Report Of Labourers' Wage...
The Times, 1824-07-16T00:00:00

Among the various evils springing up in the eourse of the late war, by incessantly increasing taxation, the most palpable antl affecting were those which regarded the la- bouring poor, their man'agement, and the administration of the laws framed for their coircion or protection. In every county, almost in every district, different practices were adopted, or measures enforced with different degrees of rigour or gentleness. Among the plans, however, pur- sued for the relief of the farmer, ai,:' the support of the labourer, the most common, and that vhich prevailed to the greatest extent, was the paying the labouring classes out of the rates. A practice so unjust, or of so immoral a tendency, could only be excused or palliated by the neces- sity of the case. It was a practice which broke the tic that ought to subsist between master and servant; took away from the latter all interest in the work whicb he had to perform, all desire of its success; and, except that he had still the power of propagating a race of sufferers like him- self, converted him into a mere agricultural instrument- a plough, a harrow, or a roller, driven to, and dragged over, the farm of another, without predilection or choice. A sensible report has been drawn up by a Select Committee of the House of Commons on this subject, a considerable part of which we sball lay before our readers. "The evils which follow from the system above described may be thus enumerated: "1st. The employcr does not obtain efficient labour from the la- bourer whom he hires. In parts of Norfolk, for instance, a labourer is quite certain of obtaining an allowance from the parish sufficient to support his family; it consequently becomes a matter of indif- ference to him whether he eams a small sum or a large one. It is obvious, indeed, that a disinclination to work must be the conse- quence of so vicious a system. He whose subsistence is secure with- out work, and who cannot obtain more than a mere suffliciency by the hardest work, will baturally be an idle and careless labourer. Frequently the work tone by four or five such labourers does not amount to wbat might easily be performed by a single labourer working at task-work. Instances of this fact are to be found in the evidence, and in the statements of all persons conversant with the subject. "2dly. Persons who have no need of farm-labour are obliged to contribute to the payment of work done for others. This must be the case wherever the labourers necessarily employed by the farmers receive from the parish any part of the wages which, if not so paid, would be paid by the fatmers themselves. 3dly. A surplus population is encouraged; men who receive but a small pittance know thiat they have only to marry, and that pittance will be augmented in proportion to the number of their children. Hence the supply of labou;r is by no means regulated by the deemand, and parishes are burdened with thirty, forty, and fifty labourers, for whom they can find no employment, and who serve to depress the situation of all their fellow-labourers in the same parish. An intelligent witness, who is much in the babit of employing labourers, states, that when complaining of their allowance, they fre- quently say to him,' We will marry, and you must maintain us.' "4thly. By far the worst consequence of the system is, the degra- dation of the character of the labouring class. Without assigning any precise period when the system of pay- ing part of the wages of labour out of the poor-rate eommenced, we are of opinion, that although perhaps it began earlier in some dis- tricts, it has generally been introduced during the great fluctuations of the price of provisions which have occurred in the last thirty years. In the year 1795 especially, a year of scarcity, parishes, finding that employers could not aflbrd to pay their labourers a sufficient sum to support their families, even on the most stinted scale, added a, contribution out of the poor-rate to healthy labourers in full employaent "We are happy to be able to say, that the evil of which we com- plain is partial, and that many counties in England are nearly, if not totally, exempt from the grievance. In Northumberland, wages are twelve shillings a week; and labourers, having families, do not usuaUy receive asdistance from the poor-rate. In Cumberland, wages vary from twelve shillings to fifteen shillings a week, and the report is equally satisfactory. In Lincolnshire, the wages are gene. rally twelve shillings per week, anti the labourets live in comfort and independence. At Wigan, in Lancashire, wages are seven or eight sixings a.wttek antAretief is afforded to a man with three children: in the division of Oldham, in the Game coanty, a great manufactur- ing district, wages atfroin t welvre shillings to eighteen shiUings a week, and no such practice is known. In Yorkshire, wages aie ge- nerally twelve shillings a-week; but in some parts of that extensive county, the practice of giving married labourers assistance from the parishappears veryprevalent. In Staffordshire, wages are about ten shillings; and labourers, having families, only occasionally receive relief from the poor-rate. In the divisions of Oswaldslow, in [the