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account of what was done in the last session of Parliament by the "Union Rate in Aid Act," to extend the area of rating, so as to relieve the burden of the distressed parishes by contributions from adjoining districts, and also to enable the raising of loans on mortgage of the rates for the purpose of affording employment. That measure, which was limited in its operation to the 1st of March, 1863, was found upon the whole to work well. Soon after the reassembling of Parliament, Mr. Villiers, the President of the Poor-law Board, moved for leave to bring in a new Bill to extend the provisions of the Act for a further period. In so doing, he observed, that the measure had been introduced under an idea that adequate means were not provided under the Poor-law to relieve the distress which was likely to occur in the cotton districts, and its object was to mitigate the pressure upon the rates (which, if it became extreme, would aggravate the distress) by devising some means to enable the guardians to relieve the ratepayers. This was done by authorizing an extension of the area of liability to a rate in aid, and the borrowing of money upon the security of the rates. The Act was viewed by Boards of Guardians as a valuable aid, which ought to be continued. If it had not been put in operation to the extent it might have been, it was owing to the munificent voluntary contributions received from all parts of the empire. He stated the amount which had been borrowed hitherto under the Act. For expenditure which occurred before Michaelmas and after Midsummer, Preston had borrowed 38907., and Blackburn 35177., making a total of 74077. For the expenditure during the Christmas quarter Ashton borrowed 80371.; Blackburn, 10,0007.; Glossop, 12007.; Haslingden, 30637.; Preston, 73167.; Rochdale, 58877.; Todmorden, 11867.; total, 36,6897. Added to that, there was charged to the counties, for Ashton, Glossop, Haslingden, and Preston, 19,5797.,-making a total borrowed and charged on counties of 63,6757. Mr. Villiers added, that there was no Union in Lancashire or Cheshire which desired that the Act should not be renewed. He had not the least reason to suppose that the powers given by the Act would be abused, and he had the authority of Mr. Farnall for saying that there was a most anxious desire on the part of the Boards of Guardians and of the Relief Committees to find independent employment for the operatives. He proposed to continue the Act till Lady-day, 1864.

Colonel W. PATTEN said he had received suggestions from several of the outlying Unions to call attention to one or two alterations which were necessary to be made in the Bill. He showed how in some districts the severity of the rate had pressed upon the small tradesmen, shopkeepers, and cottage-holders. After all, the Act of last year must have proved of little avail had it not been for the magnificent contributions of the public, which had flowed in from all quarters. When he stated that those contributions amounted to 1,400,0007., he was, he believed, within

the mark; the sum spent in the relief of the distress by the Local Committees being 658,0007., and the amount furnished by the Poor-law Guardians 250,0001, during the last six months. Colonel Patten proceeded to state his views as to the future, observing that it was the opinion of some that the distress had not yet reached its full extent; and he was bound to say that, from all he could make out, it was possible that they would still have to rely upon the benevolence of the public.

Lord STANLEY suggested that the Act should be continued for six months only. No man could undertake to say what would be the state of things in next February, and it was wise for the House to commit itself as little as possible.

Mr. COBDEN, with reference to the suggestion of Lord Stanley, observed that, assuming the present state of things to continue, the condition of the cotton districts would be infinitely more serious and difficult next winter than in the present. He gave details of the large amount of the voluntary contributions which had come from the districts themselves, besides poor-rates, loss of wages, depreciation of fixed capital, and other losses, making an aggregate of 12,445,0007. He recommended the adoption of Lord Stanley's suggestion to continue the Act for six months, and that the House should come to the question again at Mid

summer.

