Crown lands or uninclosed wastes
and commons exist, they are to be selected for the purposes
of this Act ; and the last provision enables incumbents of
Ecclesiastical benefices, with the consent of the patron, to
lease a certain portion of the glebe land for the purposes of
this Act.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.