The Sun.
London, England, 1847-07-02 00:00:00

P 00R-LAW COMMISSION.
Thw3 thirteenth annual report of the Poor-law Corn-
saissi one rs has just been printed. It opens with a state-
ment of the amount of poor-rate received and expended
in Engl and and Wales for the parochial year ending
"Latly-d ay, 1846, and which is compared with the expen-
diture of the preceding year.
In the expenditure for the relief of the poor there
"vas, in 1846, as compared with the previous year, n
tdiminution of 77,6771. In the law charges there was a
II decrease of 12,1121; in the county and borough rate
ita increase of 21,2801.; and in the total expenditure
from the poor-rate there was a decrease of 102,552/.
ghe following table shows the expenditure for four

jeers:—
'Years ending Lady-day.
1843 Expenlistu,27Bf,oor27the Poor.
1844 ................... 4,976 093
1845
5,039,703
1846 4,962,026
The total number of paupers (ilnB-4d6, i
(in-door out)
3a3ndss;de
-re-
lieved in 1845 was 1,470,070; in
'0,7
crease in 1846, 140,413. On the whole population of
the last census, 15,906,741; this gives a per centage of
p 'were in 1845 of 9•2, and in 1846 of 8-4.
paupers
Commissioners are not able to state the com-
plete amount of the poor-law expenditure for ',;ha year
ending at last Lady-day, but they entertaisa no douaa
that it has considerably exceeded the amount for the
preceding year. This increase they aatribute to the
failure of the potato crop of 1846, wnich, by raising
the price of other previsions, mateeially influenced the
condition of the poor; for whereas in April, 1846, the
price of wheat was 545. 11d., in April, 1847, it had
risen to 755. 6d. In the former year a quarter of the
principal sorts of grain and pulse (wheat, barley, oats,
rye, beans, and peas) could be purchased for 101. 9s. 2d.,
in the latter year their price had risen to 16/. ss. 6d.
Amongst the agricultural labourers of Wiltshire, So-
inersetshire, and Devonshire, where the allotment
system prevails, the effects of the potato blight have
been severely felt, and out-door relief has been granted
to many who formerly relied on their gardens, and
whose means were also crippled by an unusually cold
winter. The report states—
" We may here mention, with reference to the failure
of the potato crop, that it became necessary for us, in
numerous unions, to sanction an'alteration in the work-
house dietary by the substitution of some other article
for potatoes. The substitutes have for the most part
been bread or boiled rice; in other cases, turnips, car •
rots, parsnips, cabbage, peas, or hominy have been used.
We have likewise, at the desire of the Board of Trade,
instructed our Assistant-Commissioners to obtain infor-
mation upon certain particulars respecting the failure of
the potatoes. From the reports which have been sent
in, and which have been transmitted to the Board of
Trade, it appears that the failure of the potatoes has ex-
tended generally over the country, but that the earlier
sorts of the potato have failed the least.
" Other causes also have eontributed to increase the
expenditure far the relief of the pour since last autumn
in the manufacturing districts and the large towns.
Owing to the high price of cotton, and the diminished
demand for manufactures, the hours of work have been
shortened, or the work has been even temporarily sus-
pended in some factories in the Lancashire district.
Moreover the severity of the distress in Ireland has
produced an influx of Irish, in a state of extreme desti-
tution, into several towns on the western coast of Eng-
land. Liverpool, as being the port nearest to Dublin,
and with which the principal steam communication is
carried on, received the largest number of this class of
immigrants. The numbers having begun to increase in
December, a-iyansed rapidly in January and February
last, and still more rapidly in March and April. From
the 13th of January to the 20th of April, during which
period an accurate account of Irish immigrants was kept,
there aerived at Liverpool 133,069 persons from Ireland.
The Select Vestry adopted prompt and efficient mea-
sures for meeting the increased number of applications ;
and it will be seen from the annexed Report of cur
Assistant Commissioner, Mr. Austin, that these mea-
sures were ate : fed with considerable success in pre-
venting imposition, and in providing for the destitute.
The precautions taken by the vestry against the spread
of fever and disease, from the crowded dwellings of the
Irish, are on a large and expensive scale but not, it is
to be feared, beyond the necessity of the case.
"It has not been thought advisable by the local autho-
rities to make any attempt to pass the Irish immigrants
back to Ireland under tne 8 and 9 Vict. c. 117. Some
have remained chargeable on the rates of Liverpool,
others have proceeded further into the interior of the
country, but several thousands have emigrated to Canada
or the United States. Many have reached Manchester
and the other manufacturing towns of Lancashire, as
well as of the West Riding and Cheshire ; and we have
received statements from several Boards of Guardians
on the subject of a provision for the increased number
of Irish vagrants. Large numbers of Irish have also
landed at Newport and Chepstow, and have thence
moved on to Cheltenham and other towns in the mid-
land counties. A. considerable number of Irish poor
(estimated at about 1,000 within a week) have recently
been landed in London by steamers from Cork and Dub-
lin. In addition to these, some Irish have reached the
metropolis fr en Bristcl and Newport.
