Mendicity, Vagrants, Destitute Able-bodied, Impotent through Age.Mendicity does prevail to a great extent in the Canary Islands. There is no legal provision whatever for the relief or support of the poor included in the denominations stated above; casual charity is the only resource; but as the natives for the most part remain inthe places where they were born, there are very few who have not some relations and acquaintance, from whom they receive occasional assistance. From the nature of the climate, the wants of the poor, when not suffering from sickness, are very limited; having food sufficient to satisfy their hunger, they are scarcely affected by the privations so sensibly felt by the poor in northern climates. “Goffro,” (which is maize, barley or wheat, roasted, and ground by the hand between two stones,) mixed with water or milk, potatoes and other vegetables, with sometimes a small piece of salt fish, constitute the general food of the peasantry throughout the islands. In the towns the artisans live better, obtaining bread, potatoes, salt fish, and sometimes butcher’s meat.Sick.In Santa Cruz there is one hospital for the poor, but the accommodation is very limited (24 beds), in no degree proportional to the wants of the population.In the town of Laguna is one also, larger than Santa Cruz, and tolerably maintained.At Las Palmas, the capital of the island of Canary, is the largest and best hospital in the islands; near that town also, is the hospital of St. Lazarus, exclusively for lepers, of which there are considerable numbers. This hospital is well kept up, and the building in a good state of repair, with a garden walled round. The unfortunate inmates are said to be comfortably provided for.Children, Illegitimate; Orphans, Foundlings, Deserted Children.There are no legal regulations as to illegitimate children; their support therefore falls on the mother. There is a foundling hospital at Laguna in Teneriffe, and another at Las Palmas in Canary; in each a turning-box, and a great number of children are by this means disposed of. In the hospital of Santa Cruz is also a turning-box; the infants left are understood to be sent to Laguna. Children placed in the box have usually some mark by which they may be recognised, and they are given up to parents when claimed. There is no other provision for children.Cripples, Deaf, Dumb, and Blind.Live with their parents or relations, or subsist by casual charity. No provision.Idiots and Lunatics.No particular establishment; live with their relations. When violent, they are placed in the hospitals or gaols.Almost all the land in the Canary Islands is cultivated by agreement between the owners of the land and a class of persons called “medianeros” (middlemen), intelligent husbandmen; the conditions are simple: that the medianero shall cultivate the land, and find half the seed, he retaining half the produce; the other half is delivered to the landlord in kind.The peasantry are a robust and hardy race, laborious and frugal. There is a great deal of family affection among them. Considerable numbers emigrate to the Havannah and Puerto Rico ostensibly, but it is believed that they are taken to Caraccas and other American countries, once dependencies of the Spanish crown.
Mendicity does prevail to a great extent in the Canary Islands. There is no legal provision whatever for the relief or support of the poor included in the denominations stated above; casual charity is the only resource; but as the natives for the most part remain inthe places where they were born, there are very few who have not some relations and acquaintance, from whom they receive occasional assistance. From the nature of the climate, the wants of the poor, when not suffering from sickness, are very limited; having food sufficient to satisfy their hunger, they are scarcely affected by the privations so sensibly felt by the poor in northern climates. “Goffro,” (which is maize, barley or wheat, roasted, and ground by the hand between two stones,) mixed with water or milk, potatoes and other vegetables, with sometimes a small piece of salt fish, constitute the general food of the peasantry throughout the islands. In the towns the artisans live better, obtaining bread, potatoes, salt fish, and sometimes butcher’s meat.
In Santa Cruz there is one hospital for the poor, but the accommodation is very limited (24 beds), in no degree proportional to the wants of the population.
In the town of Laguna is one also, larger than Santa Cruz, and tolerably maintained.
At Las Palmas, the capital of the island of Canary, is the largest and best hospital in the islands; near that town also, is the hospital of St. Lazarus, exclusively for lepers, of which there are considerable numbers. This hospital is well kept up, and the building in a good state of repair, with a garden walled round. The unfortunate inmates are said to be comfortably provided for.
