The Sun.
London, England, 1846-05-04 00:00:00

NEW LAW OE SEVELENIENT.

The following are the principal provisions of the new
Bill introduced into Parliament to consolidate and amend
the laws relating to the removal of the poor :
The Bill commences by repealing existing Acts on the
subject. The second clause declares that, until removed,
destitute persons are to be relieved at the expense of the
yarish in which they are residing; except (3) in cases
where doubt exists as to the settlement. Boards of
guardians may then direct their clerk to charge the relief
to the parish in which they believe the person's settle-
ment to be, informing the overseers of the fact. The
overseers may, if they think themselves aggrieved,
apply within foul teen days for an order of adjudica-
tion ; and if this course be not adopted, the case may,
within six months be submitted to the Poor-law Com-
missioners, whose decision can only be appealed against
a ithin six months. By the sth clause, the Commis-
sioners, with the consent of a majority of the bard of
guardian-, may make the relief of ,-ccasiond poor a
union charge. The Gth clause provides that any person
chargeable to any union shall be liable to removal,
except in certain cases specified in the five succeeding
clauses. Persons (7) are not to be removed from one

parish to another iu the same union ; but their settle.
went nay be ascertained, and the amount expended
charged accordingly. The Bth clause is the most

portant to the Bill, as it makes five years' industrial
labour a bar to removal ; we give it veroatim :—" That
no person who has resided for the five years last pre-
ceeding in any parish shall be removed from that
parish ; and no residence as a prisoner in a prison, as a
soldier, mariner or sailor in active service, as an insane
person in a lunatic asylum, or house licensA for the re-
ception of insane persons, or as a patient in an hospital,
and nA time whilst any person is receiving relief from
any parish, or whilst he is wholly or in part maintained
by any private rate or subscription, nut being a bona fide
charitable gift raisi d in a parish in which he dues not
reside, shad be reckoned either as part or as an interrup-
tion of the five years, or as an interval after the comple-
tion of such five years ; and the justices, to whom any
application is made for a warrant of removal, are
hereby empowered to decide whether any allowance
made to any person in money or otherwise, was, or was
nut, bona fide a charitable gift" By the 9th clause no
widow shall be removable for a year after her hus-
band's death. No child under sixteen (10), residing
with his father or mother, shall be removable unless his
parent is also removable. No warrant (11) shall be
granted for the removal of any person in %%h./6C case re-
lief is made by accident of or by illness of himself or
any member of his family, unless the justices state in
the warrant that they are satisfied that the illness is in-
curable, or that the accident will produce permanent
disability."

We now come to the clauses regulating the procedure
in removals. If two or in,re overseers (13) sign a paper
admitting a person's settlement, in the presence of a
magistrate, no further warrant for his removal shall be
necessary. A board of guardians (14) may examine
into a person's settlement, and give the overseer of
the parish to which they deem him to belong notice
of application for a warrant of removal, and if no op-
position be made within seven days, may apply for a
warrant of removal. But if any statement of dissent
be made to the removal the guardians can proceed no
further in the matter, but it must be left to the overseers.
The Pour-law Commissioners may authorise boards
' of guardians to zppoilit officers to conduct removals,
and may make regulations with respect to them. Per-
sons (16) stall not be removed under the warrant of
any justices until after forty day's notice to the over-
seers of the parish to which they belong, nor during the
prosecution of any appeal. The 17th clause imposes a
penalty of not more than 41., nor less than 21., on any
parish officer, who by threats or otherwise shall obtain
the removal of a pauper without the warrant of two
justices. In case of the illness of a pauper (20) two
justices may suspend the warrant of removal ; and it'
notice be given %% ithin seven days, the overseers of the
parish in which the pauper's settlement shall be liable for
all expenses of maintenance, except medical relief.
When such charges (21) exceed 101., there shall be a
right of appeal against them, if thought excessive,
to the next quarter sessions. Overseers (22) may
abandon a warrant of removal, on paying the
other party's c ,sts. A duplicate (23) eit any war•
rant of iemovel, together with the origii,al depo

tions, shall, within three day s. be tr:ansm►tted to the
clerk of the peace, who shall preserve the same, and (24)
furnish copies, if required, at certain charges.
Overseers (25) of the ,parish aggrieved by the
warrant of removal, may appeal to the next quarter
sessions, and that appeal shall only be respited on
affidavit of special circumstances. No appeal (26) shall
be entered by the ov.-rseers without the consent of the
board of guardians of the union. In the appeal (29) no
grounds are to be gone into but those set forth in thy•
respondent's and appellant's statement. No order of
justices under this Act (34), other than orders of courts
of quarter sessions, shall be removed into any of her
Majesty's courts of record, by certiorari or otherwise.
The New Poor-law Act (36), and all Acts passed to
amend it, and the present Act, shall be construed as one
Act. This Act (39) shall extend only to England.

