The Statesman.
London, England, 1821-06-12 00:00:00

E STATFAMAN,

MR. SCARLRTTS BILL.

PUBLIC MEETING AT LEEDS.

On Thursday a public meeting of the inhabitants
of this town was held at the Court Howe, for the
purpose of taking into consideration the provisions of
the Bill now pending in Parliament for the nuiendaient
of the Poor Laws.
About half-past 12 o'clock the Mayor toot: the
Chair, and opened the business of the meeting by read-
lag the requisition.
Mr. krattasora then read the Bill as it had been
anstatied in a Committee of the House of Common',
and also secrete] letters which bad been received
from the County Members, in answer to solve in-
quiries he had been instructed by the Committee of
the Workhouse to make, as to the beat mode of op-
posing the Bill.
Mr. RICHASP KUIPLAT moved a series of resolu-
tions, and a petition founded thereon, deprecating all
the material alterations is the Nor Laws contemplated
by the Bill now pending in Parliament.
Mr. Hamm the Recorder, supported the resolu-
tions in a speech of considerable length and ability.
Upon the first clause of the preamble •f the Bill,
which states that "if some timely cheek be not given
to prevent the further increase of the poor-rates, the
lands in many parts of England would not be worth
cultivating," lie observed, that the only effect of the
present Bill would be to traoshr the burden from the
agricultural to the manufacturing interest ; and that
with respect to the "too great facility of obtaining
relief by those who are able to work," be did not see
any means which would so effectuality prevent it as the
vizilanee of the guardians of the poor, particularly in
this town, where the money was distributed by those'
v ho had it to pay, and who would, on the one band,
attend to the economical distribution of their own and
tel neighbours' property, and on the other, to the
dictates of humanity, in affording to the necessities of
the poor that relief which they really needed, and
which he trusted would never be withheld. Adverting
to the evils produced by the frequent removal of the
poor, he observed that these were capable of much al-
leviation, without such a complete alteration in the
lacy of settlement as was contemplated by this Bill.—
The remedy he proposed was this—that no poor per-
son should be removed until the place to which he was
abont to be removed had been served with the order of
removal, and had either acquiesced in it, or upon ap-
peal, had been adjudged to be the place of the pauper's
legal settlement. This would prevent much suffering
to the pour, and much unnecessary expense to the
parish. Mr. Hardy further suggested, that in many
cases it might not be necessary to remove the poor at
all, and that it might be expedient to invest justices
with the power of ordering the relief to be given by
the parish officers at the place where the paupers re-
sided, if under all the circumstances, they should
think it right so to do. The learned Recorder then
adverted to that provision of the Bill which fixed a
maximum, beyond which no supply should be raised
for the poor. This provision as it originally stood in
the Bill, was most absurd and impracticable, and he
said lie could not put this part of the case niore
Inn ibly than it bad been put by Mr. Baines, in his
paper of the last week, in which the absurdity of in-
creasing the claimants upon the funds destined for the
relief of the poor, and, by the same enactment, pre-
venting any increase of these funds, was thus illus-
trated :—" in the township of Leeds, which may be
t.ticen as a fair criterion of the other manufacturing
parts of the kingdom, the Bill before us, if passed into
a law, would swell the actual balance of our number
of paupers from 1300 to 2000, making an increase of
one-third ; but the same law which creates this increase
of claimants enacts that there shall be no increase of
funds to supply their necessities." It would necessa-
rily follow, continued Mr. Hardy, that the allowance
to each poor person must be reduced one-third. Such
was the Bill as it originally stood ; a clause had been
since introduced which gives a power to parishes in
case of epidemic disorder, scarcity, or other local
causes, which may render the ordinary fund insuffi-
cient, to ley an additional rata for this purpose; but
this must be Cone at a public meeting convened for
that purpose, a remedy which would give rise to end-
less altercation and disputes. The Recorder then pro-
ceeded to comment upon that part of the Bill, which
excluded persons marrying after the passing of that
Bill from receiving parochial relief fur themselves and
families ; except in the case of age, sickness, or
bodily infirmity. This proposed enactment be said was
most cruel and oppressive, for it might frequently
happen, that young men would marry with the fairest
prospect of maintaining a family by their labour,
who yet from to depression or fluctuation of trade
might be unable to obtain employment, and become
incapable of supporting themselves or families without
some assistance. Were these men he would ask to be
allowed to starve, or driven out of the country ? If

it bad been the intention of the Legislature to emue
rage bastardy, such a provision as that to which he
had been adverting would probably be efficacious, but
it was not fitted to produce any useful purpose. 31r.
hardy proceeded pointedly to comment on the other
provisions of the Bill, hut oar limits will not permit
us to follow hini ; he concluded a very excellent
Npeech , by observing, that after all that had been
urged in favour of this Bill, it was neither more nor
less than an attempt to burden the manufacturing part
of the community, fur the relief of agriculture.—(Cries
of hear, hear.)

