§ Lord Ashleythen rose and entreated five minutes attention whilst he moved for leave to bring in a bill to establish, regulate, and protect societies for the improvement of the industrious classes, by extending the allotment or field garden system, and the more general establishment of loan funds in England and Wales. The noble Lord said that the first object of his measure would be to extend the allotment system. At present landlords found it too troublesome and expensive to attend to the letting of small portions of land, and the consequence was, that a system of field gardens, calculated to prove so beneficial to the health and morals of the poor, was but rarely found to be in practice in any crowded vicinage. Now, waste and common lands applicable to this useful purpose were to be found in abundance near many large towns, and 1323 what he should propose would be that a board should be established in London, the members of which, in their collective capacity, should have the power to purchase, hire, and let lands to the poor, without, however, exercising any other powers appertaining to landlords, or in any way interfering with the operation of local boards. The second object of his bill would be to promote the more general establishment and to regulate the management of loan fund societies in England and Wales. The loan fund system in England had not up to the present time answered all that might have been expected from it; whilst in Ireland it was admirably conducted and in every way successful. The object of his bill, therefore, would be to assimilate the management of these societies in this country as far as possible to the management of the societies in Ireland, It was curious, and he should be glad if the House would mark the difference between the conduct of these societies in the two countries at the present time. By the return of 1843, it appeared that the number of loan societies in England was sixty-eight, whilst in Ireland they numbered 300. The amount of money circulated by them in England in 1842 was 104,378l., whilst in Ireland it was 1,691,871l. The number of loans issued in 1842 in England was 20,766; in Ireland, 488,702. The gross profit in England was 6,450l.; in Ireland it was 59,943l. In England the net profit was 4561. whilst after deducting the interest on capital, the expenses of management, and the bad debts, it amounted in Ireland to no less than 18,967l., every farthing of which sum was applicable to purposes of charity. The noble Lord quoted several testimonies to the advantage of the system in Ireland in the promotion of industry and discouraging of vice, and he thought there could be little doubt but that the House would accede to a proposition so calculated to add to the prosperity of the population in our own part of the United Kingdom. The noble Lord concluded by moving for leave to bring in his bill.
§ Motion agreed to. Bill brought in and read a first time.
§ House adjourned at half-past 1 o'clock.