to the measures of capacity, it ap. pears, that the legal standards of the highest authority are considerably at variance with each other: the standard gallon, quart and pint of queen Elizabeth, which are kept in the Exchequer,having been also apparently employed, almost indiscriminately, for adjusting the measures both of corn and beer; between which, however, a difference has gradually, and as it may be supposed unintentionally, crept into the practice of the Excise; the ale gallon being understood to contain about 4 per cent more than the corn gallon, though we do not find any particular act of parliament in which this excess is expressly recognized. We think it right to propose, that these measures should again be reduced to their original equality; and at the same time, on account of the great convenience which would be derived from the facility of determining a gallon and its parts by the operation of weighing a certain quantity of water, amounting to an entire number of pounds and ounces without fractions, we venture strongly to recommend, that the standard ale and corn gallon should contain exactly 10 pounds avoirdupois of distilled water, at 62° of Fahrenheit, being nearly equal to 277.2 cubic inches, and agreeing with the standard pint in the Exchequer, which is found to contain exactly 20 ounces of

water.

8. We presume that very little inconvenience would be felt by the public from the introduction of this gallon, in the place of the customary ale gallon of 282 cubic

inches, and of the Winchester corn gallon, directed by a statute of king William to contain 269, and by some later statutes estimated at 272 cubic inches; especially when it is considered that the standards by which the quart and pint beer measures used in London are habitually adjusted, do not at present differ in a sensible degree from the standard proposed to be rendered general. We apprehend also, that the slight excess of the new bushel above the common corn measure, would be of less im portance, as the customary measures employed in different parts of Great Britain are almost universally larger than the legal Winchester bushel.

9. Upon the question of the propriety of abolishing altogether the use of the wine gallon, and establishing the new gallon of 10 pounds as the only standard for all purposes, we have not yet been able to obtain sufficient grounds for coming to a conclu. sive determination; we can only suggest, that there would be a manifest advantage in the identification of all measures of the same name, provided that the change could be made without practical inconvenience: but how far the inconvenience might be more felt than the advantage, we must leave to the wisdom of his majesty's government to decide.

10. In the mean time it may be adviseable to take into consideration the present state of the numerous and complicated laws which have been enacted at various times for the regulation of

the

rection the officers of the parish are to act in the management and relief of the poor. Their proceedings and orders are moreover not subject to the control of a single magistrate. It has been also specially enjoined, that both the select vestry and magistrates, in determining the nature and quantity of relief required in particular cases, shall take into their consideration the character and conduct of the applicant, in order that the same measure of relief may not be extended to the wants arising from unavoidable misfortune on the one hand, and from idleness and extravagance on the other; it being important that the express words of the law should leave the duty of such discrimination no longer doubtful.

It has been also provided, for the better execution of the office of overseer in particular cases, that the vestry may appoint an assistant or assistants, with an adequate salary. This provision arose from the inconvenience resulting from the office of overseer being annual, and the injustice of extending beyond that period a burthen that often requires the unrequited sacrifice of his whole time and private interests. But a person so selected, and remunerated for this task, may be required to devote his whole time to the service of the parish, and may be expected to become, from a continuance in office, accurately acquainted with the duties he has to discharge. A more correct adherence to the law, and a uniformity in the system of management, may therefore be anticipated from such an appointment, which, under annual of

ficers, without a select vestry, may well be wanting.

To these provisions have been added others to guard against evasion in the payment of rates, and against the frauds of persons who seek to derive aid from the parish while they are in the receipt of other means of subsistence. It having been found essential to make such provision against bestowing on one man the property of others, without that reason which alone can justify such an act; the plea of absolute necessity. The advance of relief, by way of loan only, there is reason to hope will be found beneficial, by affording timely aid in some instances, and discouraging in others the applications of those whose earnings have been improvidently and extravagantly wasted.

The partial alteration of the law of settlement, as far as it respects the renting of tenements, which has also been effected, will undoubtedly have placed that part of the law on a more reasonable and simple footing; and while it diminishes the endless litigation respecting the nature and value of the tenement, will no longer be an obstacle to the accommodation which may be afforded in some instances to a poor family, by renting the pasturage of a cow, or some other temporary profit from the occupation of land.