Mr. gAINES said, as he had already, in a manner suf-
ficiently public, expressed his sentiments upon this bill,
the defects of which had been so ably pointed out by the
Learned Recorder, it was not necessary to repeat those
observations. He could not, however, help remarking
upon the important change which the bill had under-
gone. The framer of the Rill had set oat with the idea
of establishing a seesimons„ but when it was found that
this proposition was untenable and too absurd to he
acted upon, a clause was introduced with the view of
rendenn.g it less obnoxious, which in reality removed
the osurtessis. This clause gives to parishes the right
of laying an additional rate whenever the prevalence
of epidemic disorders, or scarcity, or any other cause of
a temporary or local nature should reader the ordinary
rate insufficient. This was, in fact, giving them a power
of laying such a rate as the exigencies of the poor should
to require, whisk was precisely the power they
=
7 possess,- for se rate for the relief of
.the poor
slew be laid, enespt at a vestry riesling conflated
tat porpose. He proceeded to observe that the provi-
sions ox the bill respectlair the settlesseat of the poor by
se mom correspeaded with the equitable principle in

the preamble, et hick set forth, that the enriching of a,
'dace by the labour of a poor man ought tabs the ground
of claiming relief from the place thus benefited. But the
ground of settlement tired by this bill was totally irre-
spective of the elJimant having contributed to curly!'
the place in which it was fixed. The mere naked NIA of
residence, without any limitation ii! t time, would, un-
der the provision!. of this bill be the groolid of settle-
ment, and a town or place where a romper should have
resided oily a week, or even a day, might he burdened
with his relief for the rest of his life. Mr. B. suggested
that a radical alteration in the lsw as it respected settle-
ments would be the most heneficial, and would prevent
a great.deal of suffering, produced hr the removal of fa-
milies from places where they have been long establish-
ed, and would also preventtottch litigation and expense.
The alteration which lie would, and which might be
mentioned with propriety in the present petition, was
this, that a continued residence, say of five years in one
place, without being burdensome to that or any other
parish, should confer a settlement in that place.
Mr. F. OsTes said a few words, recommending that
the legislature should simplify the law of settlements.
and prevent the litigation and expense to which parishe►
were at present subjected.

Mr. HARDT thought that the present was not a suit-
able opportunity for pressing upon the Lel-lature any
great alteration in the law of settlement, whirl' might
operate in a manner which could not, on a superficial
view, be anticipated.

The resolutions were then put, and passed unani-
mously.
On the question being put that the petition, which
had been drawn up by Mr. Hardy, should be adopted,
Mr. Baines said, the subject to which he had before ad-
verted appeared to him so important, that he could nut
refrain from 'untie% pressing it upon the attention of the
meeting. He thought a wore specific statement of the
manner in whirls the law of settlement might be ame-
liorated ought to be suggested to the consideration of
the Legislature.

111 r. traitor said, if any thing could be introduced into
the petition that would he likely to lie useful, lie should
be glad to render any assistance in his potter ; and after
a short pause, be proposed that a sentence, embodying
the alterations he had suggested in hi:, speech, to the
effect that no pauper should be removed till the place of
Ilia settlement was ascertained ; and that a power should
he given to magistrates to order parish othcera to re-
lieve them in places at a distance from their parishes,
should fonts part of the petition.
Mr. Balsics said, that the suggestion of compel-
ing our parish officers to relieve the poor of other
townships, and to open debtor and creditor accounts
with every parish in the kingdetn, any of whose poor
were residing here, or in which our poor might be
residing, would be reverting to a system which has
been found to o evisetience in this township to be
fraught with loss, abuse, and vexation. His wish was
to simplify the nuttier, and to establish a plain and
intelligible role fit determining settlements. This,
he thought, would he most effectually done by making
a residence of some yeasts, without receiving paro-
chial aid, a ground of seteement. His object was
not solely or principally the relief of parishes from
unnecessary littrdeni, though in this respect the al-
teration lie recommended would he useful, as it would
prevent liti,pitiou and •expense; but his view was
mainly directed to the comfort and feelings of those
who weresubject to removals; for he did not know a
greater Practical evil in the administration of our
poor laws than that to which he alluded. " Here,"
be said, " is a man who has resided in your township,
say t.tenty years, who has spent the prime of his life
and the virsour of his days in your service; all those
to whom lie is endeared either by habits of intimacy,
by feelings of frientlahip, or the ties of blood, are col-
' lected room( him ; he becomes diseased, or enfeebled
by age, or from souse other cause needs parochial as-
aistauce : by the law as it now stands he may be re-
moved to the utmost extremity of the kingdom, to a
place to which lie is a perfect stranger; for it is pro-
bable that those who formerly knew hint may hay?
been remove.l either by the vicissitudes of life or the
hand of death ; and there, in the absence of every
thing that can sweeten the cup of life, he must lan-
guish out the remainder of his existence. This is no
ideal evil; it is one which is, and must under the pre-
sent law of settlement, be of continual occurrence."
Ile trusted, therefore, that the meeting nould not
let an opportunity like the present pass, without
suggesting to the Legislature tneir wish that this
grievous hardship should be removed from our poor
laws.

