1519 G8 L65 A A cso =^^^ m NRE 9 GION, 1 3 ALLIB 9 3 5 RAF 3 ■ACI IITY 3 ■ 11.. uiii ¥ urtoi I I LiunMnij iiJliy£RblTY OF CALIFORNIA. SAN DIEGD First Letter. LA JOLLA. CALIFORNIA A LETTER RIGHT HON. HENRY GOULBURN, M.P., CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER, FIELD, GARDEN, OR COTTAGE ALLOTMENT SYSTEM, AS A MEANS FOR ALLEVIATING THE DISTRESSES OF THE POOR, DIMINISHING POOR RATES AND COUNTY RATES, BENEFITTING THE AGRICULTURIST, THE MANUFACTURER, AND THE MINE OWNER, AND IMPROVING THE FINANCES OF THE COUNTRY. BY JAMES J^ORD, OF THE INNER TEMPLE, ESQ., BARRISTER-AT-LAW. " Its benefits are not obtained at the expense of any other class." " The system of garden allotments has proved an unmixed good." — Report of Select Committee of the House of Commons. LONDON : W. H. DALTON, COCKSPUR-STREET ; OLLIVIER, PALL-MALL; AND SEELEY & CO., FLEET-STREET. 1844. Price Gd, or 2/. per \QQ for disfrihufion. MACINTOSH, PRINTER, GREAT NEW STREET, LONDON. LETTER, &c. Sir, There is no one to whom I can so properly address this letter as yourself. The fiscal regulations of the country rest principally with you; and the public feel, that the power and responsibility lodged in yoiu* hands, have not been misplaced. The subject to which I would now draw your attention, is the condition of our labouring population, especially that of the rui'al districts ; for if, with regard to them, a soiuid policy had in time past been adopted, their condition would not be so wretched as it now is, nor would the manufactur- ing and mining districts complain of so great a redundancy of popidation. What is the position of the coimtry at the present moment ? We behold society undergoing a rapid process of disorganization — its elements rising in opposition and discord — its component parts separating from one another — riches arrayed against poverty — and the sons of poverty in their tvu'n marshalled against riches — wealth accumulating, people dying for want of bread — the rich becoming daily more wealthy, the poor more needy, more wretched, and more reckless — the one class with money, but no object in which to embark it — the other with labour to give, but no one requiring it — their strength languishing in inactivity, whilst their wives and children piteously cry for bread, and pine for food which they cannot earn, dare not steal, yet for want of which many have gone to a premature grave, their dying moans, it may be, mingling with the shout of A 2 rcvt'lry and mirth hard hy, ascending to the oars of Jehovah and making accusation against us ; that wlicre he had sent plenty and a blessing, man should cause poverty, and a curse, and crime ! The following case "vvill best speak for itself : — *' I. T. has a Avife and nine cliildren to maintain on 125. per week : the boys, nineteen, seventeen, thii'teen ; the girls, seventeen, thii-teen, eight, six, three, and an infant. They have two pounds of fat mutton weekly, the remainder of their living is made up of bread, potatoes, and salt ; the father only allows liimself one meal a-day ! ! which is dinner, and has often nothing more than potatoes. On the Thursday before I saw them one of his little boys had been attending the plough all day; he had not had any food before he left home, and when the poor child returned there was none ; and the whole of the family had tasted no food that day ! ! ! The httle suiFerer from the field wept ! and the father and mother and children all wept together. After a short time the mother summoned resolution and went to a baker's shop to entreat the master woidd trust them two quarten loaves till Saturday, which he did. These, with a few potatoes, constituted the whole food of a family of ten persons for three days."* This is not an isolated case. Others might be added of a more aggravated character. Shall I ask religion what she thinks of such a state of things as this ? I will not do it. Shall I ask humanity ? She shudders at the sight and contemplation of it. Her voice is heard reproving it, even thi'ough the prison regulations, which though framed by those whose object w*as economy, and for those whose guilt deserved punish- ment, yet provide a residence more befitting, clothing more comfortable, a diet more generous, more substantial, more ^ See " Perils of the Nation." Remedies, pp. 447, 448. plentiful in quantity, and more wholesome in its nature, than is awarded either to the victims of Poor-law mercy on the one hand, or the hard-working labourers of the field and city on the other. The best are the worst off" — the worst are the best pro- vided for. The following tabular statement will sub- stantiate this appalling truth : — THE LOT OF THE CRIMINAL, By a set of new Re- gulations issued by the Secretary of State, in 1843, is: — 126 oz. of bread, 112 oz. of potatoes, 16 oz. of cooked meat, 1 1 pints of gruel, 3 pints of cocoa, 3 pints of soup, Being 250 oz. of solid food per week, with abundant cloth- ing, bedding, soap, towels, combs, a tepid bath