THE CAUSE OE REMARKABLY
MILD WINTERS IN ENGLAND.
An interesting communication on the subject, by
Colonel Sabine, appears in the Philosophical Magazine
for the present month. The unusual character of the
winter which we have just experienced, in which the
mean temperature in December, January, and February,
exceeded the mean temperature of the same months of
1844-5 by an average of 8 deg., has given rise to the
inquiry. The winter which, within Colonel Sabine's
recollection, most nearly resembled the present, was
that of 1821-182'2; and undoubtedly the resemblance is
in many respects very striking. The extension of the
Gulf-stream in that year to the coast of Europe, instead
of its terminating, as it usually does, about the meridian
of the Azoi es, has been assigned as a cause adequate,
Colonel Sabine believes, to account for all the phenomena
of that winter. " The warm water of the Gulf-stream
spread itself beyond its usual bounds, over a space of
ocean which may be roughly estimated as exceeding 600
wiles in latitude and 1,000 in longitude, carrying with it
water several degrees higher than the temperature of
the sea in ordinary years in the same parallels."
The similarity of the two winters 1821-1822 and
1844-1845 having been shown, and their agreement in
those features in which they differ from ordinary winters,
Colonel Sabine says, "It will naturally be asked, what
evidence we have to prove or disprove an extensi,n of
the Gulf-stream in the present year, similar to that
which took place in 1821. To this it must be replied,
that strange as it may appear, this remarkable pheno-
menon may take place in any year without our having
other knowledge of it than by its effects, although it
occurs at so short a distance from our ports, from whence
so many hundred vessels are continually crossing, and
recrossing the part of the ocean where a few simple ob-
servations with a thermometer would serve to make it
known. We have no organised means of learning an oc-
currence which, whether it be or be not the cause of the
present extremely mild winter, cannot fail, whenever it
does occur, to affect materially and for a considerable
length of time the climate of an extensive district of the
globe, including our own islands. History has recorded
two instances in which the extension of the Gulf stream
is known to have taken place and in both we owe Our
knowledge of it to the casual observations of an acci•
dental voyager."
And in a note he says : " It is much to he wished
that a society existed in England which should charge
itself with the many interesting and important consider-
, ations belonging to physical geography. Did the object
and scope of the Royal Geographica: Society embrace
physical as well as descriptive geography, it cannot be
doubted that science and the public would be greatly
benefited."
Colonel Sabins, in conclusion, does not suppose " that
amidst the variety of incidents by which our climate
is affected, there may not be others which may be
influential in the production of winters of unusual
mildness in an equal, or even in a greater, de-
gree than the extension of the Gulf-stream ; or
that whenever the stream reaches the coasts of
Europe, its influence on our climate must neces
sarily occasion winters like that of 1821.1822, or 1845-
1846. It is reasonable to believe that there may be de-
grees of initial velocity between that which is usual and
that which is extreme. There may also be counteracting
or qualifying causes with which we are as yet wholly
unacquainted. The object of this communication is
rather to recall to recollection, on the occasion of the
present remarkable winter, the coincidence that was dis-
covered between the similar winter in 1821-1822, and
the extension of the stream ; and to promote the
adopt
ion of such simple means as may supply additional
evidence, whereby we may discern between coincidence
observed on a single occasion, and connexion which may
be established by the observation of repeated coin-
cidence."
In the hope of furthering those views, we submit this
abstract to our readers.—Literary Gazette.

