Volume 11

Annual report of the Poor Law Commissioners for England and Wales.

  • Great Britain. Poor Law Commissioners.
Date:
1835-1847
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annual report of the Poor Law Commissioners for England and Wales. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    24/360 (page 8)
    annual amount is about 100,000/.; and although this expen- diture may be justly considered as of great public utility, the fact of its recent creation ought not to be overlooked in com- paring the present amount of the poor’s rate with its amount in former years. With respect to the law charges incurred by parishes and Unions (which are not included in the expenditure for the relief of the poor), it is to be observed that they have undergone a great diminution since the passing of the Poor Law Amendment Act. Their amount in 1834 was not less than 258,6042.; in 1842 it had fallen to 68,0517. ; in 1844 it had risen to 105,304/., which, however, is less than half the amount in 1834. A further important saving due to the operation of the same Act is that which has taken place in the miscellaneous item returned to us under the unspecified head of “other purposes,” as is shown in the following account : Money expended out of the Poor’s Rate Money expended out Years ended of the Poor’s Rate Years ended eae gy for all other Purposes, Lesley for all other Purposes. 1834 £1,021 ,941 1840 466 ,698 1835 35,362 1841 Ol glad. 1836 823,213 1842 318,092 1837 637 ,043 1843 346 ,007 1838 907 ,929 1844 359 ,106* 1839 493,703 The large reduction in this item must be attributed mainly to the exclusion of irregular and illegal expenses of a miscel- laneous nature which has been effected by the auditors appointed under the Poor Law Amendment Act. Upon this subject we refer to a passage contained in a Report which was made to us in the year 1840 by our Assistant-Commissioner, Mr. Power, when he was in charge of Lancashire and the West Riding of York- shire, and which was printed in the Appendix to our Sixth Annual Report.+ * The metropolitan police rate (which amounts to nearly 200,000/. per annum) is included in this item for the years 1834-41; but not in the three subsequent years. ¢ “The item entitled ‘other purposes,’ in the Annual Parliamentary Returns, demands a few observations in reference to its enormous amount in the earlier years of the comparison, and the considerable reductions of this item effected in later years show the value of that part of the new system of management, whereby the expen- diture of 20 or 30 townships, instead of being left separately in the hands of as many paid assistant overseers, ts brought into one focus, a clear and distinct system of accounting introduced, and the whole submitted to the searching and effectual ex- amination of an auditor every quarter. In the year 1835, no less a sum than 64,888/. was included in the Parliamentary Returns for Lancashire, under the head of ‘other purposes ;’ and the sum of 39,6754, under the same head, for the West Riding of York. “This item appears to have undergone a gradual decrease immediately from the passing of the Poor Law Amendment Act, the improper and illegal disbursements of which it partly consisted, having begun to be discontinued by the Overseers through fear of the impending change in the mode of examining and auditing the accounts. Much, however, was left to be effected by the auditors of the Unions, which, from time to time, have been brought into operation ; and the labours of these officers have been attended with most important effect in the exclusion of improper items of expen- diture.’——(Mr. Power on the Poor Rate Expenditure of Lancashire and the West Riding ; Sixth Annual Report, Appendix B. No. 2.)