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In the following extract, it is Robert Barclay, Esq. who speaks :

"It certainly is of great moment, to find some method to enable country labourers to live more comfortably than they do at present, by placing them in a situation where they may acquire some property and subsistence, when they become old, and unable to perform hard work, and that they may not be so subjected to the difficulties which they now undergo, in times of scarcity, nor become a burthen upon the parishes where they reside; likewise, that they may be enabled to keep cows for the nourishment of their children.-Barclay, Communications, vol. 1, p. 91.

The person employed by the Board, and who examined above forty parishes minutely, gives the following general result.

"Seven hundred and fifty-three cottagers have amongst them 1194 cows, or, on an average, 14 and 1-13th cow each. Not ONE OF

THEM RECEIVES ANY THING FROM

THE PARISH! even in the present scarcity. The system is as much approved of by the farmers as it is by the poor people themselves. They are declared to be the most hard-working, diligent, sober, and industrious labourers who have land and cows, and a numerous meeting of farmers signed their entire approbation of the system. In the above-mentioned parishes, rates are, on an average, 174d. in the pound; and, but for exceptions of some families who have not land, and of certain cases and expenses foreign to the inquiry, they would not be one penny in the pound.

"In nine parishes, where the VOL. LVIII.

proportion of the poor having cows amounts to rather more than half the whole, poor-rates are 3 d. in the pound.

"In twelve parishes, where the proportion is less than half, but not one-third, poor-rates are 94d. in the pound.

"In ten parishes, where the proportion is something under a fourth, poor-rates are 1s. 6d. in the pound.

"In seven parishes, where the proportion is but nearly one-sixth, poor-rates are 4s. 1d. in the pound.

"And in thirteen parishes, where few or none have cows, poor-rates are 5s. 11d. in the pound.

"The poor in this considerable district being able to maintain themselves without parish assistance, by means of land, and live-stock, and to do it at the same time so much by their industry and sobriety, and consistently with an honest conduct, clearly marked by the entire approbation of this system by the farmers, &c. their neighbours, is a circumstance which, well considered, does away a multitude of those objections and prejudices which we so often hear in conversation."

In the replies to the Circular Letter of 1816, some notes occur upon this practice, of cottagers keeping land, which it is necessary here to recite.

At Shewart in Kent, it is remarked by Mr. Curling, that a late legal decision, determining that keeping a cow gained a settlement, has deprived many cottagers of that comfort, as it is properly called; an observation which, however, does not attach 2 H

to

to cottagers having already a settlement.

The same mischievous result of that decision is noticed by a Lincolnshire correspondent, Mr. Parkinson, who laments the effects which have flowed from it.

Mr. Gregory, of Harlaxton, in the same county, says, "I have several cottages, with land sufficient to keep two cows annexed to them; the cottagers who occupy them live comfortably, and are industrious, useful labourers, and appear to be contented with their situation."

In the same county, Mr. Barker, steward to Sir Robert Sheffield, has the remarkable declaration, that there can scarcely be said to be any poor in that country, because they all have cows, by means of which they are in a comfortable state, and are very generally equally sober, honest, and industrious.

Mr. Goulton, of the same county, also commends this system, as productive of much comfort amongst the poor in this period of distress.

The Rev. John Gwillim, of the same county: "All that have cows do well, so that we have scarcely a pauper."

The Rev. John Shinglar, also of the same county: "The poor, though their employmeat is lessened by the distress of the farmers, have not been burthensome; and the reason is, their keeping cows."

The Rev. Henry Basset, of the same county, reports the state of the poor in his parish to be very comfortable, -as they generally keep one or more cows.

The following is the extract of

a letter received from Earl Brownlow :

"The subject of cottagers' cows, is one in which I have ever taken a deep interest, and I have invariably continued on my estates, the system which my father had established, of attaching land to cottages, to enable the poor to keep cows: I have no hesitation in saying, that very essential benefit has been derived from this practice during the present period of general distress, inasmuch as scarcely any poor family so circumstanced, (not more, I should think, than one in twenty at the most), has become at all burthensome to the parish; while, on the other hand, I have reason to believe, that the labouring poor have suffered great dis tress, and have universally become objects of parochial relief in those places where no system of this sort has been established.

"I cannot help adding, that in a moral point of view, the system of attaching a moderate portion of land to cottages, appears to me highly worthy of encouragement; as the poor obtain thus, if I may use the expression, a capital in their labour; they have an incitement to good conduct, and acquire for the most part habits of decency and industry, which parochial relief has of late years so much tended to eradicate from the minds of the lower orders of the community."

