The Sun.
London, England, 1834-04-14 00:00:00

. Every parish must be required to have a perma-
:tent assistant paid overseer, whose salary would be
lefrayed by the parish. Where the parish is-small,
t union of parishes might easily be formed, allow-
ng a paid overseer to a population of about 2,000
pefsons.
The appointment of this. officer I would leave
with the parish or parishes, subject to the confirma-
tion of it by the Provincial Commissioner. The
sum to be raised as poor rate I would also leave
with the annual overseers, and the distribution of it
to the vestry, which ought to be a select vestry,
with the weight of the landowner's vote thrown into
it, though he may not be an occupier. I ivoula
give the paid overseer an appeal to the Provincial
Commissioner against the decisions of the vet;97
and with the intervention of another body, I would
also vest in the Provincial Commissioner the final
tppeal from the pauper against the paid overseer.
The intermediate body which I would propose
would be an annual one, consisting of not less than
three, nor more than five persons, of whom the resi-
dent clergyman should always be ex-qfficio a mem-
ber. This court to be chosen by a majority of rate-
payers. To them the pauper should make his first
appeal : if they dismiss the case, it is closed. If
they send it on to the Provincial Commissioner, his
decision on it should be final.

To enter here on the details of the plan I pro-
pose, would be a waste of your valuable time. The
expenses of all the paid officers would not exceed
400,0001. per annum, and as a larger sum would be
saved to the parishes, by the prevention of litigation,
I see no reason why they should not be taxed for

the payment of all the officers, except the Provin-
cial Commissioners.

As there will be a great mass of business taken
off from the magistracy, perhaps by trying the small
felonies of youths and girls under a certain age, at

the petty sessions, a sum might be saved to the
counties, which would justify government in placing
the salaries of the Commissioners on the county
rates. I have had no experience of the effect of the
great workhouse system, as practised at Southwell
and other places, but to the judgment of the Central
Board will be left the decision, whether it would be
worth while to incur an expenditure of above a
million and a half of money to erect buildings,
which it is hoped and expected will soon be avoided
by the poor, and which, if filled, would cause an an-
nual expenditure on the paupers of above 1,400,000/.
Whatever may be your decisions, an intelligible and
uniform mode of keeping parish accounts must be
adopted, and the reasons for every expense clearly
stated.

- --
THE 'UTTER, NOT THE BETTER 013-
SERVAN'CE OF THE SABBATH.

( From the Examiner.)

We are very glad to see that the inhabitants
of Westminster are bestirring themselves against
the attempt to make the poor man's day of rest
a day of sadness and privation. At a West-
minster meeting, Mr. Staples (in answer to a
speaker who had thoughtlessly argued that the
Agnew Bill was too absurd to be dangerous)
remarked, that if in this reliance they were
supine, advantage would be taken of the ab-
sence of any public demonstration, and silence
would be construed consent. It is necessary
that the public should speak out for itself.
Men in the House of Commons, fearing puri-
tanism, affect a puritanism that is neither in
themselves nor in their constituents. The Sab-
bath is observed with sufficient strictness and
decorum, except in the instance of the Sunday
markets, the fault of which is not chargeable to
the people, but the masters who do not pay
their men till Saturday night. If the good
feeling of masters will not afford a remedy for
this evil, it must be brought about by legisla-
tion, which will, in its first effect, inconvenience
the innocent parties. The suppression of the
Sunday markets will deprive the working classes
of their day's provision, and they will be com-
pelled to make terms with their employers for
earlier payment of wages. This is the worst
way of arriving at the right practice, as it acts
upon the causes of offence by paining the suf-
ferers into a revolt against the bad system.
There can be no doubt the working people
would rather be paid in good time on the Satur-
day evening. The necessity of marketing on
the Sunday morning is an encroachment upon
their day of rest and recreation. Another source
of mischief is the pay-table in public-houses :
any public-house in which a pay-table is held
should be deprived of its license. Cards and
dice are not more injurious. The wife goes to
the pay-table, in the hope of preventing the
husband from squandering away his wages ;
while waiting, he prevails upon her to drink,
and so bribes her to a share in his own ruin.
r so
ofle'thel re-
quiring
Sunday, theitt very
Many a sober and well-disposed woman has
been made a drunkard by this beginning ; and
.t is to be remembered that in labouring life the
wife is the manager of the little finances, and if
she be debauched, all will go to the gin-shop or
l
y rytl the pot h
woue s
apprehend
. reformation i
Thoughe
mischiefo theree
eobservance
s ei
fsvr
enormity of the measure proposed by Sir An-
drew Agnew : for it is to be d
remar -k e in. the
generation of mischief, that a vicious proposi-
tion, though d defe-te a , prepares the way for
the success of
something
a degree less bad,
which is indolently compounded for rather than
fight a new battle. In these cases the satisfac-
tion of victory puts men in the humour of con-
cession, though nothing should be conceded.
Sir Andrew Agnew askso what no man out of
Bedlam can grant ; but the danger is, that after
!iis defeat some measure will be proposed which
may seem moderate in comparison with that
rejected, though positively unnecessary and vex-
atious.