Star.
London, England, 1822-07-11 00:00:00

HOUSE OF COMMONS.

The Irish Public -Works Bill was reported, and the Report
ordered to be taken into further consideration on Friday-next.
The Exchequer Bills un Public Works Bill went through a
Committee, and the further consideration of the Report was
fixed for Monday next..
The Loan Bill was read a third time and passed.
Mr. CURTEIS presented a Petition Irons certain Hop-
growers in the County of Sussex, praying an alteration in the
laws for marking Hops.---Ordered to printed.
The Charge of Pensions Bell was read a third time and passed.
The Five per Cents Repayment Bill was disposed of in a si-
milar manner.

The Salt Duties in Ireland Bill w•as reported, and ordered to
be recommitted.

h.,.cas4: Spirit Drawback Bill was reported, and the
third reading fixed for to-morrow.
Mr. WLi ITBA EA 0 presented a Petition from a Baker In
Shoreditch, praying a ttqal repeal of the Salt Tax.—Ordered
to lie
.upon the table.
The Report of the Stage Coach Duties Bill was taken Into
further consideration, aid the Amendments of the Committee
were agreed to. The third reading was fixed for to-morrow.
The LOttery Bill went through a Committee, and the Report
was ordered to be received to-morrow.

The Report of the Ileceivers'-Gentral liill wag brought up ;
1.141, after a brief conversation, the Bill was ordered tot e re-
committed forthwith.

Toe House then.resolved itself into a Committee, and several
Amendments were agreed to. The ltrport was brought up, and
ordered to be taken into further consideration ItiraLutiow.

Mr. G. LAMB presented a P.:titton from cert.ii; Brewers,
against the Retail of Beer Bill.

Mr. F. BUXTON said, that a consi,lerable property would be
injured by this Lill, and he trusted the House would not pass 1::
Mr. HUME hoped his Honourable and Learned Friend
would pay no attention to those who were interested in :he Bill,
but proceed to pre4s it through the House.

Mr. 11ONCK said, the gill would be a great public advarr.
tage; and that there would not be it man in the Country, who
was not a brewer or a publican, that would oppose it:
Mr. LOCKIIAR'f contended, that no property would be in-
jured by the Bill.

11110t1G LIAM said, that the Bill went only to allow the
retail of Beer in shopi, and would not create a competalen against
the publicans.—Tice i etltion was ordered to be rioted.
Tne I-louse went into a Committee, upon a motion -,q" the
Chancellor of the Exchequer, for granting l'ensiotA to the Sex.
wants of the late Queen.

The Ch ANCgI.LOIt of the EXCHEQUER said, that the
amount to be required by the Resolution he h.to to propose was,
12s. The persoos to whom the pensions were to be
granted were exclusively menial servants, and many of them
had been very lung in the Queen's service. The Itighesq sunk'
to be granted was one of .t. 400, to -./tln Jacob Sicard, Maitre
d'llotel to her late Ai:sit:sty. Under these circumstances he
thought the liberality of Parliament would not suff,r these do-
nieAst:tcs:rtao fviewanotbirste trvii;itirounjsdfr7ne. Mr. naafi and the CHANCRLLOa
of the liaciixtauxx, the Report of tht; Committee was.ordered td
be received to-morrow.
FOREIGN TRADE REGULATIONS.

S..WORTLEY..rose to ask a question of his
'NobleFileud; which greatly jute' ested the mercan-
tile and manufacturing classes of this country. The
duty upon the'iMponation of lliitish o.Alen goods
into Spain and Portugal was understood to have been
lately doubled by au.Act of the Cortes.lle wished
to know what steps had.been taken by the Govern-
ment upon this subject ?•• As we admitted the wines
of tho,e cout.tries in preference to o.lier,, it x, as im-
possible to conceive the reason of this prohibitory
system being adopted towards us. Ii nothing should
be done by the Cortes in alteration of the course they
had pursued; he should feel it his duty to bring the
matter before the Ho,ise elrly in the next Session:
The Marquis of LONDONDERRY fully lecok.
nized the importance of the cp,e.tion put to him by
his Hon. Friend. It was true, that since the Revo.;.
lution in Portugal, wduty of thirty per cent. had been
laid on the importation of British woollen goods by
the new Government. This, too, was cuntr ary to
the stipulations in the Treaty of 1810. A sufficient
proof that such was not the understandhig of the
Treaty, was afforded by the tact, that betoie the Re-
.

. _
volution the duty con,inued at tifteen pei cent. Sea
veral remonstrances had been made upon the sub-
ject, and some were still pending, which, he hopedo
would terminate satisfactorily. It that should not
be the case, -as he feared it might not, his Hon. Friend
would be at liberty to call the attention of the House
to the subject in the early part of the next Session..
JAIL DELIVERY.
Mr. DENISON had understood, upon A former
wasinc.etaAr. i
tcniipe wishedlatitfertohakvninowg
occasion,
tchaisridoniail thatpe vpel aryn
in the )
from the Noble Lord whether that plan was matured
1 so as to he acted upon during the present year?
i The Marquis of LONDONDERRY thought be