county of Worcester, the practice of paying part of the wages of labour out of the poor-rate has been entirely put a stop to by the vigilance of the magistrates. If we turn to the midland, southern, and western partsof the country, we find a great variety in the rate of wages. In the Wingham division, in Kent alone, it appears that the lowest wages paid were, in one parish, sixpence; in four, eighlt ence; in eleven, one shilling and sixpence; in four, two shillings; and, in the greater number, one shilling a (lay. In Suffolk, Sussex, Ber- fordsihire, Buckinghamshire, Dorsetshlre, and Wiltshire, the plan of paying wages out of the poor-rate has been carried to the great- est extent. Norfolk, Huntingdonshire, and Devonshire, are like- wise afflicted by it. In some of those counties, wages arc eight shillings or nine shillings 4 in others, five shillings; and in some parts they have been, and are so low as three bhillings a week for a single man; four shillings and sixpence for a man and his wife. . "With respect to the remedy for the evils pointedl out, it is obvious to remark, that a great, if not the greater part, arises from the mal- adnministration of the laws. Yet when this remark is made, it does not appear how, under the present systenm, the lawas whichl regard the poor should be otherwise than ill administered. Where no select Yestry or as6istant overseer has been appointed, the poor are consign- ed to the care of a person namied only for one year, and in general anxious chiefly to get rid of hiis office with as little trouble to him- self as possible; or, if he endeavours, in spite of clamour and vexation, to improve the practice, hIis designs are liable to be overset by the orders of magistrates, who, with excellent intentions, are often not conversant with the details of the management of the parish in whose encerns they interfere. "The great object to be aimed at, is, il possible, to separate the maintenance of the unemployed from the wages of the employed labourer; to divide two classes which have been confounded; to leave the employed labourer in possession of wages sufficient to maintain his family, and to oblige the rest to work for the parish in the way most likely to lrevent idleness. . * S S S O S . V By the act of the 43d of Elizabeth, it is ordered, that the " churchwardens and overseezs55 shall take order, from time to time, with the gonsent of two or more justices, for setting to work the childien otail such who shall not be thought able to keep and maintain their children. This provision, while it clearly shows that the framers of that uct never had it in contemplation to raise a fund for the suspport of all the children of all labourers, affords the means of remedying, in some degree, the existing evil of addirng to the wages of labour from the poor-rate. Wherever, from disibt,llnation tf works parents earn less than they might do, in order to draw from the parish fund, it might be fbund highly aseful that the parish officers, with the consent of the magis. trates, should, instead of giving money to the parents, set to work their children, who would, at the same time, be removed from the example of idle or dissolute parents. But this remedy must be used with caution, and might be inexpedient, if applied in cases where the best labourers, with their utmost exertions, cannot earn sufficient to brinig up their children without parish assistance. "According to the system at present pursued in many countties, a scale of allowance is drawn up by the magistrates, fixing, in money, the sums which a labourer is to receive, in proportion to the size of his family, and the current price of flour or 7neal. On this allow- ance, whether idle or industrious, the labourer relies as a right; and when he receives less, he makes an angry appea to a magistrate, not as a petitioner for charity, but as a claimant for justice. Without questioning the fitness of the scale upon which these tables have been framed, we cannot but regrot that the magistrates should promulgate general regulations, the obvious tendency of which is to reduce the rate of wages, and create dissatis- faction between the labourer and his employer. ' It has been thrown out, that the practice of giving relief to able- bodied labourers on account of their impotent children ought to be positively forbidden by legislative enactment. TYor Committee are not prepared to go this length; but they venture to suggest, that where wages have been reduced with a view to supply the deficiency from the parish rates, relief might be refused to any person actually in the empldyment of an individual. The consequence might cer- tainly be to throw at first som.e married laboarera entirely upon the parish, but in a short time it i8 probable a more wholesome system of paying the wages of labour would be pernanently adopted. " Aluch good has been effected in some parts of the country by tte adoption of wh&t has been caled the Cropedy or Oundle plan, or labour-rate; and a bil has been introdmcd into the HIouse for giving. to such a pltn, adopted imuder certain regulAtions, the force of law. It appears to uB quite nousibe to frame any act on this subject which shall meet every case, but a general sanction might1 be extremely beneficial; and the