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them to the ufe of a fpecies of bread, which long experience, in a great part of the country, has proved to be wholesome and nutritious, efpecially when they understand how great a reduction must be produced by this regulation in the price of the quartern loaf. By a general prohibition of the ufe of finer flour unmixed, all ranks and orders of fociety will be called upon to facrifice to the public good any reluctance or prejudice, and to make an united effort to relieve the general preffure: and it will be in the power of individuals, or aflociations of the community, to facilitate the exe cution of this meafure, as well as to anticipate its benefits in fome de gree, by adopting, as foon as it can be procured, the ufe of fuch bread as is here recommended in their own families, and introducing it, by their example and influence, into their respective neighbourhoods.

Your committee have not thought it neceffary to ftate the faving which might arile from the ufe of the ftandard wheaten or any other fpecies of bread, finer than that which is here recommended, because they confider the neceffity of the cafe to be fuch as calls for ftrong and effectual remedies, and because they think the introduction of the other forts into general ufe would be in no refpect eafier than that of the bread here recommended, and would not be attended with the fame degree of advantage.

Your committee are of opinion, that, under the prefent circumftances, it is neceffary that an affizetable fhould be formed for this fpecies of bread, previous to requiring its introduction, and the exclufion of all bread made of a finer meal. The fhortness of the time for which

this feffion of parliament can con tinue would not admit of comple ting fuch a table with perfect accu racy. But although farther experi ments may be neceffary for ultimately attaining that object, your committee are fatisfied, from the evidence they have received, that no confiderable difficulty will attend the forming immediately a table fuf ficiently correct to prevent any ma terial inconvenience. They are de firous that fuch table fhould be to conftructed as to ensure at least as large a profit to the baker, for the manufacture of each fack of meal into bread, as he now receives. Your committee have also the fatif faction of finding, from the evidence of feveral refpectable millers, that this alteration will be productive of no inconvenience to their trade, but will tend to make their procefs eafier and cheaper; that the wires or cloths neceffary for the propofed mode of dreffing wheat and other grain are either now in ufe, or may be readily prepared; and that the period ne cellary for enabling the millers to difpofe of their prefent ftock, and to arrange their machinery for the new mode of working, will not require a notice of many weeks previous to the propofed measure being enforced.

Your committee are strongly of opinion, that it will be expedient, without delay, to prohibit, from a day to be fixed, the manufacture of flour or meal from wheat or any other grain finer than that which is dreffed through an 8s. 6d. feamed cloth, or a patent cloth, No. 2, or fuch wire machine as produces the fame effect; and to prohibit -allo, from a day to be fixed, the use of any bread finer than what is made of fuch meal and that in the mean

time it is expedient, as your committee have already reprefented to the house, to permit all kinds of bread, except fuch fine bread as that upon which the affize is at prefent fet, to be made and fold with out being fubject to the regulation of aflize.

It alfo appears expedient, that when the new affize fhall be eftablished, and the ufe of fine bread prohibited, permiffion fhould ftill be given to make any bread of inferior price, either from the whole meal of wheat, or with a mixture of wheat and rye, barley, oats, rice, or any other wholefome grain, without affize. By this means a ftill far ther economy of wheat may be produced in fuch parts of the country as may adopt the ufe of fuch mixed bread; and from different fpecimens produced to your committee, it appears, as before stated, that wheaten meal, of the fame quality as is here recommended, will make excellent bread, with a mixture of other fpeeies of grain. The ufe of fuch mixed bread will alfo afford the means of bringing into confumption fuch fine flour as may be obtained by importation, as well as any fmall quantities which may be left in the hands of the millers, fubfequent to the time when the ufe of fine bread will be prohibited.

Fifth Report of the fame Committee,

They have, in proceeding in the matters to them referred, received, from certain parishes in the immediate neighbourhood of the city of London, reprefentations of the extreme difficulties under which they at this time labour, through the very great number of poor, who are

induced to refide in thofe pariflies by the cheapnefs of lodging, occa fioned by the general mallness of the tenements, and by the impoffi bility of finding fuitable accommodations in the richer and more cen tral parts of the metropolis. The parishes from which thefe reprefen tations have come to your commit tee, are thofe of St. Matthew, Bethnal-Green, Mile End New Town, and Chrift Church, Spital-Fields, which are contiguous to each other.