The Bill having been brought in, and time afforded for a consideration of suggestions made at the time of its introduction, Mr. Villiers stated, on moving the second reading on the 19th of February, that he was bound to admit that the opinions expressed in several communications received by him in the interval were in favour of such a limitation of the Bill as would admit of another discussion of it this Session. He was therefore prepared to assent to limiting the term of the Bill to the next two quarters. Another suggestion was that the period for the repayment of the loans contracted under the Act should be extended and spread over a greater number of years. He was not indisposed to accede to this suggestion, and proposed that the annual instalments should be one-fourteenth instead of one-seventh; that was, to extend the period of repayment from seven to fourteen years.

Lord E. HOWARD considered that Mr. Villiers had made a very grateful concession in extending the repayment of loans to fourteen years. Government, he said, would confer a great benefit on the manufacturing districts by lending money.

Mr. COBDEN said he was not last year enamoured with a rate in aid. He wished for greater facilities to be given to Boards of Guardians for borrowing money. The principle of a rate in aid, however, was inherent in the Poor-law. But there should be a liberal borrowing power, instead of which the Legislature imposed restrictions and impediments in the way of borrowing

money.

After a good deal of diversity of opinion had been expressed,

the second reading of the Bill was agreed to, and it passed through both Houses without impediment.

On the expiration of the Bill at the end of June it was again renewed for a further term, on the proposition of Mr. Villiers. On this occasion the plan of applying the rates to purposes of emigration was much urged by certain members.

Mr. CHILDERS moved a Resolution, "that it is desirable that any moneys raised under the Bill by way of loan on the security of the rates in the distressed manufacturing districts should be applicable to assist emigration to such colonies as may be willing to co-operate in carrying it out." It was not his intention, he said, to obstruct the course taken by the Government-a course in itself good, but other measures might be employed which, while they would relieve the distress in the cotton districts, would benefit the empire. He combated the ordinary objections urged against all schemes of emigration of our operatives founded upon climate, the chance of employment in certain of our colonies, the expense, the alleged unwillingness of the colonies to receive emigrants, and the disinclination of the operatives themselves to emigrate.

The Resolution was seconded by Mr. Marsh, and supported by Mr. Newdegate and Mr. Adderley. It was opposed by Mr. Cobden and by Colonel Patten, who remarked that the motion proposed that the House should express an opinion that the money should be applied to assist emigration. The guardians, having given security for the payment of the money, might apply it in any way they thought best, and the House would go too far if it undertook to recommend the guardians to apply the money to emigration. He had no hostility to emigration as a measure of relief, but to the guardians being told how the money was to be spent.

Mr. VILLIERS also, on the part of the Government, opposed the Resolution. The guardians had power now to apply their funds to the encouragement of emigration. Parliament should not fetter their discretion, and tell them how they should apply the money. Emigration was going on rapidly now, at the rate of 20,000 or 24,000 a month, the greater proportion of the emigrants proceeding to the United States. Were the guardians to offer a premium for emigration to the colonies? There was a want of labour in the agricultural districts in this country.

After some further discussion, the Resolution was withdrawn, and the Bill was passed through both Houses without difficulty.

A new plan for assisting the distressed operatives, and relieving the burdens of the rate-payers, was devised in the early part of this summer, which, having received the sanction of the Legislature, was put into execution with satisfactory results. The idea of this plan, it is believed, originated in the distressed districts, and was brought by some of the local authorities to the attention of the Government. The Corporations of Blackburn and Stockport presented memorials, praying that steps might be taken to

