Star.
London, England, 1827-08-17 00:00:00

[NOLAND AIID WALES.

1801 . . . 8,972,986
1811 . . . 10,150,615
1821 . . 11,977,663
The number of commitments for trial in England and Wales
from 1806 to 1826-
1806 . . . . 4,346
1816 . . . . 9,091
1826 _ . . . . 16,147

Including the number of commitments on summary conviction
before Magistrates, the increase would be still greater. But the
retinas in the Secretary of State's Office on this subject are nut yet
so complete as to induce your Committee to bring them before the
attention of the House.

The increase of crime from 1806 to 1816 may perhaps be In part
accounted for by the change front war to peace. From 1816 to
1826, however, not .only has there been no such change, but peculiar
attention has been paid to the subject of crime, both by official pe-r-
-sousT by voluntary coon/Muer% and by individuals. The antic, of
the Secretary of State tor the Hume Department have been exer-
cised with peculiar zeal and judgment; prisons have been improved,
the defects of b law inquired into, education among the pour
promoted.

In.proceeding to inquire into the causes of the increase in the
number of criminal commitments, your Committee, for the
convenience of reducing into order an investigation so extensive,
began by dividing the subject into three parts, let, the increase
.ot crime in the agricultural dirricts; hd, the increase of crime
in the manufacturing districts; 3d, the increase of crime in t►r
metropolis. It is to the first part alone that they have hitherto
directed their inquiries ; nor have they been able to form a definite
judgment even on this portion of the subject. They proceed,
however, to lay before the I louse their observations, together with
the substance of the evidence taken before them, referring to the
evidence itself for more complete details.
The main CJAPIC of the increase of crime in the agricultural
districts .ippears clearly to be the low rate of wages, and want of
sufficient employment fur the labourer. This evil has been greatly
eggraystsd, although not altogether produced by the abuse of the
Poor Laws to a purpose for which they were never intended.
During the high price of provisions, which occurred soon after the
commencement of the war in 1793, the farmers, instead of raising
the wages of labour in proportion to the increased value of sub.
sisteDee, ►a,l recourse to the expedient of making up the deficiency
out tithe pour rate. While the war continued, the increasing de-
mand for agricultural produce, and the abmsdancy of the currency,
concealed the evil with which t►is system was pregnant ; but with
the restotation of peace came large importationt or foreign corn, a
diminished currency, and a want of employment fur the labourer.
At the same time while employs, tit diminished, t►e new admi-
niseeathin at the Moe Laws tended to Increase the population.
So th.t the farther this vicious •ystens ws carried, the greater and
more tliicolt became the obstacles to a restoration of a healthy

state. The fluctuations which have taken place since 1816, both
with regard to the price of corn mod the amount of the currency in
circulation, have still further acted to prevent any improvement in
the situation of the country..
It is not fur your Committee to enter into any discussion on
questions of economy. But they think It their duty to call thte
attention of the Huuse to the degradation of the moral charectet
of the labouring classes which attends the vicious system of sup•
poring front the poor rates a number of young men, for whom the
parish finds only partial employment. The wretchedness of their
condition, the want of regular habits. and of the due subordinating
of the labourer to his employer, all tend greatly to the promotie*
of crime. Early marriages, contracted either to avoid going to
prison on a charge of bastardy, tic with a view or receiving a better
allowance from the parish, increase the evil, and multiply a popo-
lation, for whom there is no certain employment, and a miserable
subsistence; and in this situation they are too apt to believe they
can improve their condition by offending against the !awe
beat remedy for mob a state of things would undoubted!,
be a great Increase in the demand for labour. Bat whether that
increase takes place or not, some amendment of the Poor Laws
which might prevent the marvelling abuses from being carried fur.
ther teems to be call-J for. At presents, while in many counties the
character of the labourer is daily becoming worse, and the means of
his employer daily becoming less, there are other districts where
the old and wholesome administration of the Poor Laws prevail.,
where the wages given are sufficient for the maintenance of the
labourer, and the feeling of independent is not yet obliterated. It
is surely desirable to prevent the infection of a v.cious system front
spreading to districts which it has not reached. and, If possible, to
provide for its gradual diminution in those where it most prevail..
The evidence taken before the Committee thews undeniably that
the great increase of preserves for game which has taken place of
late years has tended materially to the increase of crime in partieu•
lar districts; a pheasant or a hare is so easily taken, that a labourer
only half employed, and ill•fed, cannot resist the temptation. Men
of a wild character, likewise have within their reach both the means
of gratifying their love of sport and the means of sliapo.ing of their
booty. Some are of opinion that if the sale of game were allowed
by law, poaching would not be so frequently resorts(' to. Whether
such a speculation be well founded or no, it appears to be the duty
of the Legislature to listen to every rational proposal on the subjest
of the Game Laws, and rather to hazard an experiment which may
fail, than to allow the present evils to continue without any effott to
counteract them.

When an this subject It dose ves remark, that in the return of
the commitment, if inhalers lot trial, none are to be'fwnd for of-
fences agiinst the Game Laws till the passing of int Act winch
subjects men to transportation fur going armed a- night in pursuit
of game. This offence does not appear by the returns to base in-
creased since the passing of the Act ; the number committed in 1627
being 127. and in 1826, 126. Hut in my of the petty larcenies ha
the agricultural counties are to be attributed to the vicious habits
created by poaching.