It deserves notice, that although the cottage cow system is very incomplete in Northumberland and Scotland, still the mere circumstances of a cow forming a part of the wages of the labouring poor, they are stated to have suf

⚫fered

fered much less than has been almost general in England."

Poor-Rates.

The letters, containing returns descriptive of poor-rates, are to to the following purport: Letters, in which the rates have increased since 1811 and 1812

N. B. In 54 of these let-
ters, the proportional
rise is given, and

amounts on the average to.43 per cent. Letters, in which the rates have decreased.......... N. B. In 8 of these letters, the proportional fall is given, and

amounts on an average to 28 per cent. Letters, in which the rates are stationary, that is, neither higher nor lower than 1811 and 1812.....

147

29

77

253

But this table gives by no means a sufficient idea of the distress at present arising from this heavy tax; as in a variety of instances, the farmers who lately paid to these rates, have been obliged to give up their farms, and are actually become paupers themselves, receiving parochial allowances like other paupers; and this increased burthen in many other parishes occurs, while farms are unoccupied or run waste; and, in the cases the most favourable, the burthen falls with increasing weight on the landlords. The letters contain many complaints, that while the manufacturers, who have occasioned the chief burthen,

pay scarcely any thing to the rates, the accumulated weight falls on the occupiers of land.

The complaints almost universally made of the increase, heavy burthen, and most mischievous consequences to the industry of the people, which result from poor-rates, form a conspicuous feature among the complaints of the correspondents; insomuch, that many apprehensions are expressed of this system being permitted to continue, and increase till it will absorb, in union with tithes, the whole rental of the kingdom, leaving nothing more to the landlords of it, than that of acting as trustees and managers for the benefit of others.

But the surprising circumstance of this result, is the increase being so general at the very period in which, from the reduced price of provisions, a directly contrary effect might have been expected. To find that rates have risen, while the principal object in the support and nourishment of the poor has fallen in price above 100 per cent. seems to be extraordinary; nor could such a result have been found, but in an administration liable to so many objections. We cannot be surprised at a great number of these correspondents calling with anxiety for regulations in a system which tends directly to the annihilation of all industry.

The extreme burthen arising from poor-rates, is a subject which can never have too much attention paid to it; and its nature can be well understood only by reference to particular cases: thus, it deserves attention, that this tax has been collected in cer2 H 2 tain

tain districts of Wales, in kind, if the expression be permitted, that is, the substances necessary for the support of the poor, taken instead of the value in money ;-it may be presumed, through a want of circulating medium. The amount to which this tax can rise, may be understood by referring to the case of Halstead in Essex, where it rises to 5s. 6d. in the pound for one quarter of a year, taken at one-fifth under the rack-rent; and at Coggeshall, in the same county, much higher : and in a parish near Sandwich in Kent, it amounts to 22s. per acre. Such facts require no comment. The abuses to which this administration is liable, may be felt from the Somersetshire case, of parish paupers becoming claimants as creditors on the effects of a bankrupt.

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Letter, the Bank of England

The great object of the Board in these inquiries, has been to collect facts. If it be asked, what conclusions are to be drawn from these facts? Such will, of course, suggest themselves with the greatest clearness to the members of the legislature. With this expectation before us, we cannot but be surprised at the anxiety felt, and the apprehensions expressed by many of the ablest persons (being magistrates of extensive jurisdictions) amongst the Correspondents, whose letters are the basis of this general result: but the Board cannot forbear making one observation, as it may be extremely important to the future state of the country, when it is considered that the tracts absolutely uncultivated are of considerable extent, and that a great number of farms are thrown upon the landlords' hands in a period when it must of necessity be extremely inconvenient to attempt their cultivation, in many

cases heavily burthensome, and in some ruinous; it must be evident, that the management of these farms may probably be so very imperfect, as to occasion a great defalcation in the produce of corn. Of the same tendency

is another circumstance mentioned in the letters, the preparation for the next crop of wheat being extremely deficient. It may also be observed, that among the circumstances mentioned in reply to the Fourth Query, is that of a very general neglect of all purchased manures, together with a discharge of labourers formerly employed, to an amount that must considerably affect the future cultivation of the soil. These points, if duly considered, may afford no slight reason for apprehending a considerable declension in the amount of future productions; and should such an effect arrive, it may come at a time in which the pressure will be more severely felt.

CHARACTERS.

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