Papurau Newydd Cymru

Chwiliwch 15 miliwn o erthyglau papurau newydd Cymru

Cuddio Rhestr Erthyglau

9 erthygl ar y dudalen hon

- IltutraaI —:

NORTH WALES.

ENOItMOUS AMOUNT OF POOR 11ATES.

OUT-DOOR BELIEF.

Newyddion
Dyfynnu
Rhannu

OUT-DOOR BELIEF. A discussion arose on the Board being informed that the Relieving Officer had not complied with the order of the last Board, for the payment of out-cloor relief to a woman named Lewis. Dr. Roberts warmly reiterated his objections to the present practice of the Board, of refusing any assistance out of the house, when they could thereby save a considerable sum, as in the present instance. The Chairman.—Dr. Roberts must have been aware, when moving the order, that the rules of the commissioners prohib- ited the granting of out-door relief to bastard children, and consequently, that the relieving Officer could not pny the money. Dr. Roberts maintained that the Guardians had a right to manage their own affairs. The Clerk having read over the letter, observed that it was a standing order of this Board, besides being expressly laid down in the regulations of the Commissioners, not to grant any relief to paupers with illegitimate children. Dr. Roberts. — Why was not that order produced at the last meeting ? No mention had been then made of it; neither had he heard anything about referring the matter to the Poor-law Board. The Clerk.—He had explained at the last meeting, a* expli- citly as he could, that it was contrary to the Commis doners' rules to grant out-relief to paupers with illegitimate children. The relieving officer was perfectly justiiied in disobeying an il- legal order of the Board. Dr. Roberts would take every case upon its own merits The Commissioners had no power to issue any orders contrary to law. He would say, heedless of any orders they might make, that to compel a parish to pay from 9s. to 10s. a-week, when Is. 6d. would do, was contrary to both law and common sense. If the relieving officer refused to obey the order for the payment of Is. 6d., let the overseers of the parish pay it. He would state it, upon the authority of a case decided by Lord Denman, that the overseers were the parties who, by law, were entrusted with the administration of relief to paupers who were not in the house. In the White Chapel Union case, in deliver- ing judgment, the Court says, section 38 enacts that the Workhouses of such Unions shall be governed, and the relief of the poor in such Unions shall be administered, by the Board of Guardians, not the out-door relief, evidently giving to the Board the government of matters wherein the parishes have a common interest. The same section (evidently intending to place the justices upon the same footing as the rest of the Guardians) makes them ex-officio Guardians of the united or common workhouse, not of such union nor of such parish, and further provides that no ex-officio or other Guardian of any such Board shall act, except as a member, and at a meeting of such Board." The Chairman.—There were a great number of women with bastard children in the parish of Llanfihangel, who, if this woni,iii were allowed out-dcor relief, would also put in their claims for the same allowance; anl if refused, would consider it a great hardship, seeing that the allowance was made to some and refused to others. Dr. Roberts was not, as the chairman seemed to be, in the confidence of the parties, but it did seem to him very extraor- dinary that the rate-payers should be amerced for the misdeeds of others. As he had always said, if a woman violated the law, punish her they had no right to drown, nor to starve bastard children. The Clerk.—The mother, in this instance, could not be punished. Dr. Roberts regretted the absence of certain reverend gen- tlemen, who gen-rally happened, no doubt, by mere accident, when any job is to be perpe rited or upheld, to make thtir appearance; hi d anv of them been present, they could have exi laint-d to the cleik whit t e ecclesiastical law said on the sui ject, from w ich he wo dd hav J discovered that the ohence w- s a puii-ish. le one. Bes es, they se; med to hi n to be uncommonly chary in cases wneu the poorer classes were con- cern ed-whether it was for poaching or bastardy, the work- house seemed to be a very convenient method of saddling the rate-payers. There was a man at the door when he was coming in, who had a wife and four or five children in the house, and was obliged to come in himself. He had been in gaol for killing either a hare or a salmon, and when at that time his wife and children applied for 4s. weekly during his incarceration, they were offered the house, and so made a charge of 3s. 9d., or 3s. 10d. a week upon the parish, as one of the Guardians then present very honestly observed, to break up the establish- ment. The man recently only asked for 2s. a-week, and now he and his family were forced to become a charge upon the rate-payers of from 20s. to 25s. weekly. Was that consistent with either law or gospel? He assuredly thought not. Then, with respect to another case, there did not appear to exist that sensitiveness that was manifested in Lewis's case. In the one, certainly, the connexions of the party were in a lowly grade, whilst in the other, they happened to be among the higher classes. Only fancy a poor child brought to the Workhouse in a hired car, accompanied by two nurses, provided with suffi- cient clothes for a duchess's child, for at least two years, and a quantity of wheaten bread, that would have kept a whole family of paupers for a month (great laughter). Yet, such was the case, and because the Governor would not receive the child without a ticket from the relieving-ofiicer, one of the nurses waited upon that functionary, whilst the car was waiting at the Workhouse until a ticket was obtained. The Clerk thought the relief in this Union was extremely liberal.. I Dr. Roberts, with a nod and a wink, repeated the following popular old Welsh adage- "Gwyn y gwel y frim ei chiw, Er bod ci liw yn lowddu."—(Great laughter.) The Clerk.—The nurses were sent to take care of the child. Dr. Roberts.—Oh no doubt of it. He supposed then that it was no unusual thing to see poor people's children brought into the workhouse similarly attended and provided. b The Clerk said that this child had been sent for and removed from the house by its grandmother, who paid 7s. for its maintenance. Mr. Thomas Hughes would now say, in respect to Lewis's case, that it was understood at that Board that the parishes within that Union, when the settlement was clear, would re- ceive a pauper without the cost of removal. It would be very hard if Llanfihangel parish refused to receive the woman and her two children, without the expense of getting an order of removal. Dr. Roberts.—It would be much harder to make the rate- payers of that parish pay from 9s. to lis. a week, when only Is. 6d. was required. Mr. Pritchard said the woman was still in the house. Dr. Roberts.—Very well; the parish will not pay for her maintenance. The Chairman.—Then of course the matter will come to an issue.

BURIAL CHARGES.

Is THE KOnfAL COLLEGE FOR…

LONDON CAMBRIAN LITERARY SOCIETY.

BRECON.

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