ceive, that much useful information would be obtained, if parish officers would, whenever their Returns exhibit a remarkable variation, whether of excess or diminution, from the preceding year, give some explanation of the causes of the variation. And here Your Committee cannot avoid observing, that Returns, stating merely the gross amount of the expenditure, fall very far short of what is necessary to enable the House to judge of the nature and causes of the variation in the amount. For that purpose, it would be necessary to have accounts, showing the different circumstances under which relief has been afforded, and the rate and principle of relief adopted in each district. The able-bodied entirely out of employ; the able-bodied earning wages not sufficient for the maintenance of his family; the married; the single; the sick and impotent; the aged; the labourer in husbandry, and the manufacturer or mechanic, should all be distinguished. And it should be known, whether the relief is afforded at the discretion of the parishes themselves, or by order of Justices of the Peace. The Committee are not of opinion, that Returns in this detail could conveniently be called for by order of the House. It is for the House to consider whother Overseers, in rendering their accounts under the Act 50 Geo. III, c. 49, should be required, by a new law, to state these or any other particulars, in a prescribed form, so that a more complete and useful account of the expenditure of the Poor Rates, than any which has hitherto appeared, might be rendered periodically to Parliament. 10 July, 1821. No. I. AN ACCOUNT, SHOWING THE AMOUNT OF MONIES ASSESSED AND LEVIED IN ENGLAND AND WALES, AT THE SEVERAL PERIODS FOR WHICH RETURNS HAVE BEEN REQUIRED BY PARLIAMENT. Distinguishing the Payments made thereout for other purposes than the Relief of the Poor; the Sums expended in Law, Removals, &c. and the Sums expended for the Relief of the Poor. For these periods there is no particular account of the sums expended in Law, or in Removals. For these periods there is no account of the sums expended, as distinguished from those assessed and levied. |