occasionally, a thermometer to regu- late the temperature, and three meals a- day, two of which, at least, shall be hot; and he is not to be set to work too soon after his meals. THE LOT OF THE FAUPER, In some instances, 187 oz., in others, only 170 oz., per week ; whilst in Dietary No. 1, of those approved by the Commissioners, the weekly allow- ance is as follows : — 84 oz. of 24 oz. of 15 oz. of meat, 14 oz. of suet pud ding, 8 oz. of lOJ pints 4^ pints 4i pints bread, potatoes, cooked cheese, of gruel, of broth, of soup, Being only 145 oz. of solid food per week. THE LOT OF THE HARD-WORKING LABOURER, Being neither crimi- nal nor pauper, is, often to have only one meal a-day, and that of pota- toes, with scarcely clothes to keep him warm, day or night, or house to shelter him. Mr. Osborne thus , depicts it — to be " ever on the verge of des- titution." And a Wiltshire labourer's wife says: — " We never know what it is to get enough to eat. The children are always asking for more. Of bread there is never enough. As to butch- ers' meat, we never see such a thing." See also case, p. 4, and letters and lead- ing articles in the " Times," for the last few days, as to the Essex, Norfolk, and Suffolk peasantry. Mr. TuffhcU the Poor-law Commissioner observes, that to keep a man, his wife, and five children in a work-house, would cost 1/. a-weck. Thus it woidd appear that an 6 independent labourer does live on one-half, or even less, of what an inmate of a work-house receives. The tide of evil is flowing on ; if unchecked it will sweep down all before it. Farmers complain of being overbur- dened with poor -rates, the result of no employment for their labourers — ^mine-owners and manufacturers are in con- sternation, with more hands than they can keep busy, and more articles than they can find market for, yet competitors for ruin daily struggling with them, and thousands of fresh hands from the surrounding districts constantly pouring in upon them to increase their embarrassment. Provision must be made to find food for the starving — occupation for the unemployed — not the occupation of mere supernumeraries, but one useful, and therefore honourable ; profitable to themselves, and beneficial to their families and country. Now the Field-garden or Cottage Allotment system seems the best plan for accomplishing this. It will give the poor man an interest in the soil and property ; supply food to the hungry, clothes to the naked, cause cheerfalness to assume the place of gloom, and satisfaction to reign where discontent had before prevailed. But there is here no need for lengthened statistics and calculations. The plan has been tried, and almost in every case succeeded. Let it be tried more extensively, and we doubt not but that the results will be yet more gratifying. "We rest not upon untried theory, but upon theory ripened into practice.* * The Select Committee report " that the evidence received has been of uniform tenour, and has led them to conclude that the tenancy of land under the garden allotment system is a powerful means for bettering the condition of those classes who depend for a livelihood upon manual labour, whether in manufacturing or agricultural employment." They add also, " that it has this peculiar merit, that its benefits are not obtained at the expense of any other class, nor accompanied by any corresponding dis- The system will no doubt progress, aided by private bounty, and private benevolence alone. And this, if uni- versally adopted, might be the best way ; but there are many cases which private individuals cannot meet, which yet might well be met by Government, or those possessing authority delegated by Government ; and what a mighty impulse woidd be given for good throughout the country, if the stamp of Government approbation were affixed to the plan. Perhaps, indeed, without temporary advances in some way, the erection of cottages and other buildings, could not so well go on, though in many cases absolutely required. By thus letting the poor have land, they will be taught to respect property, and rely upon their own resources : at once the ground of private vutue and public usefulness. Instead of their being a public hurtlien, you wiQ thus convert them mto public benefactors. Much of the soil which is now waste, or but partially tilled, cultivated by those now unemployed, will increase in productiveness ; and it has been well remarked, that he who invents a plan whereby two grains of corn may be grown where one only was before produced, is entitled to the gratitude of liis country. But it may be said, that this is treating the subject only as a philanthropist, let me then view it in the light of political economy ; like all true Christian philanthropy, it will abide the test of true political economy. It is one thing to raise taxes by compulsory enactment — advantage." — P. 3, Report Labouring Poor. Allotment of Land. House of Commons, 1843. E. W. Wilmot, Esq., writes thus, " during the last four years I have, under the direction, and according to the express wish, of His Grace the Duke of Newcastle, set out a great number of gardens in the county of Nottingham, nearly 2,000, and have found them answer most completely." — See Appendix to Report I. p. 137. 