subject, from the nature of the case itself, and, above all, from the express terms of the statute of William III., this supposed obligation of parishes to find work for all who require it, is at variance with the letter and spirit of the law, and has been, and is productive of the most baneful effects: it appears to your Committee to be of the last importance that the practice of the country should be made consonant with the law in this respect by a new enactment, specify ing distinctly to whom, and to whom alone, relief derived from a compulsory assessment shall be afforded. At the same time they are well aware, that it is not at a moment like the present, when, from a concurrence of circumstances, the country is unusually embarrassed by the number of persons without employment, that it should be attempted to bring this better system at once into operation; and it would be probably expedient previously to remove any impediments which are thrown in the way of the free circulation of labour, either by the existing laws respecting the settlement of the poor, or those which relate to vagrancy; the former of which, it must be recollected, did not exist in their present form, when the compulsory system of providing for the relief of the poor commenced. Your Committee, indeed, recommended to the House to replace the law of settlement upon its ancient footing, as the first step to wards removing that restraint, which they deem a serious obstacle to any radical amendment of the system; and they regret that the view which they had formed for the attainment of this object, and at the same time simplifying this law, and thereby diminishing litigation, did not meet with the concurrence of the House; which they attribute rather to its ap. prehended operation upon particu

lar local interests, than to any defect in the principle on which it was recommended.

That the market for labour is in many parts of the kingdom at present much overstocked, does not admit of dispute; nor does your Committee believe, that in other parts the demand is greater than the supply: it is not probable, therefore, that even the entire and immediate removal of all such impediments, if it were practicable, would of itself, at this moment, cure the existing evil. Other measures, assisted by the unrestrained operation of natural causes, will yet be wanting to bring the kingdom, in this respect, to its ordinary and healthful state. Your Committee, therefore, must recur to the opinion expressed in the former report, that "all obstacles to seeking employment wherever it can be found, even out of the realm, should be removed, and every facility that is reasonable afforded to those who may wish to resort to some of our own colonies;" for it seems not unnatural, that this country should, at such a time, recur to an expedient which has been adopted successfully in other times and in other countries, especially as it has facilities for this purpose which no other state has perhaps ever enjoyed to the same extent, by the possession of colonies affording an extent of unoccupied territory, in which the labour of man, assisted by a genial and healthy climate, would produce an early and abundant return. Your Committee thought it desirable to make some inquiries on this subject, the result of which will be found in the minutes of evidence.

If by these and other means, by a continuance of the blessings of peace, and a consequent augmentation of capital, the demand and supply of labour should be nearly balanced,

and the wages of labour become a more adequate remuneration of industry, your Committee are satisfied, that the object which they recommend might be gradually attained, without material embarrassment or difficulty; provision continuing to be made by law for the infirm and help less, and the partial and temporary distress which might occasionally befal even the able and industrious, being left, as it confidently might, to the aid of voluntary and discriminating benevolence, to which alone it should be remembered, the wants even of age and infirmity in most other countries are referred. The assessment, thus limited in its application, would no longer threaten to absorb all the sources of supply, nor continue to seduce the labouring part of the population, by the delusive promise of parish relief, from their natural habits of industry. The greater part, your Committee believe, of the sums of money which are now forced into the poor's rate, and under a compulsory, and for the most part unprofitable distribution, would probably be restored to their natural channel, giving thereby an increased activity to labour, under the interested but beneficial superintendence of their owners; from which would necessarily result a rise of wages, with the beneficial consequences that would naturally ensue to the labouring classes; active and faithful service would indeed be found indispensable for the supply of present wants; and recourse would doubtless be had to those facilities and inducements which are now afforded to realize the benefits of exertion and frugality. Your Committee need not dwell on the importance of giving undoubted security to the acquisitions of industry, however small.

From the evidence in the Appendix to the first Report (1817,) it will be

seen how much security was wanting, and how beneficially it would in all probability operate. This advantage, for the attainment of which hopes only were entertained at a very recent period, is now very generally afforded, and in the most inviting form, by the numerous and successful establishments of Banks for Savings. They present the most undoubted security for the sum deposited, the certain profit of interest or accumulation, and the constant and immediate command over the principal itself. If, however, ensuring a gainst the contingencies of life should be more acceptable, your Committee trust, that the calculations on which Benefit Societies may be formed will in future be placed on a surer footing; some information respecting both those institutions has been obtained from a gentleman to whom the public is under great obligations, for his exertions in constructing and promoting the former of those establishments.

Under these circumstances, your Committee would therefore anxiously direct the future attention of the House to such measures as may be calculated ultimately to relieve parishes from the impracticable obligation of finding employment for all who may at any time require it at their hands, and to confine the relief derived from compulsory assessments to the "lame, impotent, old, blind, and such other among them being poor, and not able to work;" and they are satisfied that the best preparation for such an enactment will be made by the careful execution of the act of the present session, by remov. ing any restraint on the free circulation of labour, and giving every facility and encouragement to seek employment in any part of the King's dominions; the provident habits of the people being at the same time

great country, should not produce much more labour and inconvenience in its internal relations than it could ever be expected to save in the operations of foreign commerce and correspondence, which always are, and always must be conducted by persons, to whom the difficulty of calculation is comparatively inconsider able, and who are also remunerated for their trouble, either by the profits of their commercial concerns, or by the credit of their scientific acquirements.

