Star.
London, England, 1818-05-01 00:00:00

' were at present entirely dependent Upon the small
allowance which they enjoyed. If the motion he had
made should not be carried, it would at least be some
satisfaction to him, that by the agitation of the ques-
tion some benefit was likely to result to the Officers
of this deserving corps.—The motion was then put
and negatived without a division.

ALIEN BILL.
Lord CASTLEREAGH rose to put off his motion
for leave to bring in a Bill for the regulation of
Aliens, to Tuesday next, in consequence of the thin
attendance in the House.

ifIGHWAF LAWS.
Sir C. MONCK moved for leave to bring in a Bill
to alter the application of such penalties, fines, and
forfeitures, as may be incurred by any surveyor of
highways, or by any inhabitants of parishes, or other
places, for neglect of duty in repairing such highways.
On the question being put,
Mr. CURWEN would make no opposition to the
motion, but should suggest to his Non. Friend to
postpone the measure till the next Session, that in the
mean time the opinion of the country might be learned
concerning it.
Sir C. MONCK would not precipitate the measure,
though he did not see the necessity of its being post-
poned to the next Session.
Leave was then given to bring in the Bill.
LAWS OF SETTLEMENT.
Mr. STURGES BOURNE rose, pursuant to notice,
to move for leave to bring in a Bill to alter and
amend the Laws regarding the Settlement of the
Poor. That motion he was induced to make under
the authority of the Committee upon the Poor Laws.
The Laws regarding the Settlement of the Poor ori-
ginated in the time of queen Elizabeth. By these
laws a parish officer was empowered to remove pau-
pers at his own discretion, and that continued to be
the law till the time of Charles 11. Much doubt had
existed on the subject of the right by residence, some
being of opinion that the right of settlement was con-
stituted by a month's residence, and others that a still
less time was sufficient. By the Act of the 13th and
14th of Charles IL the doubts as to the length of
time necessary to constitute a right of settlement hid
been removed. The object of these Acts was to con-
fine labourers to their own parishes, and a residence
of forty days conferred a right of settlement. But
should the pauper appear likely to become charge-,
able to the parish, the overseer had a right to remove
him. A law afterwards passed, by which it was en-
acted, that notice should be given in writing upon
the arrival of a stranger to reside in a parish : that,
however, not appearing fully to answer the end in-
tended, it was enacted that the notice should be pub-
lished in the parish church. Subsequently, it was
made necessary that a certificate should be given to
the party removing, attesting his residence in the pa-
rish that he had. left. That continued to be the state
'of the law till-the year 179.3, when a new Bill was
brought in upon the subject of Settlement by a Gen-
tleman then holding a high official situation; and
who was still :disc That Bill was of much impor-
tance. By the law, as it at present stood, a labourer
who wanted relief must derive it from his own pa-
rish, however distant it might be from the place
where he actually resided. That appeared to be a
great evil. The law on the subject of Settlement
had failed completely in its object, as in some cases
a settlement might be gained by a residence of forty
days, and in others not by a residence of the same
number of years. The question was complicated as
to the point of law, and with the law the question of
fact was also involved. Notwithstanding the num•
ber of decisions that had taken place in the Courts of
Law on the subject of Settlement, some questions
still remained to be decided. In the year before the
last there had been 4700 appeals to the Quarter Ses-
sions against orders of removal. Upon the subject
of settlement being gained by being hired a servant,
there existed much doubt, and consequently much
litigation. Upon that point he begged leave to refer
to the Report of the Committee upon the Poor Laws.
But the litigation was not the greatest evil. By the
law, as it then stood,,an individual might be removed
' from the place where he had lived the best years of
his life, unless he rented a tenement of the yearly va,
lue of 101. In many cases, the right of settlement
was often industriously defeated; and a labourer
was hired for fifty weeks instead of a year, by which
he would be entitled to a settlement. The first re-
medy that had been proposed for an evil so generally
felt, was to take away the Law of Settlement alto-
gether, and to give relief to the poor in the place
where it might be wanted. That plan would neces-
sarily occasion a resort to particular parishes, and the
poor would be always retnoving from one parish to
another. Others had been of opinion that relief should
be afforded from a national fund. But 4000 places
maintained their own poor, and the relief to be af-
for-Jed must be divided among all these places.—
Frauds were committed upon the public purse by
those who would not be guilty of frauds upon indi-
viduals, and such frauds would be greatly multi-
plied, in cases where, as in that of a national fund,
the call of humanity might be pleaded. A residence
of three years should be a necessary condition of a
right of settlement, and as the parish in which any
individual resided had the benefit of his labour, he
had the 'best right to be supported by that parish.
After a residence for a certain time, notice might be
given that such had been the fact, when the case
might be laid before two Magistrates, without the
necessity of an appeal to the Quarter Sessions. The
law was not intended to have a retrospective effect,
and sufficient time was to be allowed to carry its pro-
visions into effect. A residence of three years, if the
party had not been absent more than sixty days dur-
ing that period, and havl not been convicted of any
crime, would entitle to a right of settlement. No set-
tlement was to be gained under the age of sixteen
years. Another provision of the Bill was, that in case
of appeal, the removal of the party should be sus-
pended till the appeal had been decided. By such a
provision, in many cases the expense attendant upon
a removal would be saved. The proposed measure
might be accounted a bold one; but its object was to
bring back the law to its original state. Greater in-
novations had been proposed on the Poor Laws, both
by Mr. Pitt and Mr. Whitbread, though he was not
disposed to concur 'with them. Dr. flume, in his
work on the Poor Laws, an author of high respecta-
.bility, anct who had paid the utmost attention to the
'object, had recommended to bring back the right of
settlement to a residence of three years, an:kelvin&
that to be the most natural standard. Upon any