8 it is a widely diiFerent thing to do without them ; to originate, where it never before existed, to continue where it is found, and to rc-place where it once was, but has vanished — a system, under wliich taxation may be compara- tively dispensed with. The population of a country is not really enriched by merely adding to the public revenue. Thus, for example, the imposition of the Income Tax by taking a certain small per centage from each one whose Income exceeds £150 a-year, has increased the public revenue, but has brought no additional wealth into the nation. No one has more to spend in consequence of this tax. The statesmanlike plan brought forward by you, Sir, at the commencement of the present session, was one by which the revenue of the country would be permanently improved, without any additional taxation ; not by adding to it, but by decreasing the amoiuit to be defrayed from it. In other words, by economy. But surely, to create new and beneficial sources of permanent revenue, or to improve those which exist, is better than merely directing it into new channels, or learning to do without it. In tliis light Xhejield, garden, or cottage allotment system, claims to be considered. Mere taxation only transfers wealth ; it creates none, gives none, which did not before exist. But the system now proposed will do so. Taxation only takes from those who have money, the privilege of employ- ing it at their own discretion, and places it at the service of the State, to be employed as Her Majesty's Government and Parliament for the time being may direct. Every good subject willingly submits to the payment of whatever rates and taxes may justly and necessarily devolve upon him. But to pay taxes is not the object of his labour and existence. He does not delight in them. They are imposed from necessity, and submitted to as an evil. To alleviate or remove such biuxlen is the object of every paternal Government. You, Sir, and the present Adminis- tration, have akeady evinced your anxiety in this respect. But the taxation of a country, i. e., the disbursements which owners of property are called upon to make by the laws of the land for the pubhc good — burdens imposed by law, does not consist only of what goes to the National Exchequer for State purposes. No, besides the customs and excise duties, and other Government taxes, there are large sums raised for county, parochial, and other local objects. Highway rates, poHce rates, and, above all, poor rates, greatly increase the amount. Now, if extensive relief can be afforded to the owners of property in respect of any of these, it is quite clear that the bui"den of other rates, taxes, and duties, which cannot be removed, will sit more lightly, and be borne more will- ingly by them. In the item of poor rates there has been a frightful and ujiexpected increase;* and if pauperism progresses as It has done, whence can be supplied a sufficient source for * During the first four or five years of the operation of the New Poor Law, great reductions were effected ; but the progress of the last few years has been a rapid one in a contrary direction. The sums actually expended on the poor themselves in 1837 and 1843, were as follows : — In 1837, 4,044,741/. In 1843, 5,207,457/. showing an increase of 30/. percent., or 1,162,716/. in the course of six years; whilst the number of in-door paupers has increased since 1840, from 169,232, to 238,560, and out-door paupers from 1,030,297, to 1,300,930, making the total number of paupers at the present time 1,539,490, being an increase of 340,000 paupers in three years!!! — " Remedies," &c., pp. 373, 374. 10 the support of our needy fellow-countrymen ? IVe must give them the mea7is of si/pporting themselves. They will heartily thank us for it. We cannot otherwise provide for them. JYb taxation ca7i long support a nation of jjatipers. The agricultural poor require more employment. The field, garden, or cottage allotment system, AviU give them this. Their wages are insufficient. A small allotment of land, half, or even a quarter of an acre, with a comfortable cottage, weather-tight, though small, and in which, though humble, the common decencies of life maCy be preserved, will tend greatly to supply that defect also. A garden is of vast importance, so much so that where two labourers have equal work, equal wages, and equal family, and one has a garden, his condition is considered vastly superior and preferable to the other. Nor will the benefit of this system be confined to the agricidtural population alone ; it tvill be apj)lied — it has been applied both amongst the mining and the manufactur- ing poor, and succeeded. But in any case, by thus pro- viding for the rural, you will