With respect tO;rison discipline, your Committee will make at
present but two short remarks. The oue is, that little good 'sons
to be effected by confinement, unless accompanied by bodily labour.
The other, that the construction and regulation of the treadsmills
the prison diet, and the hours to be employed in hard labour, ought
to ►e made as nearly as possible uniform in eves), gaol in the
kingdom.

The Committee do not at percent feel themselves prepared to
Give any opinion on the evidence upon the very important subject
of education.

With respect to the increased frequency of commitments under
the malicious trespass Act, your Committee would observe, that
although petty offences ought not to go altogether unpunished, there
can be no greater evil than the abuse of the power of sending to
prison for trifling trespasses. So far from preventing atrocities of-
fences, your Committee is t f opinion, that the mere fact of haring
been sent to prison is likely to deprive a man of one of the greatest
moral restricts. the dread of being marked out as a cellist' in
the face of his country. To this evil is to be added the danger of
associating with bad characters in prison, and the difficulty which
some times occurs of finding employment after being discharged.
The Committee now proceed to furnish a summary of the evi-
dence taken before them.

Mr. Pym has acted for nine years as a Magistrate foe the county
of Cambridge. It appeara from the Returns presented to Pat lia-
ment, that the number of prisoners committed for trial in the
county of Cambridge were—in 1805, 40 ; inn 1806, 26 ; 1814, 37 ;
1815, 64 ; 1816, 71 ; 1824, 110; 1825, 157 ; 1828, 142. Mr.
Pym is of opinion, that since the Gaol Act there have been more
full returns sent to the Office of the Secretary ot State. tie items,
however, that there are more committals under the Game Laws,
which he attributes to distress. The sum given by the parish to a
single man who has no employment is 2s. Bd. per week ; the wages
in harvest are about 265. a week, and beer. "In the summer sea.
son these single men can earn as much a. would enable a man to
support a family, generally speaking; they then squander that
money, and in the winter, about the month of November, they ge.
nerally apply to the overseer or to the surveyor; and I i sae known
many Instances in many parishes, and it repeate Ily comes before
me, that single men would not let themselves as servants to the
farmers, because if they should do so, they'li/ould he under their
controul in the summer months, and they would rather take pariah
pay and take their chance through the winter, than contralti them-
selves during the summer months, when they could get a toler-
able demand for labour and constant employment."
He thinks that the feeling of shame at parochial relief Is quite
obliterated ; the practice of the labourers subsisting on very small
sums received from the parish without active employment, makes
them discontented and dissatisfied with their condition. They
think they are rot sufficiently paid fur their labour, and eten bold
out a threat that if they have nut more they must do something
which they would not like to do to obtain it.
In this situa.ion, the labourers are often guilty of poach* or
fowl stealing, but especially the former. They do not consider
poaching to be a moral offence; there is a very general feeling both
amongst the farmers and amongst the labourers that poaching is
not a moral crime. The labourers begin with poaching, and that
leads to every thing that is bad ; they begin to set snares at ten
years old. In the district where Mr. Pym resides, however, there
Is very little game, and more fowl stealing. In the gaol at Cam-
bridge the pi Wooers work on the treadmill nine hours a day ; those
who work on the treadmill have three pounds of bread and a plat
of small beer a day allowed them. Those who arc not put upon
the treadmill are allowed only a pound and a half ot bread a day,
and nothing else. Poachers whir are not put oa the treadmill often
apply to he employed on it for the increased allowance ; idle men,
on the other hand, have a greater dread of being sent to gaol than
they formerly bad.
The Rev. Dr. Hunt produced from an accurate return the total
number of commitments to the gaol of Bedford. In 1802, they
were 47 ; 1803, 88; 1805, 91 ; 1806, 120 ; 1815, 125; 1816,141 ;
1825, 333; 1826, 548, and the year ending the 10th of Jan. 1827,
417. He calculates that from the year 1801 to 1827, the population
of the county has increased to the amount of 40 per cent. while
during the same period crime has increased ten-fold, or 900 per
cent. It is to be remarked, however, that in the year rola
lowing 1801, criminal commitments more than doubled, and have
never since been much below that amount. It is likewise to be
observed, that the prisoners from the tow's are now committed to
the county gaol. On the other lurid, the practice of sending va.
grants to gaol, which of course swelled the returns, has been dis-
continued for the last few Yeats.
Dr. Hunt states as the first cause of the increase of crime, the
distress 01 the agricultural labourer. He lays, that in some parishes
the unmarried labourers ate universally degraded to become rounds.
men, or parish labourers on the gravel pits or on the roads ; that
such men receive from 3s. to 31. 6d. a week ; and he has known
an instance of a young man apparently 17 years of age, who received
only 2s. a week. That they marry either to avoid going to prison
on a charge of bastardy, or to obtain a better provision from the
parish. 'lilac he has ob. .d a great loss of the letting of inde-
pendence, scarcely any compunction at receiiing parish relief, and
a consequent degradation in the moral character ot the labourer.—
He does not think any great improvement can take place among
them till they can generally obtain regular employ met, and fair
wages. Those who are kept by the parish during the winter reefive
Ss. front the overseer, to enable them to seek their fortunes dJting
boy time and hat vest. Those who get employed for harvest work
receive about a pound a week. Irish labourers supply their places
at harvest, and the labourers •f the parish return to be a hurthen
during the winter.

Men in this wretched conditien are liable to yield to any tenni,:
tint; they go to poaching as an offence of the smallest guilt. Tbry
generally appear hardly to consider poaching as a crime; ns.lny *he