The Sun.
London, England, 1868-03-21 00:00:00

TTIE POOR LAWS.

The draft of the bill presented to the House of Lords
by the Earl of Devon, the object of which is to make fur-
ther amendments in the laws relating to the relief of the
poor, has been published. This bill proposes to confer upon
the Poor-law Board the powers contained in the 32nd sec-
tion of the Poor-law Amendment Act, 1834, with respect to
any union, without the concurrence of a majority of
not less than two-thirds of the guardians, as is men-
tioned in that section. The Board may add any parish
the population of which does not exceed 300 to some
adjoining parish for the purpose of the election of
guardians, and may appoint any officer of the union if
the guardians fail to make such an appointment within
twenty-one days after the receipt of a requisition from the
Poor-law Board in that behalf. The Board may also
appoint a competent person to act r,s visitor, the salary to
be paid by the guardians ; and may also order drainage
works, furniture, surgical or other appliances that may be
considered necessary for any workhouse. The provisions
contained in the Poor-law Amendment Act, 1844, as
amended and extended by subsequent Acts, which relate
to the formation of school districts, shall be extended and
made applicable to the combination of unions and parishes
out of the metropolis into districts for the reception and
relief of imbecile and insane persons, and the guardians
may, with the consent of the Poor-law Board, pay the cost
of idiots sent to asylums for patients of that kind. The
consent of a majority of the guardians is to be sufficient for
the formation of a school district, and after the 29th of
September next all charges which, according to the Act of
of 1844, would have been made upon the common fund of
any district formed under this Act, is to be borne by the
several unions or parishes comprised in the district.
Workhouse masters are to keep separate registers of
the religious creeds of the inmates ; and in the case
of children under 14 years of age, entries are to be
made of the religious creed of the parents, unless it be
shewn that baptism has taken place according to the forms
of some other religion. Every inmate for whom no reli-
gious service according to his own creed is provided in the
workhouse will he enabled, if this bill pass into law, to go
to his own place of worship on a Sunday or any other day
required by his religion to be kept sacred. So much of the
Poor-law Amendment Act, 1864, as provides for the election
of district auditors is to be repealed, and the Poor-law Board
is to have the appointment of those officers in its own hands.
Provision is made for the incorporation of certain extra-
parochial places ; and the bill also proposes that where
appeals are brought at the same time against the poor rates
of several parishes in the adjoining unions, and in which
some common principle appears to be involved, the guar-
dians of those unions may combine to resist them and share
the costs. The bill also contains clauses relating to the
maintenanence of wives and children, and the collection of
rates, and proposes to repeal the penalty imposed on
churchwardens and overseers for supplying materials or
provisions for the use of any workhouse.