BecJA•nx GO IT, n•hu had taken the chair
in the temporary absence of tl►r Mayor, said, that
the removal of a poor man from the pl.tee of his legal
.ettlen►ent, to labour in another parish was frequently
as beneficial to the place he had left as to that in
►ehich he w•as employed.
_ _

This obrrn•atioo, Mr. Baines said, was doubtle

true as far as reqweted the parishes, but the alter-
ation for which he contended was in favour of the
labourer.

Mr. HARDT, at considerable length, without di-
rectly opposing the suggestion offered by Mr. Baines.'
and which he thought deserving of attention, express-
ed his wish that the subject should be discussed at
same frunre p-ti ii. lle also intimated that the plan
proposed, however plausible it might appear, would
not be without its difficulties and embarrassments, and
might ultimately produce as much litigation as the
present mode of gaining settlements. Litigation, he
said, was becoming less frequent, and by a few judi-
cious and gradual reforms it might be still further
dintkished ; lint be thought the change now proposed
was too great to be adopted without mature delibera-
tion.

Mr. liaises said he would nut detain the attention
of the meeting any longer, than by merely reading
the addition which be proposed to have made to the
petition: it was this:.—" That the petitioners fully
acquiesce in the principle laid down in the Poor-Laws
Amendment Bill, 'That it is not reasonable, that those
who have by their labour contributed to enrich one
place, should be removed to another, and often very
distant place, where there is no demand for their la-
bour, there to be tuaintainell in sickness, and in sea-
sous of scarcity and distress,' they therefore beg
leave humbly to suggest, that a residence of a given
number of years, where the party has not been charge-
able to any parish shall confer a settlement, and
that it shall not then be lawful to remove any pour
person from any parish in which he may have so
resided, by reason' of sack person being chargeable to
such parish."
The question was then put that the petition do now
pass, as originally proposed, without say alteration,
which motion was carried.
The thanks of the meeting were then voted to the
Mayor. and the petition, which was already en-

grossed, was forthwith signed by the parish officers,
anti other inhabitants.
ARSTRArT OF " THE RILL To %mums THE LAWS RELATIVE
TO THE RELIEF or TUE POOR," Os AMENDED ST THE
COMMITTEE OF THE HOUSE OP COMMONR).

