c. 49, passed in 1790, the right of visiting any workhouse at all times of the day was conferred on justices of the peace and clergymen ; and on their representation the overseers were liable to be summoned at quarter-sessions, when the justices could make orders and regulations for the remedy of any defects in the workhouse management. The chief recommendation of the Commissioners of Poor-Law Inquiry in 1834 was to unite parishes for better workhouse management, and the relief of the destitute poor. This is the origin of the Poor-Law Unions. As soon as the Poor-Law Commissioners were appointed, they directed their attention to the uniting of parishes into unions for the purpose of the administration of relief by boards of guardians elected by the ratepayers, and to the general adoption of the work house system ; hut their main reliance for the discouragement of pauperism, and for the establishment of independent habits amongst the labouring classes, they said, was founded on the workhouse eystem. Outdoor relief to the able-bodied poor is now prohibited in all those unions which have efficient workhouse accommodation,—with the following exceptions. 1. Where the destitute poor shall require relief on account of sudden and urgent necessity. 2. Where be or she shall require relief on account of any sickness, accident, or bodily or mental infirmity affecting him, or any of his or her family. 3. Where he or she shall require relief for the purpose of defraying the expenses, either wholly or in part, of the burial of any of his or her family. 4. Where the person, being a widow, shall be in the first six months of her widowhood. 5. Where the person shall be a widow, and have a legitimate child or children dependent upon her, and incapable of earning his, her, or their livelihood, and have no illegitimate child born after the commencement of her widowhood. 6. Where the person shall be confined in any jail or place of safe custody. 7. Where the person shall be the wife or child of any able-bodied man who shall be in the service of her majesty as a soldier, sailor or marine. 8. Where any able-bodied person not being a soldier, sailor or marine, shall not reside within the union, but the wife, child, or children of such person shall reside within the same, the Board of Guardians, according to their discretion, may, subject to certain conditions, afford relief in the workhouse to such wife, child or children, or may allow out-door relief for any such child or children being within the age of nurture, and resident with the mother within the union. These exceptions may, however, in special cases be further extended, with the sanction of the Poor-Law Board previously obtained. In all other cases the guardians may grant relief either in or out of the workhouse as they may deem expedient under the circumstances of each case.
Workhonses are governed under the rules and regulations which are contained in the consolidated order of the Poor Law Board. Paupers
are admitted to them in one or other of the following modes :-1. By a written or printed order of the Board of Guardians, signed by their clerk. 2. By a provisional written or printed order, signed by a relieving officer or an overseer. 3. By the master of the workhouse (or during his absence, or inability to act, by the matron), without any order, in any case of sudden or urgent necessity. The paupers are divided into the following classes :-1. Men, infirm through age or any other cause. 2. Able-bodied men, and youths above the ago of fifteen years. 3. Boys above the age of seven years and under that of fifteen. 4. Women infirm through ago or any other cause. 5. Able-bodied women, and girls above the age of fifteen years. 6. Girls above the age of seven years and under that of fifteen. 7. Children under seven years of age. The following officers are appointed for each workhouse, except in the case of very small workhouses, when some of the offices are combined—namely, a chaplain, medical officers, master, matron, schoolmaster, schoolmistress, porter, and nurse, with such assistants as may bo deemed necessary. These officers are all appointed by the boards of guardians of the respective unions; and they are paid adequate salaries by the guardians. subject to the approval of the Poor Law Board ; and, with the exception of the two first, in addition to their salaries, are allowed board and lodging in the workhouse. Though the officers are appointed by the boards of guardians, unless they volun tarily resign they cannot be removed except by an order of the Poor Law Board. For detailed information regarding the government of the workhouse, that IS, the admission of paupers, their classification, dis cipline and diet, punishment for misbehaviour, and the duties of the workhouse officers, the ' Poor-law Board Orders,' edited by W. Cuu ningham Glen, Esq., Barrister-at-Law, should be consulted.
There are 623 unions and parishes under separate boards of guardians, and in which relief to the poor is administered under the provisions of local acts of parliament, all of which, with the exception of about ten unions, have workhouses capable of accommodating from a compara tively small number up to 3500 paupers (in the Liverpool workhouse), which is the largest number allowed in any one workhouse. There are 708 workhouses in England and Wales, and the maximum number of paupers to be admitted at any one time into each workhouse is in each else limited by the Poor-Law Board ; the total accommodation afforded by all the workhouses provides for about 218,000 persons, besides accommodation for the officers of the establishments.
The following are the numbers of paupers of the respective classes who were maintained in the workhouses in England on the 1st July, 1860, and 1st January, 1861, respectively :— Purdy, in the 'Journal of the Statistical Society of London,' for September, 1360.