The Sun.
London, England, 1860-12-03 00:00:00

PAUPERISM IN .ENGLAND AND WALES

The Poor Law Board have just issued a set of
tables giving an account of the number ofpaupers in
the various " unions" of England and Wales at the
end of the first half of the year 1860, but not includ-
ing parishes incorporated under Gilbert's Act,
or still under the Act of Elizabeth—an exception
which makes the returns of the Board to a certain
degree imperfect, extending as it does to a portion
of the kingdom containing rather more than a
quarter of a million of persons in 1851. The returns
comprise 646 unions and parishes, with a popula-
tion of 17,672,475 at the last census, and now esti-
mated at 19,740,000; and the number of paupers
relieved on the Ist of July last was 817,573
(104,204 in-door, 713,369 out-door). Thisgivesthe
proportion of paupers as one in 24, or 4.20 per cent.
on the estimated population ; the ratio for the year
ending at Lady-day, 1849, was 6.2 per cent. ; for
the year ending at Lady-day, 1856, 4 8 per cent.
since which date it has been further decreasing.. It
is true that on the Ist of July, 1859, the number of
paupers was only 817,02, but the apparent increase
this year is accounted for by the circumstance that
many unions have now included in their statements
of the number of paupers relieved two classes not
hitherto reckoned in such returns—namely, paupers
receiving medical relief only and non-resident
paupers, so that these last, we presume, are counted
twice over. Excluding now the vast parish of St.
Pancras, the returns of which are not so exact in
their
sasthosise o;reaothte places, we can give
some companyr of the poor.
First, it may be decided thus—There were 162,337
analysisdetail of this
men, 357,271 women, 289,587 children under 16,
and 1,737 vagrants, the men thus forming 20 per
cent.. the women 44.1, the children 35.7. Again,
a classification may be made upon a different prin-
ciple 338,497 are described as able-bodied,
438.935 as not able-bodied, and 31,763 insane, the
1,737 vagrants completing the number • the able-
bodied forming 41.8 per cent., the not Ale-bodied
54.1, the insane, 3.9. Still another division may be
made, excepting the vagrants, but it is necessary to
explain that, in Poor Law computation, children
relieved with able-bodied parents are classed as
able-bodied, while children relieved without their
patents, or with parents not able-bodied, are classed
as not able bodied; so reckoning, we find the able-
bodied class consist of 28,367 men, 95,205 women,
and 214,925 children under 16; the not able-bodied
—120,398 men, 244,524 women, and 74,013
children ; the insane-13,572 men, 17,542 women,
and 649 children. Lastly, concerning these able-
bodied paupers and their children, there is an
account supplied by 629 unions of the causes which
brought them on the poor-rates—an account apply-
ing to 303,797 out of the 338,497 able-bodied paupers
above-mentioned. The description of Class 2
appears to require explanation or correction, but
we can only give it as it stands in the return :
Children
Causes of relief to out-door able

Men. Women. under 16.
49,232 -
- 123,646

bodied paupers, July 1, 1860.
1. Widowhood—widows
Children dependent on them
2. Families dependent on males
in classes 2,3, and 4—wives
Children
3. Sickness, accident, or infir-
mity—Their own .....
That of any of the family, or
funeral
4. Husbands non-resident 3,867 10,102
5. llusband in gaol, &c ,568 4,470
6. Bastardy—mothers

19,648 --
- 51,294 __

Children
7. Husbands in the army or navy

- 1,435 ___
_ - 3,407
5,267 -

Wivos
Children
8. Single women without children
9. Want of work and othercauses 869
10. Sudden and urgent necessity 117

24,478 83,139 106,180
It will be seen from this table that of the large
number returned as "able bodied paupers," not
quite a 12th-part are men. The proportionate
numbers may be taken as about one adult mall'
three adult women, and eight children under 16.