following form, which has been | suggested, appears as unexceptionable as any. Indeed, it Is very] similar to one contained in a bill brought into the house in an early part of tbe session :_ " ' The parishioners in vestry shall, if they think fit, draw up rtles and regulations for the maintenance ef the old and impotent and other poor unable to work, as also for the employment of the able poor; and the same, signed or agreed to by a majority in value, shall be presented to thejustices, to be by them amended, approved, or rejected, or sent back for alterations, and when adjusted to the sa- tisfaction of the justices anid parishioners, to be parochial law for one year.' " With respectto the second object-the mode of finding employ- ment for those who prefiess themselves unable to obtain it-it ap- pears to your committee, that the parish should, if it be possible, provide them with labour less acceptable in its nature than ordinary labour, and at lower wages than the average rate of the neighbour- hood. Your committee can add, that this method has been foutnd practically beneficiaL in all places where it has beencarried intoeffect. " It must never be forgotten, in considezing this subject, that the evils produced by the poor laws are different in different places; that all the good effects hitherto produced have been accomplished by improved management, and that, if those effects have not been more general, it is because the management of the poor has in the greater part of the country improved very little. " For the purpose of hastening and ensuring such improvement, your committee feel inclined to recommend to more general adoption I the appointment of select vestries, and of assistant-overseers receiv- ing a salary. The greatest evils arise from intrusting a business so complicated to inexperienced and inefficient officera; and much benefit has been produced by taking advantage of she pTovisions eof the 69th Geo. Ill., c. 12, on this subject. The greatest amendment may likewise be made by ajudicious attention to that part of the act wherein a select vestry is required to 'inquire into and deter- mine upon the proper objects of relief, and the nature and amoant of the relief to be given; and in eaci case ahaU take into consi- deration the character and conduct of the poor person to be relieved, and shall be at liberty to distinguish, in the relief to be granted, between the deserving and the idle, extravagant, or profligate poor.' " In a bill introduced into the House in an early part of the ses- sion, there is a clause imposing on the quarter sessions the duty of controlling the parish accounts, which are ordered to be laid before them, and enabling them to appoint an examiner to look into the ex- penditure of each parish. Whether, in the shape in which it at pre- sent stands, this provision is fit to be adopted, we will not decide: but in the opinion of many persons it might be useful that the quar- ter sessions shoald appoint an inspector of parish accounts, whose duty it should be to report to the magistrates the state of the poor, and to point out any flagrant instance of negligence or abuse. A more regular and distinct method of keeping the parish accounts might likewise prove highly advantageous. " At the same time, we cannot too strongly express our opinion, that even as the law at present stands, much might be done by the vigilant and entighteued attention of the magistrates. If they would point out to the farmers the mischievous consequences of placing their laIoarcrs upon the public fund; if they would discountenance the abuses whichl prevail, and give every support to those who en- deavour to reformn the present system, there can be no doubt that great good might be effected. The farmers themselves have adopt. ed it unwillingly, and must be fully aware of its mischievous ef- fects. The distress wvhich has so long restrained the application of agricuitural capital is now happily disappearing, and there never was a more favourable moment for reforming an abuse, vwhich in very few places is as yet af 30 years' growth. Let the magistrates, and, generally, all charged with the administration of the poor laws, observe, that if these laws have been retained, with the humane purpose of preserving honest indigence from starving, and remedy- ing any sudden want of employment. yet, that if misapplied, they may become a greater evil to the country than anv partial misfor- tuner, or temporary calamity, could inflict." We have only to add, that justice and humanity alike prescribe the abolition of the otious custorn above stigma- tized, whilst the improved condition of the agricultural interest, also, must facilitate the change. Individuals are said to become wiser by experience, but classes of men never, yet if the present race of farmers are not duller than it usually happens to the human race to be created, they must see that their advantages do not consist in high prices. Moderate prices will occasion thriving ma- nufactures; and thriving manufactures will both by native consumption prevent the prices from sinking too low, and will also attract to them the redundant population of the country, for the support of which the farmers have been so grievously oppressed. I I?BPOI?T OA LABOURERS' WAGES.