The preamble stands unaltered. The clause enacting
that no greater sum than that assessed for she relief of
the poor in any parish, township, or place, in the year
coding the 25th of Mardi, 1t421, is continued, and the
mode for ascertaining the maximum fixed; but it is
added,
That-in case it shall be made to appear to the justices
of the peace who sign the rate, that there is an increased
charge in the county rates, or any other rates or charges
lawfully payable out of the poora'-rate, which may re-
quire an additional assessment, it shall be lawful for
such justices to allow such excess only as is Mine; 'to
such increase of the county or other rates and charges.
It is, however, further added, (in clause marked A.) that
if, by reason of any unusual scarcity of provisions, epi-
demic disease, or any other cause of a temporary or
local nature, it shall be deemed expedient by the over-
seers of the poor, &c. to snake an addition to the sum
assessed for the relief of the poor, beyond the amount
limited by this act, they shall have the power to con-
vene a vestry meeting of the inhabitants paying to the
relief of the poor within the parish, township, or place;
and if it shall appear to them that an addition is neces-
sary, they shall have the right to empower the overseer
to make such addition, upon due pool of the sanction
of such meeting.
Then follows the clause for depriving magistrates and
parish officers of the power of ordering relief to persons
unmarried at the time of passing this act, or the fami-
lies which they may sttbsequiently have, except when
they claim it by reason of age, sickness, or bodily in-
firtnity.
The clause for repealing the present law of settlement,
and for taking from the magistrates the power of re-
moval follows, but it is added, in clause marked R. that
in case any poor person, at the time of passing this act,
shall be resident in any parish, &v. where he is not le-
gally settled, and shall he receiving relief from the
parish officers of the place of his legal settlement, they
shall be required to continue such telief until one of Isis
Majesty's Justices of the Peace, in or near the place of
his residence, shall certify that the same is no longer ne-
cessary.
It is then provided, in clause marked C. that where
additional burthens shall be thrown upon the poore-
I rates by soldiers or sailors being disbanded, the same
shall be made good by a county rate.
And it is finally provided (in clause marked D.), that
as in some parishes or places owners of land, in order to
remove the residence of the labouring poor, may destroy
the cottage and habitations therein ; and that certain
towns and %Mara, maintaining their own poor, may,
by residence therein of labourers employed and working
in other adjoining parishes, be charged with the bur-
then of those who do not work, and before the passing
of this art were not settled therein; for remedy thereof it
is proposed to be enacted, that in either of the above cases,
it shall be lawful for the justices, at any Quarter Ses-
sions of the Peace held for the County in which such case
shall be, upon the complaint of the overseers that their
rates are increased, and those of the neighbouring parish
diminished, to snake an order upon the overseer of the
pour of the parish whose rates have been diminished by
the causes aforesaid, to pay to the complainants such
sum or sums of money, from time to time, as the said jus-
tices shall adjudge reasonable, not exceeding in any
case, together with the existing rate, the amount li-
mited by the act, as a contribution towards the relief of
the poor of that parish or township, which order shall
continue in force till it is discharged by some future
order of Sessions; and that so long as such order shall
remain in force, the overseers of the poor and the inha-
bitants paying to the poor of the parish or place upon
which the same shall be made, shall have access to the
accounts of the overseers of the poor in whose favour
such order shall be made, and power to attend all meet-
ings to investigate such accounts, and to appeal against
the allowance thereof, in the same manner as the hilts-
Wawa of that parish or township.
From the shove abstract, it will be seen that Mr.
Scarlett's Bill, in the amended shape. does away, in
effect, with the maximum, that it adheres to the prin-
ciple of denying relief to persons now unmarried, who
may henceforth, by themselves or their families, clai
relief from want of employment ; and that it partially,
but only in a very limited and inefficient manner, mo-
difies the alteration of the law of settlement as origi-
nally proposed by this Bill

1-411LIBLE CLIMATE AND UNSUITABLE

CLOTHING.

[The fol'owing artic•e is extracted from a New York
Paper of the fito of Mv. Though originally calcu-
lated for the meridi.oi of the ['lilted States, it is not
inapplicable to Coat of England. Our fair readers
may smile at the nnemth and discarded modes of
dress of which it approves ; hut if they condescended
to take advantage of sonic of its suggestions, they
would find them very senxotioac.]
In the report of deaths for the last week, made by
the city inspector, we regret to perceive that 25 per-
sons have fallen victims to ron:umpleoi•. This, for
one %reek, and for one disease, is truly an alarming
number, and calculated to produce the most melan-
choly reflections. We ought nut to conceal the fact,
that our climate has undergone a considerable change;
from what causes we are unable satisfactorily to say.
Our winters, of late, hare peen uncommonly severe and
protracted, and the air keen and piercing; the snow
has been every where deep; the storms furious and
stubborn. Our summers have been oppressive, and
we do nut enioy that soft temperature and balsamic
atmosphere, that we formerly possessed. What is not
the least remarkable, is the rapid transitions to which
our climate is subjected, and which must be, in many
instances, fatal to health, without precaution is used.
The consumption is a new disease ; it certainly pre-
vailed but seldom fifty years ago ; but then it is nut to
be denied, that the women took more care of them-
selves than they do at present. Their clothing was
substantial and comfortable; they watched the changes
of the weather, and accommodated themselves to its
transitions. Their hoop petticoats, warm under gar-
ments, fine lamb's wool stockings, thick solid shoes,
with high heels, muffs and tippets, were centinels to
health. These precautions, connected with exercise
and industry, made them strangers to this disease.
It unfortunately happens, that too many sacrifices
of health and comfort are made to Cashion ; to a fool-
ish injudicious faShion. To preserve the boasted sym-
metry of person, and to give lightness to the figiire,
the ladies throw off their flannels, while the rude Notch
winds are blowing; and, with silk stockings and kid
shoes, they take their walks over snow and ice, or
mince their steps over wet pavements, until the cold
damps strike into their system. They contract hoarse-
ness, colds, and couglia, until they sink on the lungs,
and then consumption, with all its train of beetic and
feverish denotement', makes sure and rapid advances.
We have long anticipated some prohibitory ban. by
ihysicians, against the immoderate Walrus of tigh•