William Rathbone

“ I also venture to assert that a large mass of pauperism accumulates in the large towns, for which they are in no way responsible, and with the burden of which they ought not to be charged. I would point out that although much of the pauperism of the country may arise from labour employed in particular trades and places, there is no inconsiderable amount of floating pauperism which cannot be attributed to the locality, and which may be fairly considered as national in its character, and chargeable upon the general wealth of the country. ”

“ I think, Sir, that I have shown the present incidence of taxation is doubly unfair,—that it not only throws upon the large towns burdens which do not belong to them, but that it unfairly distributes those burdens, even amongst the different classes of their inhabitants; and I think I have shown that the wealthy classes, now exempt, ought to be made to contribute their fair share towards local taxation. ”

“ Unless a Poor Law guardian is to be expected to do his work more thoroughly than a magistrate or a town councellor, I do not see how the evils of which you complain are to be removed, because I am convinced that a workhouse, in which the master is not thoroughly supported by the guardians, is at any time liable to fall into a state of over-crowding from any relaxation in the exercise of the laws which empower the managers to insist upon a strict labour test. ”

“ We possess a fine fleet of sailing vessels, a portion of which is now employed in the conveyance of India produce by the Cape. Their number could be readily increased by a transfer from the Australian trades, which are not at present very profitable.
The more bulky and less costly products of India, such as grain and seed, and the coal and iron exported from hence do not require very rapid conveyance; and it not infrequently happens that lastage by sailing vessels is quoted in Calcutta at the same rate as by ordinary cargo steamers. ”

“ What is the history of the Poor Law Board? It was instituted, in 1832, to prevent the entire agricultural population of the country from sinking into pauperism; and to a great extent it succeeded. But in order to succeed it ruled, I believe it was obliged to rule, with a very high hand. It had to exert a tremendous despotism over the Boards of Guardians, and the consequence was a perfect storm of public indignation. When the crisis had passed it was found that the power nominally placed in its hands could not always be employed, and years of enforced inactivity ensued. ”

“ It must be perfectly evident that either one parish is making paupers wholesale by administering insufficient relief, or that the other parish by giving relief in an extravagant and a wasteful manner is securing the same result. Indeed, I believe that both systems of making paupers are practised in almost every parish in the kingdom. I believe that great numbers are continually added to the class of habitual paupers by not granting relief with sufficient discrimination, and above all with sufficient promptitude in times of great and exceptional distress. ”

“ Should the Oregon, like her elder sisters, the Arizona and Alaska, fulfil in practice the anticipation of her constructors, she would be able to carry troops from Plymouth to Bombay in 24 days, and to Calcutta in about 26 days, allowing for coaling at the Cape, which experience has shown can be effected at the rate of about 120 tons per hour. ”

“ I maintain that the classes who possess this property do not contribute their fair share towards the rates levied to support, in sickness, accident, or poverty, those without whose labour their wealth would never have been created. Nay, more, as their wealth has increased, as the large towns have expanded, and as the burden of supporting the poor in the large towns has become heavier, the proportionate contribution of this class towards local taxation has actually diminished. ”

“ I have now to ask the House to consider whether my proposal that, as in the case of education, grants from national sources, conditional on efficiency, made through the medium of the Poor Law Board, would not tend to remedy the injustice and diminish the evils. As much of the wealth of some classes is at present only subjected to Imperial taxation, it would certainly to some extent adjust the inequalities incident to our system of local taxation, not only as between different districts, but as between different classes living in the same district. ”

“ Vessels of this class are necessarily costly to construct and expensive to work. For mercantile purposes they could be remunerative only on a passenger line of importance, or when aided by a postal subsidy, and it is not to be expected that private individuals would venture on the outlay on the mere chance of eventualities, more or less remote. ”

“ These masses of surplus population have been called our reserves of labour. Now a reserve of labour, to be of any use, ought to be available when it is wanted, but these reserves as they are called do not come to the large towns in times of prosperity. They flock to large towns in times of distress, and therefore, far from being reserves of labour, they are simply reserves of pauperism, and the large towns instead of receiving any benefit from their labour are simply charged with their support. ”

“ It has often surprised me to see how much time has been given to their duties, which are very laborious, and I do not see why you should expect from guardians more than from an unpaid bench of magistrates, or from the members of a town council. Yet I hold that the management of a workhouse is far more difficult than that of a gaol, and requires far more constant watching to prevent abuses creeping in. ”

“ All these companies have recently added powerful new vessels to their fleets, and it is probable that the Peninsular and Oriental Company's boats, the Rome and the Carthage, of 5,013 tons gross and 5,000 effective horse-power, and the Ballarat and Paramatta, of 4,700 tons gross and 4,000 effective horse-power, now building, would make the passage in about 36 days to Bombay, and 38 or 39 days to Calcutta, including coaling at the Cape. ”