3. The subdivisions of weights and measures, at present employed in this country, appear to be far more convenient for practical purposes than the decimal scale, which might perhaps be preferred by some persons, for making calculations with quantities already determined. But the power of expressing a third, a fourth, and a sixth of a foot in inches, without a fraction, is a peculiar advantage in the duodecimal scale, and for the operations of weighing and of measuring capacities, the continual division by two renders it practica ble to make up any given quantity, with the smallest possible number of standard weights or measures, and is far preferable in this respect to any decimal scale. We would therefore recommend, that all the multiples and subdivisions of the standard to be adopted should retain the same relative proportions to each other as are at present in general use.

4. The most authentic standards of length which are now in existence, being found upon a minute examination to vary in a very slight degree from each other, although either of them might be preferred without any difference that would become sensible in common cases, we beg leave to recommend, for the legal determination of the standard yard, that which was employed by General Roy,

in the measurement of a base on Hounslow-heath, as a foundation for the trigonometrical operations that have been carried on by the Ordnance throughout the country, and a duplicate of which will probably be laid down on a standard scale, by the Committee of the Royal Society, appointed for assisting the Astronomer Royal, in the determination of the length of the pendulum; the temperature being supposed to be 62 degrees of Fahrenheit, when the scale is employed.

5. We propose also, upon the authority of the experiments made by the Committee of the Royal Society, that it should be declared, for the purpose of identifying or recovering the length of this standard, in case that it should ever be lost or impaired, that the length of a pendulum vibrating seconds of mean solar time in London on the level of the sea, and in a vacuum, is 39.1372 inches of this scale; and that the length of the metre employed in France, as the ten millionth part of the quadrantal arc of the meridian, has been found equal to 39.3694 inches.

6. The definitions of measures of capacity are obviously capable of being immediately deduced from their relations to measures of length; but since the readiest practical me thod of ascertaining the magnitude of any measure of capacity is to weigh the quantity of water which it is capable of containing, it would, in our opinion, be advisable in this instance to invert the more natural order of proceeding, and to define the measures of capacity, rather from the weight of the water they are capable of containing, than from their solid content in space. It will therefore be convenient to begin with the definition of the standard of weight, by declaring, that 19 cubic inches of distilled water, at

the temperature of 50 degrees, must weigh exactly 10 ounces of troy, or 4,800 grains; and that 7,000 such grains make a pound avoirdupois; supposing, however, the cubic inches to relate to the measure of a portion of brass, adjusted by a standard scale of brass. This definition is deduced from some very accurate experiments of the late Sir George Shuckburgh, on the weights and measures of Great Britain; but we propose at a future period to repeat such of them as appear to be the most important.

7. The definitions thus established are not calculated to introduce any variation from the existing standards of length and of weight, which may be considered as already sufficiently well ascertained. But, with respect to the measures of capacity, it appears, from the report contained in the Appendix, that the legal standards of the highest authority are considerably at variance with each other: the standard gallon, quart, and pint of Queen Elizabeth, which are kept in the Exchequer, having been also apparently employed, almost indiscriminately, for adjusting the measures both of corn and beer; between which, however, a difference has gradually, and, as it may be supposed, unintentionally crept into the practice of the Excise; the ale gallon being understood to contain about 44 per cent. more than the corn gallon, though we do not find any particular act of Parliament in which this excess is expressly recognized. We think it right to propose that these measures should again be reduced to their original equality; and at the same time, on account of the great convenience which would be derived from the facility of determining a gallon and its parts, by the operation of weighing a certain quantity of water,

amounting to an entire number of pounds and ounces without fractions, we venture strongly to recommend, that the standard ale and corn gallon should contain exactly 10 pounds avoirdupois of distilled water, at 62° of Fahrenheit, being nearly equal to 277.2 cubic inches, and agreeing with the standard pint in the Exchequer, which is found to contain exactly 20 ounces of water.

8. We presume that very little inconvenience would be felt by the public, from the introduction of this gallon, in the place of the customary ale gallon of 282 cubic inches, and of the Winchester corn gallon, directed by a statute of King William to contain 269, and by some later statutes estimated at 2724 cubic inches; especially when it is considered that the standards, by which the quart and pint beer measures, used in London, are habitually adjusted, do not at present differ in a sensible degree from the standard proposed to be rendered general. We apprehend also, that the slight excess of the new bushel, above the common corn measure, would be of less importance, as the customary measures employed in different parts of Great Britain are almost universally larger than the legal Winchester bushel.

9. Upon the question of the propriety of abolishing altogether the use of the wine gallon, and establishing the new gallon of 10 pounds, as the only standard for all purposes, we have not yet been able to obtain sufficient grounds for coming to a conclusive determination: we can only suggest, that there would be a manifest advantage in the identification of all measures of the same name, provided that the change could be made without practical inconvenience; but how far the inconvenience might be more felt than