Folios 708-713. Letter from Mr Arthur J Day, to the Poor Law Board. He states that...

Folios 708-713. Letter from Mr Arthur J Day, to the Poor Law Board. He states that in forwarding an accompanying letter and scheme, he thought it right to inform the Board that he is a solicitor of 15 years standing and prepared to furnish unexceptionable references in the [---] of [six interviews being flaunted]. As a member of the Town Council of the Borough, he has on two recent occasions been asked by the majority of the council to allow himself to be put in nomination for the office of mayor. He continues to state that his policies are conservative and he is sincerely desirous to see a measure brought in by the present Government which, whilst it would [withhold] should involve some sacrifice on the part of the landed interest, would not fail to approve itself to the country at large as the only satisfactory solution of more than one question of daily increasing difficulty. He hopes that the [---ness] of the outline which he had given would not convey the impression that he had taken a superficial view of the question. He then apologies for having ventured to trouble the Board with this letter. The second letter from Mr Day is headed 29809/C/1866 and states that by availing himself of the permission accorded by the Boards letter dated 20 July 1866, he has now the honour to submit to the Board the accompanying brief outline of the principal portion of his scheme. He believes that he is in a position to show satisfactorily that the operation of a change from Union to County rating would not be violent; in many instances indeed it would be remedial. With regard to the proposed repeal of Local Acts, inasmuch as, perhaps in every instance, the [parishes] affected would be governed by a system of County Rating and he anticipated that opposition would be disarmed. He the states that he thinks it preferable in the first instance to submit his proposed scheme regarding Rates in Aid and other matters in the simplest possible form. He adds that it had been his desire to look at the question from a [periodical] point of view and that he has given careful consideration to the objections that his scheme may receive. He concludes by stating that should the President be disposed to give him a hearing, he would be willing to attend an interview. Details of his scheme then follow in which he proposed that: (1) That in every Union County in England and Wales, the cost of the relief of the poor and other charges that are paid out of the common funds of the several unions separately to maintain their own poor within the County, should be charged to a common fund for each County to be raised by an equal pound rate upon all the rateable property therein. The Ridings of Yorkshire to be separate Counties and the Metropolitan District be treated as forming one Union County. (2) 'That Gilberts Act and all local Acts be repealed and that a general rearrangement of unions be made so as to include in unions all single parishes and isolated places'. (3) That the County Poor Rate be made under the authority of a County Board of Guardians consisting of representatives from each union board, viz, a chairman (or in his absence a deputy chairman) and a number of elected union guardians in proportion to the rateable value of the property within the union. (4) That the County Board shall hold an ordinary meeting quarterly in the town where the Quarter Sessions for each County are held, either before, during or after the Quarter Session. (5) The County Board to appoint a clerk and the clerk to the board of every union or other place separately maintaining their own poor, to make a return to the County Board clerk, at least four weeks before any meeting at which a rate is to be made, of the rateable value of the property within the union or other place together with an estimate of the charges which may fall to be defrayed within the union during the coming half year. (6) All monies arising from rates to be paid to the County Treasurer of Poor Rates, to be appointed by the County Board. Each treasurer to honour the orders of the various boards of guardians within the County and to keep a separate account of the monies withdrawn by each board. (7) 'Each County to be an Audit District'. (8) 'At the first meeting of the County Board each year they shall elect out of the guardians of the poor within the county one or more committees (according to the extent and population of the County) for the management and care of each of the following classes of poor within the County, a) Sick, b) Idiot, c) Lunatic and Imbecile, d) Aged and infirm, e) Children under 16 years of age, either orphans or deserted, or whose parent or parents' consent to their removal from the house where they are themselves receiving relief'. (9) The guardians would continue to receive applications for relief of any kind, administer outdoor relief and receive all applicants for indoor relief in the workhouse of their union. They would also administer relief to casual paupers and all other classes not within the province of any of the committees above, but anyone within the above classes shall be forwarded to the place which is already appointed for their reception as mentioned next. 10) After providing wards for casuals, able bodied paupers of various ages and sexes and for interim admissions, the remainder of each workhouse shall be appropriated to such purposes as the County Board direct, after receiving recommendations of other committees. That portion of each workhouse as appropriated shall be under the sole management and responsibility of the committee that is responsible for its expenses. The board of guardians of the union to which the house belongs to be members of such committee. 11) The County Board shall appoint a finance committee who shall receive the estimates of each board of guardians within the county and shall make a report together with an estimate for the whole county. 12) Where it appears to the County Board that none of the workhouses contain available space and suitable accommodation for the purposes of such committee it is expedient that new buildings be erected for this purpose either for the entire reception or for additional accommodation for the paupers under their charge, the County Board mat erect additional buildings and defray the expense out of the poor rates of the County. 13) In the case of any of the wards in the workhouse being full, any further applicant for admission be referred to another workhouse within the County; or other place as the County Board may direct. Annotated: acknowledge and thank for his comments which shall receive the Board's attention.

Paper Number: 33569/1866.

Poor Law Union Number: 530.

Counties: Worcestershire, Staffordshire and Shropshire.