The poor rates in this diftrict, which fand now, fubject to abatements as to fome of the fmaller houses, at between four and fix fhillings in the pound, appear to be not materially higher than those of feveral other parishes; but though the rates are not higher, it is evi dent to your committee, from the fact laid before them, that the pref fure on the inhabitants must be much more than commonly fevere, fince they confift very generally of perfons in either low or very moderate circumstances, a great proportion of whom, if refiding in other parts of the town, would be wholly ex, cufed.

It is ftated to your committee, that in Mile End New Town, out of 630 houfes which are affelled to the poor rates, no less than 529 are fuppofed to pay a yearly rent of only

17. and under, and 73 others to pay a rent of only 197. and under: it is alfo ftated, that of the remain, ing 28 houfes in that parish, 20 pay a rent of lefs than 287. five of 356 and under, two (of which the Spital-Fields workhoufe is one) a rent of about 701, and one only, being a warehouse, a rent of 2802. The whole annual rental of this parish, charged to the poor-rates, amounts to no more than 6,1677: among I 3

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thefe houses, neverthelels, are included many which pay a rent of less than 31. per annum.

The proportion of fmall houses, or of houfes divided into small lodgings, in the two other parishes, is represented as alfo great; and the deficiences in the collection of the prefent poor-rates of all the three are large and increafing, and the debt of each is confiderable.

The point however to which your committee would more particularly call the immediate attention of the houfe, is the very great diftrefs to which the poor of these parishes, who are obliged to make application for parochial relief, are neceffarily reduced, through the inadequacy of the funds provided for them. The officers have given in statements to your committee, by which it appears that they are not able to grant pecuniary aid to fo much as onetenth part of those perfons, who would be likely now to receive it, if they refided in other parishes; and allo that to the few whom they relieve, on account of their being entirely out of work, they give only about one-fifth or one-fixth part of the fum commonly granted in London to perfons in like circumftances. It is alfo ftated, that the workhoufes are at this time exceedingly crowded.

The rental of all these parishes charged to the poor-rates, which it is ufual to do according to the rack rent, is about 60,000.; the rental of the metropolis (if by that term is understood the diftrict lying within the bills of mortality, together with the parishes of St. Pancras and St. Mary-la-Bonne) may be estimated at about fifty times that fum, or at about three millions. The number of perfons in the three parishes, who

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are of the poorer class, and are not now relieved, are computed at be tween 16 and 17,000, forming unqueftionably a large portion of the poorer labourers and manufacturers of various defcriptions, who work both for the city and for other parts of the town.

In order to relieve the peculiar preffure on this body of perfons, arifing from the circumftances which have been reprefented, it is obvious that a confiderable fum will be neceffary; and it is alfo certain, that this neceflary fum cannot be obtained by additional burdens on the parishes themfelves, fince it has been lately found that every advancement of the rates caufes an almoft proportionate deficiency in the receipts, by producing in a fhort time an abfolute neceflity for allowing a very material increase in the exemptions.

Your committee, in proceeding to confider the remedy for the evil which they have stated, have adverted to a claufe in the act of the 43d year of the reign of queen Elizabeth, intituled, " An Act for the Relief of the Poor;" by which it is enacted, that " if the juftices charged with the execution of that act thall perceive that the inhabitants of any parish are not able to levy among themselves fufficient fums of money for the purposes of the act, that then two juftices may tax, rate, and affefs, as aforefaid, any other of other parifhes, or out of any parifh within the hundred where the faid parifh is, to pay fuch fum and fums of money to the churchwardens and overfeers of the faid poor parish, for the faid purpofes, as the faid juftices fhall think fit; and if the faid hundred fhall not be thought by the faid juftices able and fit to relieve the faid feveral parishes not

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able to provide for themselves as aforefaid, then the juftices of peace, at their general quarter feffions, or the greater number of them, fhall rate and affefs as aforefaid, any other of other parishes, or out of any parish within the faid county, for the purposes aforefaid, as in their difcretion fhall seem fit."

