Not even in those cases where they are earning a guinea a-day?—No, they are all alike destitute, and their families look as dirty and as filthy, and are as ill-governed, and their houses are as destitute of furniture as those who earn the smaller sums, there is no difference; and in case of sickness they come at once upon the parish, unless they sometimes assist each other a little; but, however, they have no certain means at all but the parish. Their sicknesses are generally short. In most cases they are so ill prepared to bear sickness, that they are cut off very rapidly, and die comparatively young. I do not speak this from actual experience however.
Have you seen the cases of the widows, and the children coming in upon the parish?—Yes, we have 28 cases now. Our present numbers are 425 children, that is from the whole of the Union; there is only a small portion of the Union in the coal-whippers’ district, but we have 28 children directly belonging to them, some of them legitimate, and others illegitimate; all of that origin that we know decidedly that they are the produce of those coal-whippers.
Are the same observations as to the causes of the pauperism of the adults to be taken as to the causes of the pauperism of the children?—Yes. The observation is universal. The children cannot have produced it themselves, but they have the same habits and the same proneness to indulge the appetites, in fact I think there is a remarkable deficiency in the consideration of most parents, in that matter, even of respectable parents; they let their children go to the confectioners and buy drams, for they are drams in another form, peppermint and cloves, and so on, made up into articles of confectionary, and nothing is so likely to produce a depraved appetite, the transition is so natural from that to ardent spirit.
With respect to the residences of those classes, the coal-whippers especially, have you observed whether you have bad any cases of sickness arising from their state of filthiness, or traceable to it?—I do not know whether we can attribute it to that, but nothing can be more likely, although it is impossible to say, for the coal-whipper is very little at home, still nothing can be conceived more destitute, or more disgusting than their abodes.
What are the sorts of children you receive in the house from them with respect to training or education, that is, of those classes of coal-whippers?—They are completely uneducated; the generality of them are very untractable.
Allowed to run about wild?—Completely.
No care taken of them?—Not the ordinary care of cleanliness. I had three in last night, and notwithstanding all our anxiety after economy we were obliged to burn every rag of their clothes. To cleanse them was out of the question entirely; that is the case with half that come in to the workhouse.
Mr. Sargeant, the relieving officer of the same district.
Is it not your duty to visit the houses, and to inquire into the cases of applicants for relief? Yes, it is.
In doing so, you must trace the causes of the application for relief?—Yes.