There are no legal regulations as to illegitimate children; their support therefore falls on the mother. There is a foundling hospital at Laguna in Teneriffe, and another at Las Palmas in Canary; in each a turning-box, and a great number of children are by this means disposed of. In the hospital of Santa Cruz is also a turning-box; the infants left are understood to be sent to Laguna. Children placed in the box have usually some mark by which they may be recognised, and they are given up to parents when claimed. There is no other provision for children.
Live with their parents or relations, or subsist by casual charity. No provision.
No particular establishment; live with their relations. When violent, they are placed in the hospitals or gaols.
Almost all the land in the Canary Islands is cultivated by agreement between the owners of the land and a class of persons called “medianeros” (middlemen), intelligent husbandmen; the conditions are simple: that the medianero shall cultivate the land, and find half the seed, he retaining half the produce; the other half is delivered to the landlord in kind.
The peasantry are a robust and hardy race, laborious and frugal. There is a great deal of family affection among them. Considerable numbers emigrate to the Havannah and Puerto Rico ostensibly, but it is believed that they are taken to Caraccas and other American countries, once dependencies of the Spanish crown.
There are two sets of answers from Greece to the Commissioners’ questions. One a general one, by the Secretary of State for the Interior, the other from Patras, by Mr. Crowe, His Majesty’s Consul. It will be seen from the following extracts from the Government report, (pp. 665, 666, 667,) that there are scarcely any charitable institutions.
Vagrants.Before the Revolution, two classes of vagrants existed in Greece; of these, one class consisted of those individuals who, having no property of their own, and being averse to labour, lived by robbery; the other class consisted of those persons who were indeed destitute, but refusing to labour, did not at the same time resort to robbery: the latter existed by the charity of their relations, and of other benevolent individuals, the former were constantly pursued by the Turkish police.In two provinces only of the new Greek State, viz. Thravari in Acarnania, and Cloutzinas of Kalavryta, does systematic beggary exist; in these places, many persons mutilated their new-born children for the express purpose of exciting the compassion of the public; but neither before the Revolution, during the Revolution,nor even now, is there any public establishment for the relief of either of the above two classes of vagrants; and notwithstanding that during the Revolution the number of these vagrants increased it is now certain that their numbers have sensibly diminished and it is to be hoped that as soon as the municipalities are regularly established, all these individuals will be obliged to labour for their subsistence.There exists no public institution or decree organizing the relief to be granted to the poor in Greece; neither did anything of the kind exist before the Revolution, although the country was formed into municipalities. It was feared that the Ottoman authorities would appropriate to themselves any resources which might be set apart for the poor. Charitable subscriptions were therefore the only means by which the poor, sick, &c. obtained relief.Impotent through Age, and Sick.No regulations ever existed on these heads. The aged who were destitute received, and still receive, assistance from the charitably disposed, and from the monasteries; but this assistance is voluntary, not obligatory.With regard to hospitals, there are only two, one at Nauplia and one at Syra; the first is at present given up to the military service, and the second, belonging to the municipality of Syra, is maintained by a small duty levied on merchandize; the one at Nauplia was formerly supported in the same manner.Children.The support of bastards falls upon their fathers. With regard to foundlings, who are generally left clandestinely at the church doors, the local authorities take charge of them, and intrust them to nurses, whose expenses are defrayed by the government; benevolent individuals likewise frequently take charge of them, and bring them up at their own expense. The number of foundlings supported by the government barely exceeds forty throughout the whole State, by which it appears that depravity of morals in Greece is not great.For the support of destitute orphans, an establishment (the Orphanotropheion) exists at Ægina, where many are brought up at the expense of the government, and are taught to read and write, and various trades. However, the nearest relations of theorphans generally consider it to be a religious duty to take care of them; so that, in consequence of this praiseworthy feeling, they are seldom left entirely destitute, unless they have no relations, or unless the latter have no means of assistance at their disposal. Moreover, there are numerous benevolent persons who are in the habit of taking orphans into their houses, and bringing them up at their own expense.Labour hitherto has not much increased in Greece; the labourers are industrious, frugal, and attached to their relations.I may add, that in consequence of the vast extent of land in Greece in comparison with the number of its inhabitants, the latter apply themselves mostly to agriculture and the care of flocks, by which means they procure ample means of subsistence; and the few manufactures which exist in Greece being all made by hand, sufficient employment is to be procured by every individual. These are the reasons why the number of the poor is so limited, notwithstanding that late events were so much opposed to the progress of arts and industry.
