The Sun.
London, England, 1818-02-05 00:00:00

POOR LAW

Mr. S. 13outtNE rose (Or tl.e purpose of moving,
that the Committee of the Dist Session. on' this
subject should be revived. It was his iii'etvimt
Ittp%esiptt. it should consist of the satne.ll,mbers
who compOscd it last }ear; but since rise time
two se%ete .los.es had occurred, to deprive
country of the services of t%To of Ow most v bla•
bit 'Members of that C;ormitittce. ()o, 01 ,liese,
she late Alerobet for Ulatno!oto (Mr. iI '1) \vas
a toast Who Litotti;ltt so much kuur.lctigc
.!*0 tac

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ELECTIONS,

Cammittee.,and %Oil-) was so zealous.;n promoting
its objecti,Tthw his losA, he might say in the
prime of life, was very Witch to he deplored. 'rite
whet- loss Ivas certainly more iu the ordinary'
Course of nature. Bot whoever recollected the
uniform assiduity, the great experience, and the
erdent zeal eviticed by the late. Mr. Rose in his
attendance on the Committee, must agree th,it by
his dea:h ,t hey had sot ered a great loss, Up ,to
the list moment of his lite, his mind was anxious
for the interest of his country, especially in those
financial and commercial subjects on which his
sktll and knowledge were so great. The part
which he hAd.takett in promoting those most ad-
mirable institutions now called icing Banks,
won'lo, be an eternal memorial of his ability and
activity in foewardiog the best interests of the
people._

Mr. CURAVEN.certainly did not intend to oppose
the revival of the Committee, though he- was far
from expecting any important relief to the coun-
try, unless there was a complete change, not only
in the administration, but iu the whole of the pre-
sent system of the Poor Laws. If an end was not'
put to that system, no radical benefit would be
obtained. There was. no subject, however, on
which.a greeter difference of opinion existed than
-this of the Poor 'Liws. It had "been wittily said
of this Committee, that it contained thirty-nine
Afferent opinions, be!illes that of the Chairtnan:
The (lon Member then 'made some observations.
on the evils prodneed by the Poor Laws. In par-
' tic,,r,r, he noticed that the pernicious practice of
mixing up the wages of, hbotir with the poor-rates
sti:l continued to sueh an extent, that in Many
eases the wages were only 911. a day, the rest of
I. sum HeCCiSdry for the Maintenance of the la-
loonrer being supplied by the parish and paid fur
by the Master in the sivipe of Poor-rates.
Sir F. IIuaDETT maintdined that the people
Were disposed to industry, and felt that spirit of
iodepeintence which would Make them prefer to
li‘e upon their Own labour than upon the pro-
p, rty of ilAters. It was idle -'a complain too of

nwsters not giving sufficient wades to their men,
be•caase they wtre sure to give' as much as they
cook' return in -the sale of their goods. But the
fact was those funds which would otherwise be
used in, the ,etopioyment of the poor were seized
by. the Tax-gatherer. The true source of all the
, tells Connected with the Poor Laws was excessive
-1-imiT.ion, though many t;entlenien in thatCouse
• did Wit 11Ce to'sayio. How happened it that the
system for maintaii,iig the poor which had existed
so "long had 41: of a sudden within-Allis year or two
been regarded as such an ettormons• evil ?. He re-
- membered the thee, when he wasia:boy, that the
labourers in his father's neighbourhood would
wake it their boaSt that they had not been ob-
liged to apply to the parish for relief ; and so
it would be again it the taxes were diminished
and the poor could have employment. Reduce
the amount of taxation, and it wool(' have more.
etleet titan all the enquiries they could make by
Coimniftee or any other way. On this subject a
delnsiou genet ally existed, which was that the poor
ware screened from the burthen,as those things
were most taxed which were consumed by the
rich, biit it came to the same thing. at last, for if
the rich were heavily taxed, they could not-give
ettiployment to the poor: He declared, that in
bis opinion that tax was best which produced the
vgreatest tevenur the least expence of collec-
tion, barring front this principle the taxes on
• iv amps used in legal proceedings, which were ma-
nifestly oppressive and unjust.' If the House
, Was sincerely desirous of improving the condition
of the people, let the business be taken up in the

way he bad menrioned; but this be could not ex-
pect, as his. Majesty's Ministers seemed to have
forgot that there %Iris such a word as.econonly.

Lint CASTLE REAGH said, that the views which
the Hon. Baronet took of the policy of the coun-
try was certainly very different from his own, but
that future and more appropriate opportunities
would ()cenr for discussing that subject. IVltat
be wished on the present occasion was, that the
country should not look with the same indifference
as the Honourable Baronet to the pr,occedings of
this Committee. Nothing could more effectually
support the principle of industry than-that sound
and proper exercise of the Poor Laws, whirl)
it was the object of this Committee to attain.
If that despair which the Honourable Barone;
always fe:t as to the state of the country
was really founded, he ought to look up to
this Committee as that which was likely to pro-
duce most important benefits. He could not agree
with the Hoo. Gentleman (lir. Curwen), who
seemed to arlnowledge the truth of the saying,
that there were thirty-nine'differeut opinions in
the: Committee besides that of the Chairman ; for
,the
own part he could only say, that he had regtt-
lady atteiided that Committee, and that he ob-
served in it as great a concurrence of opinion on
the subj:2et to which they directed their attention,
as lie had ever observed among the sAttie number
ortnen"upon any other subject. He was sure that
the Report which they had published was greatly
calculated to enlighten the public mind ; and if
no further Legislative measures were to be adopt-
ed, great good had been done by these Reports.
_lie hoped that Legislative measures would he
mediately adopted on those points on which the
whole. Committee was agreed, without waiting
till the Committee should have closed its labours.
But ,ivbile he cautioned the House against the
gloomy and dishearrening view of the Hon. Ba-
ronet, yet it was proper to recollect that the ex-
treme clitfo'culty of the subject
.should moderate
evravi,gant expectations.
Sir FRA N CIS BuanF.TT explained.

Mr. CALCRAFT hoped that the Committee would
re-consider the question, whether ftwied pro-
perty should not be made liable to contribute to
.the I'6oe-rates. He thought it would be also
proper that they should consider the propriety of
ikreasing the power of the Vett y Sessions.
The Committee was then appointed.

WS tars, e. E,l)\ obiaihed leave,bronett
it: a ni/1 rci regulate the duration of Pollssat Ge-
nerdi Llecliou4. lie sta'reit the principal objects
of- the Bill t(i be, to enable the returning officers
to 'erect wiriiiotil'hoolls—tO enable persons to
tote who were otlic.rvVise qualified, though not
ti!•s-esseri !or Orr!' land--tai--vtO prevent the" vcearing
4,f C,l(kaiieSt4i rilable the returning of to re-
tufa one member as duty eit:cted, titough a con-

test was ping on between two others, end, hi
case of the death of a candidate during the con-
tinuance of the poll, to authorize that a new-poll
should be opened.
The Bill was read a first and second time. It
was then committed, the Report immediately re-
ceived, and the Bill ordered to be printed. -

On the motion of Mr. CURWEN, there vas or-
dered to be laid betore the Hon;e a return of ali
surcharges for assessed taxes made between the
sth of April, 1817, and Ist of February. 18113,
specifying the particulars and the decisions made
by the Commissioners ou eAch case.