" The Removals Act of last session (to the operation
of which we 5h..11 advert more particularly hereafter),
-has likewise increased the amount of relief to the Irish
in the large towns, especially_ in the metropolis. By the
operation of this Act, Irish and Scotch, who have been
resident five years in an English parish, become irre-
movable from th at parish ; and thus many Irish, who
had been resident for that period, became applicants for
relief, although previously to the paesieg of that Act,
they had be( a deterred from applying by the fear of
being passed back to their own country. The expecta-
tions of benefit under this Act formed by the resident
Irish in the metropolis appear to have been excessive,
and led to their applyh.g ih large nuwteer Co several
London parishes and unions at the beginning of the
winter. The pressure was, however, only temporary,
for the applications have been generally met by an offer
of the workbeilee or out-door labour, and the offers were
in few cases asc pted.
" Owing to the combined operation of the causes
above stated, (namely, the general failure of the potato
crop throughout England, the high prices of corn and
other articles of food, the length and severity •of
the winter, the diminution of manufacturing pros-
perity, the largo immigration of destitute Irish
into England, and, in some degree, the operation of the
Removal Act), the pressure upon the poor-rates has
been considerabh; increased since last autumn, and the
poor-law expenditure for the year ending Lady-day,
1847, will, when ascertained, doubtless prove to have
been greater than that for the preceding year. We
have, how, yea the satisfaction of being able to state
that the boards of guardians and other local authorities
have found no serious difficulty in overcoming the ob-
stacles against which they have had to contend, and that
the system of relief has Issen efficient and orderly. In-
deed we are not aware that, at any time since we have
held our present offices, the administration of the poor-
law has been in a saore regular and satisfactory state
than during that period since last autumn, or has been
conducted with,a more willing co-operation on the part
of the local authorities."
In reference to appeals against the decisions of audi-
tors there cc 'or the two following paragraphs:—
" An important portion of our duty, in connexion
with the audit, has been to receive application in
the nature of an appeal under section 33 of 7 and 8
Vict., c. 101. We have considered that, as the object
of the provision was remedial, the auditor might be
called upon to state his reasons even after the conclu-
sion of the audit, and we have accordingly received
applications from parties who had neglected, at the
time of the audit, to require that the reasons for
the allowance or disallowance of any item should
be stated in the book by the auditor. Several
such appeals have been made to us in a formal shape.
In many of them, the party complaining has been
satisfied with the expression of our opinion, without
wishing us to issue a formal order. In ten cases, how-
ever, such orders have been issued, of which seven went
to establish the lawfulness of the reasons assigned by
the auditor, and three decided against those reasons.
None of these orders have yet been removed into the
Court of Queen's Bench ; a course which it is compe-
tent for any party to take who is dissatisfied with our
decision.
" We are advised that, in these appeals, we are only
competent to consider the lawfulness or unlawfulness of
the reasons assigned by the auditor, and that we cannot
go into enuiiable considerations, or make allowance
for the good intentions of the officers against whom
any surcharge or disallowance may be recorded. We
have had, in some cases, reason to regret the hardship
which is thus necessarily brought on individuals by
the introduction of a system of greater strictness ; but
we are satisfied it a discretion had been left to the com-
missioners, the result would have been great uncertainty
on the part of the auditors and the officers themselves ;
each individual case would have presented some excep-
tional features in the ey
expend-
ing the money, and each person
e of the person or body
cal-
culated on the probability
enough in the particular instacnotcheeto.
of the
or body would. have
equtty being strong
.lawgradelu
decision from the Poor
these cases of hardships will secure a favourable
malilssioners. As it is,
y
ceasre;aouuTdniathtrleyw:oailudi
tors, each acting over a large surface
make known the principles on which thefi
conducted ; and the chance of success on
commissioners will be a matter capable oPlapetoZnof.ewill
lthbielel
ascer-
tained with more certainty, in proportion as dsious are given with reference to similar cases?' eel-
The total expenditure fur medical relief, in 1845, was
174,3301. ; in 1846, 175,269/. The number of persons
vaccinated was, in 1845, 362,087 ; in 1846, 271,219.
The ratio of persons successfully vaccinated to the
number of births was, in 1815, 100 in 140 ; in 1846,
100 in 187.
The law relating to proper lunatics and the Sanatory
Act, are thus noticed by the Commissioners :
" Tho Act 9 and 10 Vie., c. 5, which contained some
amendments of the statute of the previous year relating
to county lunatic asylums, removed one of the difficul-
ties which existed in regard to the removal of pauper
lunatics, in cases where the lunatic was not such as to
require confinement in an asylum, is one likely to be
cured by the medical treatment therein. Under
the previous statute it was considered by the Justices
that they had no discretion, but Isere bound to issue an
order in every case which was brought before them.
The Ist section of the new statute declares that it shall
not be incumbent upon the Justices, and the other
parties who are competent to act in this matter, in all
cases to issue the order; and it requires such Justices
and parties to satisfy themselves as to the propriety of
confining the Lunatic in an asylum before they sign the
order, except, indeed, a medical certificate be obtained
from the medical officer of the union, in which case this
discretion is removed.
" The Sanatory Act (9 and 10 Viet., c. 96), for the
removal of nuisances conferred certain powers upon
boards of guardians, to enable them to procure the
rem wet of such private nuisances as are of a nature
calculated to injure health. We thought it ad-