Before the Revolution, two classes of vagrants existed in Greece; of these, one class consisted of those individuals who, having no property of their own, and being averse to labour, lived by robbery; the other class consisted of those persons who were indeed destitute, but refusing to labour, did not at the same time resort to robbery: the latter existed by the charity of their relations, and of other benevolent individuals, the former were constantly pursued by the Turkish police.
In two provinces only of the new Greek State, viz. Thravari in Acarnania, and Cloutzinas of Kalavryta, does systematic beggary exist; in these places, many persons mutilated their new-born children for the express purpose of exciting the compassion of the public; but neither before the Revolution, during the Revolution,nor even now, is there any public establishment for the relief of either of the above two classes of vagrants; and notwithstanding that during the Revolution the number of these vagrants increased it is now certain that their numbers have sensibly diminished and it is to be hoped that as soon as the municipalities are regularly established, all these individuals will be obliged to labour for their subsistence.
There exists no public institution or decree organizing the relief to be granted to the poor in Greece; neither did anything of the kind exist before the Revolution, although the country was formed into municipalities. It was feared that the Ottoman authorities would appropriate to themselves any resources which might be set apart for the poor. Charitable subscriptions were therefore the only means by which the poor, sick, &c. obtained relief.
No regulations ever existed on these heads. The aged who were destitute received, and still receive, assistance from the charitably disposed, and from the monasteries; but this assistance is voluntary, not obligatory.
With regard to hospitals, there are only two, one at Nauplia and one at Syra; the first is at present given up to the military service, and the second, belonging to the municipality of Syra, is maintained by a small duty levied on merchandize; the one at Nauplia was formerly supported in the same manner.
The support of bastards falls upon their fathers. With regard to foundlings, who are generally left clandestinely at the church doors, the local authorities take charge of them, and intrust them to nurses, whose expenses are defrayed by the government; benevolent individuals likewise frequently take charge of them, and bring them up at their own expense. The number of foundlings supported by the government barely exceeds forty throughout the whole State, by which it appears that depravity of morals in Greece is not great.
For the support of destitute orphans, an establishment (the Orphanotropheion) exists at Ægina, where many are brought up at the expense of the government, and are taught to read and write, and various trades. However, the nearest relations of theorphans generally consider it to be a religious duty to take care of them; so that, in consequence of this praiseworthy feeling, they are seldom left entirely destitute, unless they have no relations, or unless the latter have no means of assistance at their disposal. Moreover, there are numerous benevolent persons who are in the habit of taking orphans into their houses, and bringing them up at their own expense.
Labour hitherto has not much increased in Greece; the labourers are industrious, frugal, and attached to their relations.
I may add, that in consequence of the vast extent of land in Greece in comparison with the number of its inhabitants, the latter apply themselves mostly to agriculture and the care of flocks, by which means they procure ample means of subsistence; and the few manufactures which exist in Greece being all made by hand, sufficient employment is to be procured by every individual. These are the reasons why the number of the poor is so limited, notwithstanding that late events were so much opposed to the progress of arts and industry.
The only remaining portion of Europe which has furnished answers to the Commissioners’ questions is European Turkey; with respect to which it may be enough to say, that the only charitable institutions mentioned in the return are religious establishments and khans, in which vagrants are allowed to remain a few days, and receive food; and schools attached to the mosques, in which children of every description receive gratuitous instruction in reading and writing.
General absence, in the countries not subject to compulsory relief, of a surplus population.