“ How can you expect a merchant, banker, tradesman, or professional man, who has his own business to attend to, to give that minute constant and daily attention to the subject which is necessary, if he would attempt to deal successfully with the large masses of pauperism which many of our large parishes contain? Take Liverpool for instance, which contains not only the parish of Liverpool but four other townships besides. ”

“ I can only say from my own experience, derived from an intimate acquaintance with the crowded streets and courts of a large town and its workhouses, I would infinitely rather that those for whom I care most in the "world should be exposed to any amount of physical suffering, or even to death itself, than be subjected to the degradation and temptations which are inseparable from the system at present adopted in our large towns, under which multitudes of our working classes are continually sinking. ”

“ I will venture to point out to the House the result of this absence of uniformity and efficiency. A man living in a parish which makes no proper provision for the sick poor falls ill. There being no proper provision for giving him medical aid in his own parish, his sickness remains unattended to until it has become chronic, and he himself ultimately becomes a permanent burden upon the industrious portion of the community. ”

“ They are rarely to be found in our Guardians, because, however heartily they may throw themselves into their work at first, they are very apt to become weary and tired of it just when they are really beginning to understand the nature of their duties. The consequence, as I have said, is an utter want of uniformity of management. A pauper can move from parish to parish always finding some place where he can live in idleness, spreading in every direction the foul disease of habitual pauperism, continually becoming more proficient in teaching and learning iniquity. ”

“ Of course any improvement in the management of our Poor Law must involve an improvement in the Poor Law Board itself. As a Board it is a mere delusion. It never meets. The members in addition to the President, viz. the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Home Secretary, the Lord Privy Seal, and the President of the Council, are mere dummies as far as Poor Law administration is concerned. ”

“ Unfortunately in poor-houses neglect is too general, and we want a thoroughly good inspection to stir us all up to our duties."
Under our present no-system,—for it is no system, whatever we may call it,—neglect is easy, tempting, and general. Good management requires hard, steady work, and requires, moreover, men of experience and training, and experience and training are rarely to be found in our parochial officers, although there certainly are some exceptions, because there is no system by which this training is provided, and no adequate promotion to stimulate to improvement. ”

“ I repeat, therefore, that in the large towns, and I have no doubt the same is the case in other places, the poorer class contributes to the poor rate a larger proportion of its income than the richer, and the poorer in each class contribute a larger proportion of their income than the richer. ”

“ I would ask, what country was ever brought more nearly to the brink of ruin than this was under the old Poor Law, when our whole agricultural population was sinking hopelessly into pauperism, and the whole landed income of agricultural districts was in danger of being swallowed up by pauperism, and that, too, it must be remembered, under a system of purely local taxation, locally administered. ”

“ I think I have shown incidentally in the first part of my speech that the want of uniformity and efficiency in our poor law system as regards the sick not only does not promote good management, but that it is antagonistic to the attainment of that result. ”

“ But I venture to think they may be in danger of confining their attention too exclusively to the money raised by Imperial taxation, and overlook the fact that the money raised by local taxation deserves equal attention. For the local expenditure and the local taxation, especially in a free country like this, directly affect the large masses of the people upon whose soundness the national fabric rests; and if time allowed me I think I could prove from the history of other countries the danger of mismanaging local taxation and administration. ”

“ They do not contribute upon their capital, because their capital consisting chiefly of personalty is, as a rule, exempted from liability. They do not contribute upon their domestic expenditure as they used to do, because the rich merchant, broker, or banker, instead of living as he formerly did, and as his fathers had done, on the spot where his business was carried on, and in the midst of those whom he employed, now lives out of town and beyond the area of its taxation. ”

“ Not only are half-educated and badly-trained men placed in these responsible offices, but even the governorships of houses and the posts of relieving officers are frequently given to men who have failed in other departments of life owing to the absence of those very qualities which are eminently essential in the offices which they are now appointed to fill. And yet on the efficiency and good management of the governor of the workhouse not only the welfare of the inmates, but the whole poor-law system in the locality, depends. ”

“ I think I shall be able to show that it presses with far greater injustice upon the small householders in our large towns. The House has always evinced a disposition to consider the interests of that class, although it has not until recently been sufficiently powerful to enforce its claims, and I venture to think that a grievance which presses alike upon the always powerful landowners of this country, and upon the now powerful body of householders, is a grievance that cannot long remain unredressed. ”

“ The result of this alteration of the law, combined with increased facility and cheapness of locomotion, and with the want of efficient management of the poor law, has I contend, been to throw upon the large towns great masses of pauperism which have been created elsewhere, and to throw upon the local rates the support of persons from whose labour the locality has derived no benefit whatever. ”