SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY between forty and fifty, formerly coachman to the dean of Lichfield. He had a wife and three children and received Ss. per week and his house rent. The chapter clerk and the senior verger were the two overseers, being appointed to their office by the dean and chapter, who audited the accounts. 150 Wolverhampton was another town which illustrated the evils of the existing system, under the best conditions. The parish was divided for the maintenance and support of the poor into the townships of Wolverhampton, Willenhall, Bilston, and Wednesfield, the chief of these being Wolver- hampton with 24,732 inhabitants. Since 1824, when the poor-rate was 3,637, it had gradually increased till it reached 5,477 m ^32, and was still increasing. Yet it had its good points, having a select vestry regularly and efficiently attended, a workhouse "well and economically conducted, active and upright overseers, intelligent salaried assistant overseers, and, finally, a perfect system of keeping the parish books. 151 As to the various forms of poor relief, the assistant commissioner reported that the system of relieving able-bodied labourers at their own homes had been extensively practised in Staffordshire ; had received a considerable check since the order of sessions in 1818, which strongly discouraged the practice ; but unfortunately was gaining ground once again. 151 * Out of fourteen parishes and boroughs questioned, however, seven definitely said that the system was not now in use, Wolverhampton and Rowley Regis being honourably distinguished by the fact that the authorities there had never given allowances to the able-bodied in aid of wages. 1 ' 2 The Roundsman system (a system by which the parish sold the pauper's labour to the farmer and made up the deficit in his wages out of the rates) had gained but little ground in this county, but there were some examples of it. In the parish of Longdon, e.g., after great struggles the system was abandoned, in defiance of strong opposition from the farmers, who profited at the expense of the community. The road surveyors co-operated with the magistrates, and set to work the unemployed, with the result that the farmers were obliged to hire regular labourers at decent wages, and the surveyors soon had no more labour to deal with than was needed for the repair of the roads. 153 In some townships the system, under the name of ' house-row,' was said to be in use, and in a few the remuneration of labour was determined not by the value of the work done but by the size of the family. 154 The question of the ' settlement ' of paupers was one which had given rise to much trouble, injustice, and expense here as in other counties. For instance, in one township an item of 40 occurred as the cost of appeal to the last quarter sessions, and this when the whole amount of poor rate was rather less than 200. Servants were hired for fifty-one weeks instead of a year to prevent them from being chargeable to the parish. 155 Darlaston and Tamworth were cited as examples of the evils that might result from granting a ' settlement ' by apprenticeship. The manufacturers of Tamworth had been in the habit of taking many apprentices for seven years, thus securing 150 Ref>. on Staff of Poor Laws (1834), as above, A, 269. 15 ' Ibid. 269-70. la Ibid. 267. 151 Rep. on Poor Laws, 1834 ; App. B i, pt. iv, 39 d. App. B 2, pts. iv, v, 213 ;', 213 k. '" Ibid. App. A, 267. 154 Ibid. " Ibid. App. A, 268. 299
