Questions                                                                                                                     ANSWERS


   (B) POOR'S RATE 1803 - 1813 - 1821 - 1831 ?                                          (B) 235 - 344 -  294 - 459  Pounds Sterling .


   (3)  Are there many or few landowners  in your
           Parish and are the Farms large or small ?                                         (3)   Much dvided many small occupiers .


   (9)  Is piecework general in your Neighbourhood ?                                    (9)    By good masters only .

   (10)  What ,in the whole might an average Labourer,                                 (10)   My Constant Labourers, with families average at least 15s. per week
           obtaining an average amount of Employment both in                                  and 6 pounds for the Harvest. Day wage is 2s. per day; where a man's children work,their earnings
           Day-work and Piece-work , expect to earn in the Year,                                are to be added to the !5s a week. My men are satisfied and industrious.
           including Harvest-work and the value of his other means
           of Living except Parish Relief. ?    

    (11) Have you any and what Employment for Women and Children ?         (11)  None except in the fields, formerly all the Women & Children had Spinning to do, and they brought                                                                                                                                                                                 as much as the man did, this I well remember. My best day man  when I first                                                                                                                                                                                                                  became a farmer had only 12d a day  and  the wife and children by spinning made up the rest                                                                                                                                                                                          to live on.   There was then no relief for a LabourerL. Poor Rate was 3d per acre and now 5s and                                                                                                                                                                                      lower than any where else.
  
    (12) What on the whole might a Labourer's Wife and Four Children
           earn,aged 14, 11, 8 aand 5 Years respectively (the eldest a boy)         (12)  The wife with such a family can earn but little. The boy of 14  4s. per week ;  11 years 2s.6d.  .
           expect to earn in a Year, obtaining as in the former case an average          The 8 and 5 year olds earn nothing                                                              
           amount of Employment ?                                                                                        

    (14) Could the family subsist on these Earnings ? and if so what food ?     (14)  They live upon the best white bread with very little meat. plenty of potatoes and salt with  garden plants                                                                                                                                                                          very little beer drinking tea or water . If the Malt tax was taken off they would all brew as they once did,
                                                                                                                         as they once did giving yeast for bread as formerly.

   (15) Could it (the family) lay by anything ? and how much ?.....                  (15)   Nothing, or in a few cases a few pounds.

   (16) What Class of persons are the usual Owners of the Cottages ?               (16)   Generally small Proprietors who rent them very high.

   (17) Are there many cases in your parish where the   
          Labourer owns his own Cottage?                                                         (17)    Very few.                   

   (21) Are Cottages  frequently exempted from Rates ? and is the                   (21)   Generally all exempted.
          Rent often paid by the Parish ?

   (24) Have you any, and how many, able bodied Labourers in the                   (24) All the year except at Harvest, some are employed on the roads or in gravel-pits, or digging upon
           Employment of Individuals receiving Allowance or regular Relief                16 acres we  hire to employ them.  But no part of mens wages is paid from the Parish to Labourers on
           from your Parishon their own Account , or on that of their                         farms.
           Families ; and if on account of their Families at what Number of
           Children does it begin ?

    (25) Is Relief or Alowance given according to any and what scale ?            (25)   No particular Schedule but according to the number in the Family.

    (26) Is any and what attenion is paid to the Character of the                     (26)   As much as possible .All the best Characters are at times taken by the Farmers, when they can.
           Applicant , or to the causes of his distress ?

    (29)  Is there any and what Difference between the Wages paid by             (29)  No difference if they are equally able ; only I strive to give the Men with Families the piece-work
           the Employer to the Married and Unmarried, when employed                     that their children may be employed .
           by Individuals.

    (33) Who decides in your Parish how much Money shall be raised in         (33)   The acting Overseer cals a meeting of the Ratepayers, and at thereat states an amount - say 100 pounds
            each Year, or in each period less than a a year ?                                       which may call for a rate of 8d in the pound which is likely to be wanted for the ensuing quarter, which is assented to
                                                                                                                         or disallowed, or altered by the Churchwardens and Overseers, or a majority of them.


   (34)  Who decides how much of the amount shall be paid by each             (34)   The Churchwardens and Overseers make the Assesment or Rate according to the estimated fair rental,
            Ratepayer.                                                                                             value of each person's occupation. Upon complaint, the Churchwardens and Overseers, at the parish meeting, examine
                                                                                                                         the case and confirm or amend the Assesment as they deem right.

   (35)  If both the the Overseers and the Vestry take part in deciding          (35)  We do not regulate the affairs of our Parish under the Vestry Act. The Overseers and Churchwardens adopt the means aforesaid.
          all or any of the matters, state the manner or degree in which
          they respectively interfere ?

  (36) Is the Amount of Agricultural Capital in your Neighbourhood            (36)  The Poor Laws, as now acted upon, certainly tend to diminish capital . The Labourers not being independent
        increasing or diminishing ? -and to what do you attribute such                     the Farmer cannot get so much work done for the same sum of money.
        increase or diminution to any cause connected with the
        Administration of the Poor Law

  (37) Is the Industry of the Agricultural Labourers in your                         (37) They are as a whole much worse. There being too many Labourers, those who mare thrown upon the Parish are generally the worst
        Neighbourhood increasing or diminishng ; that is, are your                        characters, and from these all the evil springs. The want of employment, such as where he knows he is doing good,  is the great evil
         formerly were ?                                                                                      to be removed.  The Poor want only this kind of employment to make them again happy and industrious.

  (46)  What do you think would be the effect of an enactment                    (46)   While men are supported by Parishes, they will not emigrate.  If they would I do not see why Parishes sahould not raise a Loan
          enabling Parishes to tax themselves in order to                                         for that purpose or tax themselves. Loss of Settlement should be annexed such being explained before departure but they must
         facilitate Emigration                                                                                 be provided for by Govrnment on first landing.

 (47)   What is the allowance received by a Woman for a Bastard                 (47)  Generally not pay her.
        and does it generally repay her, or more than repay her the
        expense of keeping it ? and is the existing law for the punishment
        of the Mother whose Bastard child becomes chargeable often
        executed for the first or the second Offence ?

 (51)  Can you suggest any and what alteration in the Settlement Laws,        (51) The abolition of Settlement by Sevice would be good as also in the other cases here mentioned. I fear that if Settlement is to be gained by             for the purpose either of  extending the market for Labour,                     residence. Proprietors who hold in the country the whole or large proportion of any Parish would not suffer cottages to  increase therein .             or interfering less with Contracts,or diminshing Fraud or Litigation?         So the burden of the Poor would be thrown upon other places, where no such control existed.                                                                                                
(53) Can you give the Commissioners any information respecting the           (53)   Wholly caused by the want of full employment for the Poor.
      causes or consequences of the agricultural Riots and Burning of                      Men will not be content if their labour be not free and if that  labour  is not beneficial to their Employer.
      1830 & 1831                                                                                                                                                                                           
                                                                 

viz Appendix to the First Report                                                                                                      of The Commissioners  of the Poor Laws-1834.                                                                                         Vols. 10-p.310a, Vol 11- p.310b, Vol12- p.310c, Vol.13 p.310d, Vol.14 p.310e.