he
house of another magistrate about two miles from home when the Overseer
said, "Now, my lads, here we are close by; I'll give you a pint of beer
each if you'll come and have it settled at once without giving me any
more trouble about it." The proposal was rejected without hesitation!

It may be appropriate here to give a few instances of the way in which
paupers were pampered, and extracts from the Commissioners' report as
to how the old system of relief worked in the villages--

"An inhabitant of a large village near Newmarket has taken out a
certificate for killing game and actually goes out shooting with his
pointer and gun, although at this time he has 3s. weekly allowance from
the parish as a pauper, and during last year received 4s. 6d. weekly."

In one small parish containing 139 persons, only 35 of them, including
the clergyman and his family, were supporting themselves by their own
exertions!

In many villages the expenditure in out-relief--chiefly in orders upon
village shops for flour, clothes, butter, cheese, &c.--amounted to from
L2 to L3 per head of the population, that is, a village with a
population of a thousand persons would expend L2,600 a year in
"relieving" pauperism.

It seems incredible, yet it is in black and white in the Commissioners'
Report, that at Westoning, in Bedfordshire, there was scarcely an
able-bodied labourer in the parish in the employment of private
individuals who was not at the same time receiving his allowance from
the parish!

{163}

As to rent and taxes from cottage property, under such circumstances
these too often had to be paid or remitted by the parishes. Thus the
Royston Overseers state:--"We have omitted rating the cottages to the
number of 99, occupied by labourers and low mechanics, owing to the
difficulty of collecting the money and the ill-will it engendered
amongst the cottagers towards the parish authorities."

"Order'd that Mr. Simons apply to the justices and inquire of them
whether they can compel labourers who have decent earnings to pay their
rent"!

The following incidents are mentioned from Over in Cambridgeshire:--

"A widow with two children had been in receipt of 3s. a week from the
parish, and was able to live upon this. She afterwards married a
butcher, and still the allowance of 3s. for the children was continued.
But the butcher and his bride came to the Overseer and said 'they were
not going to keep _those children_ for 3s. a week,