Other enactments of minor importance will be found in the Act of this session, which it is unnecessary here to detail: but in addition to these, there are some expedients which your committee are enabled to recommend, and

which either do not absolutely require, or do not perhaps admit, of any legislative injunction; such as establishing a prescribed form for keeping parochial accounts, and giving to them periodical publicity; by which the amount of expenditure will be seen under its proper head, and any illegal or unnecessary disbursements will be brought to light and corrected. Printing and distributing still more frequently, lists, which the vestry is now bound by law to make out, of the names of all those who at any time receive relief, and on what account, is a practice which has prevailed lately in many populous parishes, and with the best effect.

By such provisions, and more especially by the establishment of select vestries and assistant overseers, your committee are sanguine in their hopes, that the mischief resulting from the reliance on parish support, may be in some degree palliated, and that the loose and careless administration of the law, by which it has been aggravated, will be essentially corrected.

But this is not all that your committee deem requisite to secure the kingdom from the calamities that must attend the continued progress of this evil; and they do not believe that such security can be obtained, as long as by an erroneous construction, as your committee believe, of the act of Elizabeth, parishes are supposed liable to be called upon to effect the impracticable purpose of finding employment for all who may at any time require it; they believe the ill conseVOL. LXI.

quences which have arisen from this practice are most palpable, and most mischievous, and they are therefore peculiarly anxious to recall the most serious attention of the House to this construction which has been put practically on this part of the statute.

Pecuniary relief seems indisputably to have been only contemplated by this Act for " the lame, impotent, old, blind, and such other among them being poor and not able to work, and also for putting out children to be apprentices;" but the direction to" set to work all persons having no means to maintain them, and using no ordinary or daily trade of life to get their living by," has been acted upon as if it were a clear authority for requiring the parish to find em ployment for all who want it. The committee, in 1817, questioned the soundness of this construction in the following terms: "If the object of the statute was merely to set to hard labour such idle, wandering persons as might be found in a state nearly approaching to that of vagrancy, such an object might possibly be carried into effect with a fair hope of beneficial consequences; but if the object of the statute was (as it is now interpreted) that the state is to find work for all who in the present and in all succeeding time may require it, your committee are of opinion, that this is a condition which it is not in the power of any law to fulfil; what number of persons can be employed in labour, must depend absolutely upon the amount of the funds, which alone Y

are

are applicable to the maintenance of labour."

The farther consideration and investigation of this subject has confirmed their opinions; for your committee are not aware, that the courts of law have at any time construed the act according to this practice; indeed the decision referred to in the former Report, in which it was held that an order of maintenance is not valid without it adjudges the party seeking relief to be impotent, leads to an opposite conclusion. If reference be had also to the authority of early writers, or to those who in modern times have bestowed the most attention on this subject, the same inference would follow. In a work which has been lately cited by an able anonymous author, intituled "A Description of England, by W. Harrison," and which, as published in the Chronicles of Holingshed, is brought down to the year 1586; it is stated that "the poor are divided into three sorts, so that some are poor by impotency, as the fatherless child, the aged, blind or lame, and the diseased person that is judged to be incurable; the second are poor by casualty, as the wounded soldier, the decayed householder, and the sick person visited with grievous and painful diseases; the third consisteth of thriftless poor, as the rioter that hath consumed all, the vagabond that will abide no where, but runneth up and down from place to place (as it were seeking work, and finding none); and finally, the rogue, &c."

"The two first sorts, that is to say, the poor by impotency,

and the poor by casualty, are the true poor indeed, and for whom the word doth bind us to make some daily provision; there is order taken throughout every parish in the realm that weekly collection shall be made for their help and sustentation; but if they refuse to be supported by this benefit of the law, and will rather endeavour, by going to and fro, to maintain their idle trades, then they are parcel of the third sort, and so instead of courteous refreshing at home, are often corrected with sharp execution, and whip of justice abroad."

Now this classification of the poor in the very age of Elizabeth, leads to the conclusion, that the persons designed by the terms, "using no ordinary or daily trade of life to get their living by," were, as the committee of 1817 supposed, that third class who are deemed "thriftless poor, &c." who it should seem were made to labour as long as they continued within their own parish, but if they left it, were subject to the severe penalties then inflicted on vagrancy; and would now come within the provisions of the present vagrant laws.

But to come nearer to our own times, and to the most laborious, copious and valuable work on this subject, we find the opinion of the judicious and unprejudiced author of "The State of the Poor," expressed in the following decided terms:

"From the language of various statutes concerning the poor, which passed during the reign of queen Elizabeth, and which being in pari materia, explain each

other,