provide in a great degree for the manufacturing and mining districts. The agricultural population, starving on the soil which ought to feed them, flock into the mines and factories to die there, because they cannot get work and wages and bread to eke out existence, and die so little wretchedly elsewhere ! Give them this work, wages, bread, shelter in the country, and they will cease to invade the mines and factories. To cheer up the drooping spirits of manufacturers, the opening of foreign markets is spoken of. Here, without diminishing that, is an increase in the home-market. Those w^ho are now paupers, or if not yet such, are daily undergoing the process of pauperization, and gradually 11 bringing do"vvn those above them to the same level, from being a burden, will become a pubUc benefit ; instead of requu'ing to be fed by taxes, they will contribute to them. Instead of clothes, which they rarely put on new, nor change, till rag by rag they drop off from them, they mil become piuchasers of our own manufactures. Thus "svill a twofold benefit be gained. The evil must be taken at its root. Top-lopping is of Uttle use. The same fertile soiu'ce of poverty, crime, embarrassment, will continue and spread, so long as the rural population is uncared for ; and wliilst the cause remains, it would be both illogical and against nature to suppose the effects will cease. Though human sagacity can devise no perfect plan, still there are some wliich, more than others, tend in their nature to the removal of evils, and the introduction of what is better in their place. Is the impossibility of doing good by the plan proposed insisted on? Facts surround us to disprove such asser- tions. Is its utility impeached ? We appeal to those who were once degraded and immoral, now elevated in the scale of social being — decent, and respectable. We point to those where sobriety has succeeded to habitual drunkenness; order to confusion; peace to riot and disturbance. Where those who once were reckless, miserable, profligate, and abandoned, have been raised, by a prospect of better things, from reckless- ness and misery to happiness and hope ; have deserted the tap of the beer-shop for their own fire-side ; the bowHng- green, for thefr owti garden ; the society of their once profligate companions, for that of their wives and children ; and learned to care for home by having a home to care for.* * The Select Committee of the House of Commons tlius report, p. i\% Is the difficulty talked of i Then, I ask, Why attempt anything great and good ? Was evrr any great work, still more, any good work, yet attempted in wliich difficulties did not oppose and threaten to obstruct its progress ? The field, garden, or cottage allotment system, is a most eligible one for many reasons, and will be attended with consequences of a most beneficial tendency and nature. 1. It will give employment to a portion of the agricul- tural, manufacturing, and mining poor, in a way agreeable, healthy, and profitable to them, and beneficial to the country. 2. It will add to the comfort and improvement of every village, town, and hamlet, where adopted. S. It will greatly diminish (if properly carried out) the enormous sums now paid in poor-rates.* and v., " Many striking instances have been stated to your Committee, where the possession of an allotment has been the means of reclaiming the criminal, reforming the dissolute, and changing the whole moral character and conduct." It gives the working man "a stake in the country, and places him in the class which has something to lose." * " In the Union of Huddersfield there has been in four years an increase of 500 per cent.!" — "Select Committee Evidence," p. 70. And in one small parish, where the population was under 150, the rates for all purposes exceeded thirty shillings in the pound. Almost the whole land was consequently thrown out of cultivation by landlord and tenant ; tithes were not worth collecting ; and the glebe became value- less. But the allotment system was adopted, and immediate good resulted. The rates, which in 1831 had been 200/. for the poor, in 1842 did not amount to 20/. In 1831 the total number in receipt of parochial relief, and that during the whole winter, was sixty-three. In 1842, three only; and those aged and impotent. Why may not the same plan be adopted in almost every rural parish in England ? Except for the aged, the impotent, and sick, poor-rates would scarcely be required. — Sec App. " Remedies," 456. 13 4. It will cause a vast diminution of crime by removing the temptations to its commission ; and a consequent diminution in the amount of expenses incurred for its prosecution and punisliment* 5. It will fiu'ther cause a great addition to the product- iveness of the country ; to be occasioned by, and divided chiefly amongst, a class now paupers, or fast verging to pauperism. 