The Sun.
London, England, 1846-08-21 00:00:00

UNION BOOKS.

Resolved, that it is the opinion of this Committee,-
1. That the proper keeping and inspection of the various
books which the Commissioners have directed to be kept in
all unions, in order to give security both to the paupers and
the ratepayers for the due administration of the law, appear
to have been habitually neglected in the Andover Union ;
the abstract of application and report book, which uught to
be prepared for the chairman at every sitting of the board,
and filled up by him, and signed by him, as each case is de-
cided upon, the relieving officers' books, the workhouse ad-
mission and discharge books, the provision check book, and
the medical officer's books have been produced before this
Committee, and have all of them afforded the clearest proofs
of the negligent manner in which the business of the An-
dover Union has been conducted.
2. That the state of the union books and the abuses in
the workhouse prove that the Assistant Commissioner has
failed in the efficient performance of his duties of inspection
at Andover, and that, as regards the books, which needed
only a moment's glance on any one of his occasional attend-
ances at the board to show the discreditable manner in
which they were kept, the Committee can find no sufficient
excuse for his neglect, and can only account for it by the
supposition of an unlimited confidence in the board of guar-
dians, which no circumstances whatever can justify in a con-
trolling officer.
3. That as regards the workhouse abuses which would
require a longer time to detect, and which have entirely
escaped,detection by the visiting guardians, the Committee
feel bound to express their opinion that the great extent, of
Mr. Parker's district, the large number of unions comprised
in it, and the various heavy special calls made upon his time
by the Poor-law Commissioners, have rendered it almost im-
possible for him to pay visits to each of the unions under his
care numerous or long enough for effective inspection of the
workhouses.

4. That the Committee have received evidence of Mr.
Parker's zeal and laboriousness, which render it impossible
for them to attribute this imperfect superintendence of the
Andover Union to idleness or intentional neglect.
5. That Mr. Parker was not appointed Assistant-Commis-
sioner for the Andover Union until May, 1842 ; that he has
had a much larger district to superintend than had either of
his predecessors : the number of assistant-commissioners,which
from 183— to 183— was 21, and from 183— to 1841, 17,
having been reduced to 12 in 1841, and then further reduced
to nine in January, 1842, while the number of unions have of
course increased; and the Committee find that the Poor-law
Commissioners, speaking of the number 12 in their seventh
annual report (1841), say, that the number of assistant• com-
missioners ought not to be further reduced, and that even
then" some of the districts, from their area and the number
of their unions, almost exceed the powers of a single assist-
ant-commissioner."

6. That the Committee have been informed of a strong
representation made by Mr. Parker to the Poor-law Com-
missioners, shortly after he joined the district including
Andover, of the disgraceful state of the accounts and the
workhouses in many of the unions in the district, and of
special representations made by him as to the accounts in
the West Fide and Wycombe unions, which seem to have
received no attention whatever from the Poor-law Com-
missioners; and these are not the only circumstances dis-
closed in the evidence which have led the Committee to the
conviction that the Poor-law Commissioners have not given
that encouragement to their assistant-commissioners in the
detection and removal of abuses which would have been
the best security for the zealous services of their subordinate
officers.