Abstract of Out-door Expenditure in 1809, as published by order of the Court (or corporation) of Guardians.
No. of families | Wards. | No. of persons. | Cash paid toeach | ||
l. | s. | d. | |||
85. | North End Ward | 172. | 9. | 19. | 9. |
44. | Kettlewell ditto | 78. | 5. | 16. | 0. |
58. | Paradise ditto | 141. | 8. | 18. | 6. |
36. | Jews’ Lane ditto | 99. | 5. | 10. | 6. |
44. | New Conduit ditto | 91. | 6. | 12. | 0. |
58. | Chequer ditto | 120. | 9. | 2. | 6. |
33. | Trinity Hall ditto | 64. | 5. | 2. | 6. |
76. | Sedgeford Lane ditto | 158. | 10. | 9. | 6. |
80. | Stonegate ditto | 150. | 12. | 0. | 0. |
514. | Weekly Allowance | 1050. | 75. | 11. | 3. |
Sick poor | 60. | 8. | 17. | 0. | |
Illegitimate | 39. | 3. | 13. | 9. | |
Total. | 1149. | 88. | 1. | 9. [574] | |
The difference between the latter and the former of the above Statements, in so short a period, comprehending only a part of the present prosperous reign, and what some seem to deem the most blessed and glorious part of if, must be exceedingly remarkable and wonderful. In 1770 the rates of the town were only 4s. in the pound on the rent, raising an annual revenue of 976l; of which 579l. were appropriated for the use of the out door poor, leaving only 397l. for the maintenance of the Workhouse and all other contingent expences. Thus the total expenditure of the House was then only 397l; now it is 3496l. 3s. 5d.—Then the total annual expenditure for both the in-door and out-door poor was only 976l; now it is above 10,000l. [575a] Of course, the charge for the maintenance of the poor is now become a very serious matter, and even a heavy and grievous burden to many of the inhabitants.
Our poor rates have arrived at their present unexampled height under the new heaven-born poor-law, which was to be the prolific parent of so many inestimable blessings to the town; not one of which, alas! has yet been, or is ever likely to be realized. This memorable law, and its worthy twin-sister, the paving law, have been already productive of incalculable mischief. The vast additional burden which they have brought upon the inhabitants has lessened the value of houses 15 or 20 per cent, and multiplied the number of untenanted dwellings to five or six score, at least. [575b] Nor is it possible at present to calculate how far the evil will or may extend. For such a town as this to contain a large and increasing number of empty houses must certainly have a very dark and unpropitious appearance, and is utterly repugnant to every idea of our being at present in a flourishing or prosperous condition. [576a]
When it was made to appear that the poor rates of Lynn amounted to nearly, if not quite, as much as those of Hull and Exeter, places three times its population, it was impossible to avoid suspecting the existence of some sad mismanagement, if not also of most foul and criminal misdoings. The same suspicion was not likely to be lessened, but rather to issue in full conviction, when it was discovered, that the maintenance of each pauper in this workhouse, or hospital, costs even more than that of each pensioner in Greenwich Hospital, [576b] and twice or thrice as much as that of each pauper in some, if not all, of the most noted and respectable workhouses, or poorhouses in the kingdom. That the report of these circumstances, with the increasing pressure of the rates, should excite a spirit of mistrust, inquiry, and investigation in the town, was no more than what might naturally be expected. It accordingly did so happen: and the result proved that the previous suspicious were not groundless.