6. It will also in a reflex manner benefit the manufac- turers and miners, who will soon experience a great and permanent revival of trade in the increased demand made for the home market, chiefly by those who were before It is in evidence before the Select Committee of the House of Com- mons, on allotment of land, p. 27, that the number of agricultural labourers' families is 1,000,000, These, at an average of five persons in each family, make 5,000,000, which, at the rate of one acre of good or fair land to every five families for field gardens, at the precise rent given by farmers, would require 200,000 acres. The average profit to each family in Rvalue of produce about 25. per week, say £5 per year, total annual profit in produce to agricultural labourers' families, £5,000,000. Supposing it made equal to 5s. a-week, which would be giving half an acre to a family of five persons, the produce would then be 12,500,000/. per year. This is without including about 500,000 families of the manufacturing and town labouring population, for a great portion of which however a similar provision might in many cases be made; for "there is scarcely a manufacturing town in Lancashire, or the West Riding of Yorkshire, where there is not a certain portion of uncultivated land in its immediate neighbourhood." * Mr. Marten stated in evidence befoi-e the Select Committee, " that of 3,000 heads of families holding allotments in Kent, not one was committed for any offence during the years 1841, 1842. That in the parish of Hadlow there were thirty-five commitments in 1835. The allotment system was inti-oduced in 1836, and in the following year, 1837, the commitments were reduced to one. The aggregate of com- mitments to prison in 1822, was 12,241; in 1836, 20,984; and in 1842, 31,309. 14 paupers; a demand not fluctuating, as with tlie foreign market, but steadily, and constantly increasing, in propor- tion as the lower orders of our people are able to procure proper clothes to cover them, proper food to eat, proper fires to warm them, proper cottages to live in, and proper furniture to pvit in them. In the preceding brief remarks I have endeavoured to make facts the basis of my observations ; existing evils are now too often and too painfully forced upon our notice to render necessary the adduction of long and tedious proofs, and I have sought, therefore, not so much to prove the existence of evils, as to point out remedies for those admitted to exist. But some may say, that by improving the spiritual we shall best elevate the physical and moral condition of the people. Let us afford facilities for both. A great part of our population are surrounded by local external obstacles which no internal change of heart can remove. It is our duty to do it for them. Divine interposition is not intended to supersede hiiman agency in the ordinary aifairs of life. We are not to tempt Providence, nor exj)ect mii'acles, where he has given us means. Least of all are we to punish poverty and virtue, or give a premium to crime. Take the cases before referred to. Religion may enable the poor man and his wretched family, to bear up without repining, under the pinching gripe of want, with Cliristian fortitude and hope. StiU we are not called on to make our people martyrs, nor can they be safely trampled on in the expectation of finding in them the martyr's spirit. I trust I would }deld to no man in a desii-e to see promoted the spiritual interests of the human race. Nor, are you. Sir, of that number who regard things more in the light of expediency, than religion. These men, these women, and these children for whom I plead, though debased in their position, are of heavenly 15 origin equally with ourselves ; and may, equally with us, be partakers of a heavenly inheritance. They are the childi'en of the same heavenly Father ; they are redeemed by the blood of the same Saviour, and the influences of the same Holy Spirit are given alike for renovating their hearts as ours. I ground my appeal upon the urgent necessity of the case, upon the principles of morality, philanthropy, sound political economy, and above all, upon the principles of our common faith, our scrij)tui-al primitive Chi'istianity, the reqiiirements and teaching of Divine truth. Thus upon every ground and feeling by which states- men, moralists, philanthropists, poHtical economists, and divines may act, would hope to prevail with them to use their collective, and yet more their individual influence for the accomplishment of so great and good an object. Even those who will not legislate as Chi'istians, may yet act as men, and as men feel for their feUow-men; and though in pride of heart scorning that religion, the prevalence of which, alone can give true happiness and lasting prosperity to men and nations, may yet upon lower principles and motives, attempt an amelioration, a removal of these frightful evils, which, like a canker, are preying upon the very vitals of their coimtry. I have the honour to remain. Sir, Your very obedient humble servant, JAMES LORD. 3, Elm-court, Temple, Ju?)c 20, 1 8 14. AA 000 913 935 3