authorize loans to be issued by the Government, at a low rate of interest, to the local authorities in the cotton manufacturing districts, for the purpose of enabling them to employ the operatives who were thrown out of work in executing improvements required in the various towns, such as drainage, formation of roads, water-works, and similar undertakings. The idea appearing good and feasible, a Special Commissioner was appointed by the Government to visit and inspect the districts, and to report upon the expediency of the scheme, and the capability of the towns to afford employment in public works. Mr. Rawlinson, the gentleman appointed for this purpose, having visited the localities in question, and conferred with the local authorities, reported that there were many works of a suitable kind which might be beneficially undertaken, and for which the labour of the operatives might be turned to good account. He further expressed his opinion that the men would almost all be willing to accept this kind of labour, and that after a few weeks' practice they would be likely to earn enough to take their families off the relief lists. Fortified by these recommendations, the Government determined to submit to the sanction of Parliament a Bill for legalizing the advance of a loan for public works to the manufacturing districts. The President of the Poor-law Board moved the second reading of this measure in the House of Commons on the 18th of June, explaining the grounds upon which it was founded, and the conditions under which the money would be applied. The Bill, he said, was the natural and not unexpected result of an inquiry instituted by the Government, with a view to ascertain whether there was not something in the condition of the towns and populous places in Lancashire and Cheshire, which would afford a resource for the employment of the persons who had been so long deprived of their occupation as operatives. The object was not to establish works like those devised by the Poor-law authorities by way of discipline or to prevent imposture, but to provide labour for works of public utility. The reports of the engineer (extracts of which he read) stated the results of his inquiry, and the nature of the works upon which the distressed operatives might be fully employed, as unskilled as well as skilled labourers, the works being such as would be highly advantageous to the localities, and, in some instances, objects of positive necessity. The matter, therefore, deserved the serious attention of the House. But there were obstacles to the undertaking of these works, financial and legal. It was necessary to raise the money by loans on easy terms, and, looking to the purposes for which advances had been made by the Exchequer Loan Commissioners at three-and-a-half per cent., it was not unreasonable to expect that such advances might be made in this case to deal with a great evil. This would meet the financial obstacle. With regard to the legal difficulties, it was impossible for the different districts to obtain private Acts, and the Bill contained provisions (which he explained) to obviate the

legal difficulties. The Bill was not offered as a panacea for all the evils arising from the existing state of things; it was intended to mitigate the sufferings of the factory operatives, and as a means of amelioration in conjunction with emigration and other measures of relief.

The scheme was, on the whole, favourably received by the House, the objections which were made to it being chiefly on the ground that factory operatives would be unfitted, by their physical constitution and previous habits, to undergo severe labour and exposure to the weather out of doors. The alternative suggested by some members, and especially by Mr. Ferrand, was, instead of keeping these distressed people at home another winter in idleness and want, to remove them to the colonies as emigrants at the public expense. This suggestion of emigration on a large scale was forcibly combated by Mr. Cobden. He said, "When you talk of the cotton population emigrating, are you going to improve their position? If you were dealing with a Dorsetshire labourer, whose normal state is 9s. or 10s. a week wages, whose business lies in farming operations, you could not do him a greater favour than to transfer him to the wilds of Australia or America. There his business is in great demand, and his position is instantly improved twofold by the change. But if you transfer cottonspinners and weavers to Australia or Canada, do you find that there is demand there for the labour for which they are qualified? There are no cotton-mills, no power-loom factories there-and they cannot reap, or mow, or thrash, or tend cattle, and the consequence is that they would sink to be about the most helpless people in the world. A man may benefit by transferring his labour from one field to another, but few ever benefit by changing their business after they have arrived at years of maturity. All wholesale systems of emigration have proved not only abortive and disastrous, but sometimes most cruel. You had a wholesale system of emigration from Ireland in 1847, and what happened? Several thousands of the poor people died on the passage, and upwards of 10,000 died after they had landed in Canada and America. A cry came over the Atlantic, and both the United States and Canada passed laws to prevent emigrants coming over in that destitute state. Have you made provision for these people on landing? My experience is that almost every body wants every body else to emigrate. A public meeting might be got up at Rochdale in favour of emigration; but the idea with each would be that every one else should emigrate, that the ranks of labour might be thinned, and thus it would be better for the remainder. Be assured, as a rule, where you have this wholesale system of emigration got up by public bodies in an emergency, it usually turns out disastrously for the emigrants themselves. Besides, look to the expense. It is not enough to send people away and disembark them upon the shores of America. They must have capital. Even if you send them where land is cheap, you must

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