Mr. Kennedy,in moving the order of the day for the second reading of this bill, for the purpose of withdrawing it, said, he owed it to himself to give a brief explanation. In withdrawing the bill, he did not wish it to be understood that he was to be prevented by any clamour that might be raised from prosecuting his object; but, on a subject so delicate as the Poor-laws, when a feeling was raised, no 901 matter how mistaken, he wished to afford full time for examination and correction of the error. It had been supposed by some, that his object was to introduce the poor-rates into Scotland. It was, in fact, just the reverse. It was to prevent assessments from spreading further than they had gone, and finally to abolish them. According to the report of a committee in 1818, out of 700 parishes, the number from which returns were obtained, there were only 145 in which there were assessments. Assessments were either good or bad: if good, they should be general; if bad, they should be abolished; and seeing that in the greater part of Scotland no assessments existed, he wished to abolish them in the remaining parishes, and to produce that uniformity of system, which was so desirable. It was asserted by some, that assessments were necessary in every civilised country. His answer to this was the fact he had stated, that, in the greater part of Scotland, there were no assessments. The vicious system of assessments had produced the most mischievous consequences in Scotland. That system prevailed to a grievous extent in the border counties. The assessments were regulated, not by the exigencies of the particular parishes in which they were levied, but by accidental circumstances. Thus, in Berwick there was a very large assessment in one parish, while in the very next parish, perhaps, there was no assessment at all. An experiment, conducted by Dr. Chalmers in one of the lowest parishes in Glasgow, where there was a population of nearly 10,000 persons, had been attended with the best effects. In the course of a few years, assessments to the amount of 1,400l. per annum had been completely eradicated, and the poor had been placed on a much better footing. If the measure which he (Mr. K.) had proposed, were adopted, he was satisfied that it would have the effect of reviving that spirit of independence, which had once existed among the poor of Scotland, but which had been, in a great degree, unfortunately extinguished by the system of assessment. He was convinced that it would have been a boon to the poor of Scotland themselves. In moving that the bill be read a second time that day three months, he wished it to be distinctly understood, that he did not mean finally to abandon the subject, but that it was his intention again to call the attention of the House to it early in the next session.
§ Lord A. Hamiltonsaid, that with respect to the measure being a boon to the poor of Scotland, he could only observe, that the poor of Scotland themselves thought it a great grievance. The bill proposed by the hon. member was considered by all who had paid any attention to the interests of the poor, and who were in the habit of administering to their wants, to be most objectionable in principle.
The Lord Advocatesaid, that the proposed measure had never received the slightest encouragement from any public body in Scotland; on the contrary, they all concurred in reprobating it. He strongly recommended the hon. member to pause before he again brought it forward.
§ Mr. W. Dundasobserved, that the poor of Scotland might be left wholly without resource if the system of assessments were abolished.
§ The second reading was put off for three months.