This claufe, when acted upon as it has been in fome inftances, is understood to have led to great liti gation between parishes, and to have failed of much of its intended effect; and the mode of carrying it into execution appears to your committee to be particularly ill calculated to provide a remedy for the evil which they have defcribed. Though it affords a clear proof of the general intention of the legiflature in this refpect, it fhews, that it was not the purpofe of parliament, that parifhes burdened in a particular manner with poor, fhould be so far insulated from all others, as never to call upon them for relief; and that even whole counties were confidered as liable, if neceffary, to be charged with additional poor rates, in order to cafe contiguous parishes which were alike burdened. But in respect to the manner of appointing the new burden, it gives much more difcretion to the magiftrates than they can be fuppofed defirous of exercising, while alfo (leaving evidently out of its contemplation the cafe of a few adja cent parishes, all equally difabled from fupporting their poor, through their contiguity to the metropolis), it directs the levying of the auxiliary rate only in a part of that particular hundred which comprehends the parish or parishes in diftrefs; except Indeed that when fuch whole hun

dred fhall have been rendered in the fame degree incapable of affording farther fupport to the poor, direction is then given to raile the whole. fum that is neceflary, arbitrarily, in any part of the fame county. But however defective this claufe in the act of Elizabeth may be, the general principle of it is fo equitable in itfelf, and is fo eafily rendered applicable to the cafe of over-burdened parishes adjoining to London, that your committee are induced to exprefs their very clear opinion of the expediency of fo far following it, as to authorile the raifing of fome local fund for the purpofe of eafing the three parishes of whofe diftrefs com plaints have been made. The fum wanted, in order both to discharge a chief part of their prefent very oppreffive debts, to relieve fome of the more indigent houfekeepers now charged to the rates, and to provide, until the feafon of the next harvest, a fund for the fupport of the poor, that fhall bear fome proportion to the funds for that purpofe, which are within the power of other parishes, will probably be between 20,000, and 30,000í.; a fum fo light, when levied on the whole metropolis, and fo evidently called for by the neceflity of the cafe, that your committee truft the propriety of fuch a meafure as they now propofe will be generally felt. Whe ther this fum may best be raised by a fmall addition to the prefent poorrates, fubject pollibly to fome general as well as particular exemptions, or by a per centage calculated on certain of the affeffed taxes paid by pertons in the metropolis, or by any other local fund, muft be a fuhjet for the confideration of the houfe.

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Your committee, in the mean time, from the preffing exigency of the cafe, think it neceffary to recommend, that, with a view to the immediate ease of the parishes in queftion, the houfe fhould addrefs his majefty, that he would be gracioufly pleafed to advance, for their ufe, out of the civil lift, fuch fum as may be deemed neceffary, affuring his majefty that the houfe will proceed to make good the fame; and your committee beg leave to exprefs their opinion, that it ought to be made good out of fuch local fund as fhall be provided by parliament for that purpose.

Your committee have only farther to obferve, that they truft the levying of a local tax through the metropolis, with the view which has been stated, will not be confidered as opening the way to any invafion of that general principle of the poor laws, by which parishes, which have fufficient means of maintain ing their poor, are exclufively charged with their fupport; a principle which they deen highly conducive to the good management of the poor, and refpecting the prefervation of which the houfe can fcarce, ly be too jealous.

Your committee conceive that the mcafure now propofed, being founded on the principle laid down in one of the claufes of that act from which the poor laws of this country took their rife; and being alfo called for by the fingular circumftances of the diftrict which they have defcribed, as well as by the extraordinary preffure of the prefent time, will form no precedent that can be pleaded, except in fome cafe of fimilar emergency, and in a like period of dearness of provifions and confequent diftress.

Sixth Report of the fame Committee."

They have proceeded farther in the matters to them referred; and have agreed upon the following Report:

Your committee having flated, in their first report, the reafons which induced them to direct their atten tion, in the first inftance, to fuch meafures as appeared beft calculated to alleviate the prefent preffure, and as were capable of being car ried into execution during the exiftence of this parliament, have fubmitted to the wifdom of the house, in that and their fubfequent reports, fuch fuggeftions as have appeared to them to fall within that defcription. They have been anxious to difcharge with diligence the talk which was impofed upon them, and had continued their fittings without intermiffion from day to day, from the period of their appointment to the prefent moment, when their proceedings are interrupted by the neceflary termination of this feffion, in confequence of the union with, Ireland. Notwithstanding theit beft exertions, fo much time has been unavoidably occupied by the confideration and difcuffion of mate ters connected with the different measures above alluded to, which appeared to your committee, in every point of view, the most important as well as the most urgent, that they have found it impoffible to enter, fo fully as they could with, upon c parts of the extenfive and complicated fubject which the houfe has thought proper to refer to them.

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The manner in which the commerce of grain is carried on, has however engaged no fmall proportion of their attention; but even upon this branch of the fubject, the information which they have hither

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