some to the
inhabitants, and tend to render the poor miserable to themselves, and
useless to the community: that the present method of giving money out
of the parochial rates to persons capable of labour, in order to prevent
them from claiming an entire subsistence for themselves and their
families, is contrary to the spirit and intention of the laws for the
relief of the poor, is a dangerous power in the hands of parochial
officers, a misapplication of the public money, and a great
encouragement to idleness and intemperance; that the employment of
the poor, under proper direction and management, in such works and
manufactures as are suited to their respective capacities, would be of
great utility to the public: that settling the poor in Workhouses, to be
provided in the several counties and ridings in England and Wales, under
the direction and management of governors and trustees to be appointed
for that purpose, would be the most effectual method of relieving
such poor persons, as, by age, infirmities, or diseases, are rendered
incapable of supporting themselves by their labour: of employing
the able and industrious, reforming the idle and profligate, and of
educating poor children in religion and industry: and that the poor in
such workhouses would be better regulated and maintained, and managed
with more advantage to the public, by guardians, governors, or trustees,
to be especially appointed, or chosen for that purpose, and incorporated
with such powers, and under such restrictions, as the legislature
should deem proper, than by the annual parochial officers: that erecting
workhouses upon the waste lands, and appropriating a certain quantity of
such lands to be cultivated, in order to produce provisions for the
poor in the said houses, would not only be the means of instructing and
employing many of the said poor in agriculture, but lessen the
expense of the public: that controversies and law-suits concerning the
settlements of poor persons, occasioned a very great, and in general
an useless expense to the public, amounting to many thousand pounds
per annum; and that often more money is expended in ascertaining such
settlements by each of the contending parishes than would be sufficient
to maintain the paupers: that should workhouses be established for the
general reception of the poor, in the respective counties and ridings
of England, the laws relating to the settlements of the poor, and the
passing of vagrants, m