I

I

I

_lll

•


POOR LAWS.
Mr. NOLAN said, that the Petitions whicle-seere
upon the table of the House, relating to the state of
the Poor Laws, demanded that somerbing should be
done to remedy the evils which had grown out of
them. The state of the population must be inti-
mately connected with this subject, and the increa e
of population in Great Britain withia the last twenty
years was nearly ten per cent. The increase of the
Poor-rates since 1750 was tenfold ; and if the evil
were suffered to proceed, it must eventually destroy
the agricultural property of the country. Various
rata.is had been suggested to accomplish that end,
one of which was to get rid of the Poor Laws altoge-
ther. Ile confessed that he could notiagiee to such
a proposal. He considered the lower .classes to be a
great source of the strength of the country, and their
interests required attention and support. He took a
view of the effect or the Poor Laws in this country
for the last two or three centuries, apd contended that
under them the lower classes had prospered to an ex-
tent far beyond those of any other nation. "He need
jot go to foreign nations for an illustration: of this,
when so unfortunate a one was afforded in the'iirre-
sent unhappy situation of the poor in Ireland. ' He
therefore believed, that without destroying these laws,
he thought the proper way would be to endeavour to
restore their administration to what it was under the
statute of Elizabeth. The Hon. and Learned Meru-
her then proceeded to skew that the.present mode of
• administering the Pour Laws was at complete vari-
a!tce with the spirit and intention of that statute. The
con equelices of this had brought about all the abuses
which had crept in upon the system. The funds had
b.- come ma:-aoministe: ed, and the poor man had be-
come an annuitant upon them, not as a matter of
charity, but as he considered it, a matter of right.
The test statute, altering this supposed right, was,
he conceived, that of George 11. Another statute
evablid Oser_ters to relieve the poor at their own
houses. This, he thought, was a most mischievous
statute ; though he thought it, in general, impolitic
to bring the old and the young, the able and disabled,
the idle an.] the industrious together. The Hon. and
Learned Member then proceeded to notice the seve
ral statutes regulating the Poor LawS. The system
of Select Vestries had been found highly beneficial,
and he proposed to endeavour to extend the benefit
which hai esulted from it. In like manner he wished
to preserve the office of Assistant Overseer, at a sa-
lary, decla,ing that, among smaller parishes one
Overseer should per form the duty of two. This As-
sistant Overseer should be appointed by the Vestry,
but should be controuled by the Magistrates. The
next provision referred to the Rate. At present the
Select Vestry had no power to settle the rate. This
power he thoughi it would be reasonable to give
them. As the law now stood they had the power, in
ce.tain cases, to make inquities to enable them to dis
tinguish the meritorious film the dissolute applicant,
for tel ef. This power he proposed to extend, he
hoped not unreasonably, by giving the Justices of the
Peace and the Select Vestry additional means of
making those inquiries. He also would suggest a de-
clarwory clause, giving a power to employ the poor
out of the parish upon which they were chargeable,
provided the distance was not unreasonable, he would
say nine or ten miles. The other alterations of the
law which he was about to propose were of a more
novel nature. The first would enact the making out
of lists, containing full particulars of the allowance
paid to the applicant, and the amount of his earn-
ings. This would enable the House, at a future pe..
riod, probably, to ascertain the toot of the evil.
These lists were to be returned to the Magistrates,
who were to give orders accordingly, for the direc-
tion to w itLh the labours of the pauper should be
directed. This might lead to much benefit with re-
gard to the improvement of our turnpike roads. The
next alteration was an enactment, that at the end of
the year the account should be summarily made up ;
and that those who were continually and constantly
a burden on the parish, should be put to severer la-
bour. His object was to encourage a degree of am-
bition among the poor, and to diminish the number
of spungers on the parish fund. He proposed also
to make other provisions, principally to enforce re-
gulat ity in the keeping of the part h accounts, with-
out throwing much additional labour on the Over-
seers. The subject of settlement admitted of so much
difference of opinion, and invited so much discussion,
that he had thought it better not to meddle with it at
present. If, however, his measure should be favour-
ably received by the ouse, he might be induced to
offer some suggestion on that important subject in
the course of the next Session. For the same reason
he had forboine to touch on the subject of removal ;
but he would observe that, contrary to some opinions
of considerable weight, he thought removal should
be rendered easy, and settlements difficult. It was
true that this had the effect of increasing the burthens
on the Agricultural Interest; but the difficulty was,
how to get rid of this inconvenience. He, of course,
should at present refrain from offering any opinion
on this point. The Hon. and Learned Member, after
some further observations on the importance of ma-
gisterial duties with reference to this subject, con-
cluded by moving " For leave to Wing in a Bill to
amend the laws respecting the Poor."
The Marquis of LONDONDERRY said, a very
useful discussion on the subject might be obtained by
giving the Hon. and Learned Member leave to bring
in the Bill. He felt much gratitude to the Hon. and
Learned Member for kis labours; especially as they
appeared directed towards an advantageous admini-
stration of the present laws, rather than the propo-
sal of new ones. He was sure that the House would
agree with him in saying, that the Hon. and Learned
Member had opened the subject with great modera-
tion and candour—(Hear, hear).
After a few words from Mr. MoNcx, leave was
given to bring in the Bill.
ALM BILL.

Mr. Secretary PEELmuved the Order of the Day
for receiving the Repert on this Bill.
After a conversation between Mr. BEIIVAL, Mr.
Secretary PEEL,
.Mr. ScARLETT, 3.nd the SPEAKER,
the Report was brought up and agreed to.
Mr. SCARLETT then moved the addition to the
Bi:1 of several clauses. The first was for contracting
the power given by the tenth section of the Bill to

•
•
might salts tht iblismorof his
that the plan was lisiitartki, anC
tried in the Home Counties in 1)