Report of the Poor law commissioners to the most noble the Marquis of Normanby, Her Majesty's principal secretary of state for the Home department, on the continuance of the Poor law commission, and on some further amendments of the laws relating to the relief of the poor. With appendices.

  • Great Britain. Poor Law Commissioners.
Date:
1840
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report of the Poor law commissioners to the most noble the Marquis of Normanby, Her Majesty's principal secretary of state for the Home department, on the continuance of the Poor law commission, and on some further amendments of the laws relating to the relief of the poor. With appendices. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    XI.—Report of Mr. Clive—Norfolk and Suffolk. Gentlemen, Norwich, March 1839. Herewith I forward you a Tabular Form, from which the opinions of those gentlemen in my district, who have directed their attention to the operation of the Poor Laws, may be collected. The communications from which this form has been drawn up have, in almost every instance, been furnished by the Chairman, and sub- mitted to the Board of Guardians. They are to be relied upon, and answers to the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, Gth, 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th questions; the 5th, 11th, and 12th have not, I apprehend, received much consideration. As a general summary, it may be said— 1. That the most competent medical officers, who are willing to un- dertake the duties, have in general been selected; that the system of tender has only been adopted in two Unions, and in these there is no disposition to recur to it. 2. That the medical officers are universally paid by a fixed salary. 3 & 4. That in some cases dissatisfaction has been expressed by the poor, the public, and the Guardians, as to the size of districts; but that such complaints have been already to a great extent attended to, and the districts (as far as the nature of the country would allow) been reduced in size. In the few cases in which this has not been done, the greatest readiness exists, on the part of the Guardians, to enter immediately upon the consideration of the best mode in which an altera- tion can be effected. That there have been complaints of the insufficiency of salaries on the part of the medical officers; but I believe such complaints to be founded, rather on the profusion with which orders are granted in some Unions, than on any real inadequacy of the salaries, as a remu- neration for the attendance on those who are actually destitute. That other complaints have been rare, promptly inquired into, and, in the majority of cases, proved to have been unfounded. 5th. In answer to the 5th question, I w ould state that, in my opinion, the existing medical arrangements have a direct tendency to the en- couragement of pauperism. The general feeling on the part of the poor, that the medical man is paid to attend the whole labouring class : on the part of the Guardians, that this is the least objectionable mode of relief, as wrell as one, in the granting of which they are not likely to be imposed upon; and on the part of the overseers, that a medical order is no expense to the parish ; all tend to increase improperly this mode of relief. It is forgotten that medical relief is the connecting link betw'een in- dependence and pauperism, and that it is frequently sought as a means of obtaining an allowance. On the other side, it is said, that the apprehension of the medical officers as to the orders which may be granted, induces them to use every effort to urge the labourers to become members of medical clubs. In the Mitford and Launditch Union, I am told that this result has actually taken place, but I question much the cause to which it is ascribed. It will be found that in those Unions in which medical clubs chiefly flourish, the Guardians are most strict in granting orders for medical relief. It is clear that the cause which acts on the labourer’s mind is the improbability of obtaining an order; without this feeling no persuasion of the medical man would be of any avail. I am satisfied, therefore,