EgAeTneNraoi
yiteTalirli;.!tx
TR
meeting
of RAILROADthe a PalivcroFf FthaeAGNrceEat.
Northshareholders°3l
ern Railroad Company was held in Paris on Tuesday
last, at which Baron James de Rothschild presided. The
report of the directors was read by M. Emile, one of that
b
thY,from which it appeared that the company had received
e bad
y,
~ first instalment of 125 f. on 400,000 shares, making
'`-'000,000f., together with 470,109 f. 59c. for interest. The
co
had lodged a sum of 20,000,000 f. as security with
Ine Government for the repayment of the cost of the works
executed.by it
''' which, together with the expenses of orga-
nizing the company, amount to 25,768,977 f. 96c., leaving a
.. balance in the hands of the banker to the company of
."`,4.738,5134f. 53c This would suffice for the expenses of
the co ~. • sum
niPakr until the course of the year 1847 ; and would
render unnecessary further call on the shareholders un-
til that period. ' any
'f he two roads from Lille to Valenciennes to
the Belgian frontier have been placed under the control of the
company since the Ist of the present month. In the tirst
section of the road, from Paris to Clermont, the double line
,f rails has been completed. From Clermont to Amiens one
line has been completed, as willother be in six or eight
the
days. The section from Paris to Pontoise is ready for the
conveyance of passenthatfrom Pontoise to Amiens
will be gers ;
complete by the 15th of May, when the road may be
opened to the public. The section from Amiens to Arras may
be opened to
the public in the beginning of June ; and the
journey from Paris to Brussels may be effected in twelve
Lours, acid that between Paris and Boulogne in fourteen hours
fifty minutes. The report was agreed to, and the meeting
adjourned,

IRELAND.
TIIE PROVISION SCARCITY.

DUBLLN, Aran, 29.—The following letter has been re.
ceived by Lord Bernard, in reply to a communication ad-
dressed by his Lordship to the secretary for relief:—
"Castle, Dublin, April 20.
"My Lord,—Your Lordship's letter to the Under Secre-
tary, dated the 9th instant, transmitting the resolutions en-
tered into at a meeting of the magistrates, Poor-law guar-
dians, and clergy, assembled at Bandon on the Bth instant,
having been referred to the Relief Commissioners, I am di-
rected to state that the Commissariat have no means of send-
ing meal for sale into the markets, and that it must, on re-
flection, be admitted this is not an act to be exercised by the
Government, who have no machinery for such interference
with the course of trade. The measure which the Govern-
ment could and do intend to adopt is, to sell at such prices
from their own stores as shall produce the same effect.
"I am further directed to state, that if this measure has
been delayed, it is to be attributed to the tempestuous wea-
ther on the coast. which has seriously impeded the commu-
nications b) sea from Cork to the more distant depots, and
that it is better to wait until there is a supply sufficient to
put these high prices effectually, than to attempt it prema-
turely, and by failure exhaust those means without obtaining
the object. The intention of Government is the same as that
expressed in the resolutions. It is only the period of carrying
out in which there is a discrepancy. Means are now afforded
of importing a supply from Liverpool, and thereby increasing
the stock of provisions in the country, instead of diminishing
the stock in the possession, of Government before it reaches
its destination.

" And I am further directed to state, that as soon as a
list of subscriptions, with the usual certificate of lodgment
from a bank, or the Reliet Committee's treasurer, are for-
warded to this commission, the Government will add a do-
nation to these funds.--I have the hceiour to be, my Lord,
your obedient servant, _ _

" J. T. KENNEDY, Secretary.
" Right Hon. Viscount Bernard,
Castle Bernard, Bandon."
The accounts to-day from North Tipperary are unsatis-
factory. The funds of the Nenagh Relief Committee are
exhausted, and it is with the utmost difficulty that private
subscriptions can be obtained. The state of affairs in this
district may be accurately judged by the terms of the follow-
ing circular issued by the unanimous resolution of the Com-
mittee :

" Nenagh, April 27.
" Sir,—At a meeting of the Relief Committee of the pa-
rishes of Nenagh and Lisbonny, held at the Court-house. on
Monday, the 27th instant, over which I presided as chair-
man, it was unanimously resolved, that a most urgent appeal
should be made to all who hold property in the parishes in
behalf of the suffering poor at this trying crisis. The dis-
tress surpasses by far anything of which we ever had expe-
rience, and it is only by the mcst persevering efforts of the
Relief Committee, and the generous liberality of the inhabi-
tants of Nenagh, that an outbreak of the starving popula-
tion was prevented. Whatever funds were at the disposal of
the Committee are now entirely exhausted, and I have most
earnestly to hope that you will lend your kind co-operation
to sustain our charitable efforts. You feel, lam sure, an in-
terest in the prosperity of the town of Nenagh, with which
you are connected by trade or property, and when I inform
you that the poverty of its inhabitants has risen to a most
alarming height, I am sure it will be enough to awaken your
sympathy and secure your contribution.—l have the honour
to be your obedient servant,
" J. H. POE, Rector of Nenagh."