In the course of the investigation, Butcher’s Meat appeared to be here consumed in such unusual quantities [577a] as are utterly irreconcilable with any and every idea of economy and good management: and in the article of Cheese the consumption appeared to be still more palpably disproportionate, unexampled, and excessive; so as to set the wisdom and competency of our managers in a very unfavourable and unseemly point of view.—This the reader will easily perceive, when he is told, that it costs in this house, for cheese alone, between 4 and 5l. a week, or that there is consumed here weekly no less than 1 Cwt. of that article. That this is out of all proportion to what is usual in other Poor-houses, will appear from the following statement, extracted from Mr. Grisenthwaite late publication. [577b]
At the Norwich Poor-houses, among 1343 persons, during one of the late years of scarcity, the annual expence for cheese was 135l. 2s. 5d.—At Shrewsbury, among 274 persons, (in 1801, if we are not mistaken,) the annual expence for the same article was 56l. 2s. 4d.—At Hull, in 1808, (number of persons not mentioned, but doubtless, not fewer than those in our Poor-house,) the annual expence for the said article was 29l. 16s.—At Lynn, the same year, among 200 persons, for that article, 226l. 8s.—At the same town, among about the same number of persons, for the last year, (1809,) the annual expence for that very article amounted to the still more enormous sum of 259l. 15s. 11d. [578a]—If we go on at this rate, we shall soon have 3 or 400l. a year to pay for cheese only, for the use of our Workhouse; a sum equal to what the whole of that establishment cost forty years ago. [578b]
The statement here following will shew the respective and total amount of the expence of the other articles consumed in this house within the last year, with the proportion they bore to the single article above specified.—The Butter used in this house for the whole year cost 30l. 11s. ld.—The Milk 33l. 14s. 2d.—Potatoes 37l. 2s.—Oatmeal and Peas 56l. 6s. [Total 157l. 13s. 3d.] That the sum total of the expence for the above four, or rather five articles, should fall short above 100l. of what it cost for cheese only, must surely be very strange: and yet it appears not to be more strange than true. The whole year’s expence for Grocery was 158l. 1s. 7d.—And for Beer, 157l. 7s.—Here also it may be thought not a little remarkable, that the Grocery and even the Beverage used here should so much fall short of the Cheese as each of them not to amount to very much above half the expence of that article. Of the two most important articles, Flour and Meat, (the only two which exceeded the expence of cheese!) the former, including Bread, cost 1001l. 10s. 9d. [579a]—and the latter, (Meat,) cost 1110l.—Coals cost 134l. 5s. 10d.—Turf 9l. 3s.—Oil 8l. 4s.—The total expenditure of the house for the whole year, including sundry other articles, with repairs, &c. 3496l. 3s. 5d. [579b]—and with the disbursements to the out-door pensioners, the entire expenditure, up to the end of last January, as was before observed, appeared to amount to 10,243l. 10s. 3d.: [579c] an enormous sum, surely, for a town that does not contain 11,000 inhabitants, or any manufacture, or even any trade now, of much consequence, except the coal trade. Under these circumstances, such a rapid and vast increase of poor, and of the poor rates, must amount to an irrefragable proof, that we are now in a state of actual and fast declension, whatever some people may insinuate, or pretend to the contrary. But the more evident this declension is, the more incumbent it must be on those who have the management of our affairs to observe the utmost economy, and spare as much as possible the industrious and lower orders of the community, who can so ill bear the burden of additional charges. Whether they have hitherto ever thought of this, or not, it seems to be now high time that it should occupy its full share of their attention. [580a]
It has also been thought, or rather suspected, that our distributers of parochial relief do not always distribute or administer that relief with judgment and discrimination, or even with a scrupulous or due regard to justice and impartiality: and such statements as the following might be supposed to afford some colour or countenance to such suspicions—
“Weekly allowances—To a man and wife and 5 children, 2s. 6d. To a young woman, aged 24, and one child 2s.—To a man and wife near 70 years of age, 1s. To a single woman, aged 19, 2s. 6d.—To a widow, aged 76, 2s. To a single woman, aged 31, 2s. 6d.—To a widow, aged 78, 2s. To a single woman, aged 22, 1s. 6d.—To an aged woman, 102 years old, 2s. 6d. To a widow, aged 48, 3s. 6d.—To a widow, aged 38, with 3 children, 3s. To a single woman, aged 36, 2s. 6d.” [580b]