Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 19.djvu/498

Rh 478 POOR LAWS expenses, however, the person s property, if he have any (Criminal Lnnaties Act, 1884, ana Acts there referred to), is applicable. An increase has taken place for many years past in the number of lunatic paupers. The total number of this class of paupers relieved on 1st January 1883 was larger by 1867 than it was on the corresponding day in 1882. Settle- A settlement is the right acquired in any one of the nit-nt. modes pointed out by the poor laws to become a recipient of the benefit of those laws in that parish or place where the right has been last acquired. No relief is given from the poor rates of a parish to any person who does not reside within the union, except where such person being casually within a parish becomes destitute by sudden distress, or where such person is entitled to receive relief from any parish where non-resi dent under justice s order (applicable to persons under orders of removal and to non-resident lunatics), and except to widows and legitimate children where the widow was resident with her husband at the time of his death out of the union in which she was not settled, or where a child under sixteen is maintained in a workhouse or establish ment for the education of pauper children not situate in the union, and in some other exceptional cases. The progress of the law of settlement may be gathered from the statutes already referred to ; and, without again adverting to legisla tion already noticed, and much more not enumerated, it must be sufficient to point out that immediately before the passing of the Poor-Law Amendment Act, 1834, settlements were acquired by birth, hiring and service, apprenticeship, renting a tenement, estate, office, or payment of rates. In addition to these an acknowledgment (by certificate, of which mention has been made, by relief or acts of acquiescence) has practically the effect of a settlement, for, if unexplained, such an acknowledgment stops the parish from disputing a settlement in the parish acknowledg ing. The Poor-Law Amendment Act, 1834, abolished settlement by hiring and service (or by residence under it) and by serving an office, and by apprenticeship in the sea service. Moreover the guardians of a union might agree (subject to the approval of the commissioners) that all the parishes forming it should for the purposes of settlement be considered as one parish. It is to be observed that, for the purposes of relief, settlement, and removal and burial, the workhouse of any parish is considered as situated in the parish to which each poor person is chargeable. There may be a settlement by parentage, for legitimate children take the settlement of their father, or if he has no settlement they are entitled to the settlement of their mother ; and it is only when both these sources fail discovery that their right of settlement by birth accrues ; for until the settlement of the father or mother has been ascertained the settlement of a legitimate child, like that of a bastard, is in the place where the birth took place. A settlement attaches to those persons who have a settlement of some kind. Foreigners born out of the country and not acquiring any in one of the modes pointed out must be provided for, if requiring relief, where they happen to be. Irremov- As the burden of maintaining the poor is thrown on the parish of settlement, when the necessity for immediate relief arises in another parish the important question arises whether the pauper can be removed; for, although the parish where the pauper happens to be must afford immediate relief without waiting for removal, the parish of settlement cannot in general be charged with the cost unless the pauper is capable of being removed. The question of removability is distinct from settlement. A pauper often acquires a status of irremovability without gaining a settlement. Irremovability is a principle of great public importance quite irrespective of the incident of cost as between one parish or another. Before the introduction of a status of irremovability removal might take place (subject to powers of suspension in case of sickness and otherwise) after any interval during which no legal settlement was obtained ; mere length of residence without concurrent circumstances involving the acquisition of a settlement on obtaining relief gave no right to a person to remain in the parish where he resided. In 1846 it was enacted that no person should be removed nor any warrant granted for the removal of any person from any parish in which such person has resided for five years (9 & 10 Viet. c. 66). In 1861 three years was substituted for five (24 & 25 Viet. c. 55) ; and only four years later one year was substituted for three (28 fe 29 Viet. c. 79). Apart from these reductions of time in giving the status of irremovability, actual removals to the parish of settlement were narrowed by provisions giving to residence in any part of a union the same effect as a residence in any parish of that union (24 & 25 Viet. c. 55). On the other hand the time during which parish relief is received, or during which the person is in any poorhouse or hospital or in a prison, is excluded from the computation of time (9 & 10 Viet. c. 66). The removability as well as the settlement of the family, i.e., of the wife and unemancipated children, are practically subject to one and the same general rule. Wherever any person has a wife or children having another settlement, they are removable where he is removable, and are not removable from any parish or place from which he is not removable (11 & 12 Viet. c. 211). It is to be borne in mind that no person exempted from liability to be removed acquires, by reason of such exemption, any settle ment in any parish ; but a residence for three years gives a quali fied settlement (39 & 40 Viet. c. 61). The cost of relief of paupers rendered irremovable is borne by the common fund of the union (11 & 12 Viet. c. 110, 3) as union expenses ( 6), and any question arising in the union with reference to the charging relief may be referred to and decided by the local government board ( 4). The statute of Elizabeth required overseers to account to justices for all moneys received by them under rules or otherwise, and all expenditure for the relief of the poor, and to deliver over balances to their successors (43 Eliz. c. 2, 2). By the amendment of the poor laws in 1834 the duty of making payments was thrown chiefly on the guardians, leaving the overseers to assess and collect the rates out of which such payments are chiefly made. The accounts of expenditure and receipts by all parties, includ ing officers of union and treasurers, form a very important part of poor-law administration. The duties, including the forms of books of account, are minutely prescribed by orders of the central board, and the accounts are examined and audited half-yearly by auditors appointed by the board in auditory districts, the auditing by justices having ceased. Full powers are given to the auditors to make this examination effectual and to allow and disallow accounts and items in them (see the Poor-Law Amend ment Act, 1868, and Acts there recited). It is to be observed that by various provisions in the poor-law Acts power has been given to raise money by borrowing. The Poor-Law Amendment Act 1835 author izes applications for advances under several earlier Acts for building or enlarging workhouses or for purchasing land, and a subsequent Act authorizes the borrowing of money for payment of debts generally (5 & 6 Viet. c. 15). The principal items comprised in the total amount expended in the relief of the poor in England and &quot;Wales during the years ending at Lady Day 1882 and 1883 are these : Arcoun and ex pendi ture. 1882. ; 1883. 1. Indoor maintenance 1,831,595 1,869,505 2. Outdoor relief. 2,626,375 2,589,937 3. Maintenance of lunatics in asy lums or licensed houses 1,059,460 1,098,322 4. Workhouse and other loans re paid and interest 351,203 430,185 5. Salaries and rations of officers, and superannuations 1,087,641 1,117,705 6. Other expenses of, or immediately connected with, relief 1,296,523 1,303,416 Total relief to the poor 8,252,797 8,409,070 Deductions 1 20,325 55,778 Adjusted cost of relief 8,232,472 8,353.292 1 To be made in consequence of the payments from the metropolitan poor fund exceeding the payments made to that fund during each year. common