One of the most striking circumstances connected with the countries which we have last considered is the accuracy with which the population seems to be regulated with reference to the demand for labour. In the ill-administered parts of England there is in general no approach to any such regulation. That sort of population which, from our familiarity with it, has acquired the technical name of a surplus population, not only continues stagnant in places where its services are no longer required, but often springs up and increases without any increase of the means of profitable employment. The parochial returns, forming part B. of this Appendix, are full of complaints of a want of labourers in one parish, and of an over-supply in another; without any tendency of the redundancy to supply the deficiency. In time, of course, the deficient parish is filled up by natural increase; but in the mean time the population of the redundant parish does not seem to diminish. In general, indeed, it goes on increasing with unchecked rapidity, until, in the worst administered portions of the kingdom, a state of things has arisen, of which the cure is so difficult, that nothing but the certainty of absolute and almost immediate ruin from its increase, or even from its continuance, would have induced the proprietors to encounter the dangers of the remedy. Nothing like this, indeed, exists in any of the countries affording compulsory relief, except Berne, which have given us returns. But they provide against its occurrence, as we have already observed, by subjecting the labouring classes, indeed all classes except the opulent, to strict regulation and control,by restraining their marriages, forcing them to take service, and prohibiting their change of abode unless they have the consent of the commune in which they wish to settle. By a vigilant exertion of these means, the population of the north of Europe and Germany seems in general to be proportioned to the means of employment and subsistence; but in the countries which have not adopted the compulsory system the same results are produced without interference or restriction. Complaints are often made in the different returns of the idleness, the drunkenness, and the improvidence of the labouring classes, but never of their disproportionate number.
Another and a very interesting portion of the information which the intelligence and industry of His Majesty’s foreign Ministers and Consuls have enabled us to submit to the public, consists of the answers to the questions respecting labourers. In order to facilitate a comparison between the state of the English and foreign populations, the questions proposed were in general the same as had been already answered in England, either by the population returns, or by the returns to the questions circulated in England by the Poor Law Commissioners.
The following questions, being 1, 3, 7, and 8, correspond to the English questions 8, 10, 13, and 14, of the rural queries:—
1. (8 of English questions.) What is the general amount of the wages of an able-bodied male labourer, by the day, the week, the month, or theyear, with and without provisions, in summer and in winter?
3. (10 of English questions.) What in the whole might an average labourer, obtaining an average amount of employment, both in day-work and in piece-work, expect to earn in a year, including harvest work, and the whole of all his advantages and means of living?
7. (13 of English questions.) What in the whole might a labourer’s wife and four children, aged 14, 11, 8, and 5 years respectively, (the eldest a boy), expect to earn in a year, obtaining, as in the former case, an average amount of employment?
8. (14 of English questions.) Could such a family subsist on the aggregate earnings of the father, mother, and children; and if so, on what food?
The following is a digest of the answers from all the agricultural parishes in England which have given returns to the corresponding questions circulated by the Poor Law Commissioners:—
Q. 8. Weekly wages, with or without beer or cider, in summer and winter?
254 parishes give an average in summer, with beer or cider, of per week, 10s.4¾d.
522 parishes give an average in summer, without beer or cider, of per week, 10s.5½d.
200 parishes give an average in winter, with beer or cider, of per week, 9s.2¼d.
544 parishes give an average in winter, without beer or cider, of per week, 9s.11¾d.
Q. 10. What in the whole might an averagelabourer, obtaining an average amount of employment, both in day-work and piece-work, expect to earn in the year, including harvest work, and the value of all his other advantages and means of living, except parish relief?
Q. 13. What in the whole might a labourer’s wife and four children, aged 14, 11, 8, and 5 years respectively, (the eldest a boy,) expect to earn in the year, obtaining, as in the former case, an average amount of employment?
Q. 14. Could such a family subsist on the aggregate earnings of the father, mother, and children; and if so, on what food?
We now add a digest of the foreign answers to the corresponding questions, and also to Question 6: “What can women and children under 16, earn per week in summer, in winter, and in harvest, and how employed?” a question as to which the English answers do not admit of tabular statement.
We have arranged the answers under seven heads: 1. Wages of artisans; 2. of agricultural labourers; 3. of labourers whom the author of the return appears not to have included in either of the other two classes; 4. of women; 5. of children; 6. of the labourer’s wife and four children; and 7. the food on which the supposed family could subsist, on their average annual earnings and means of living.
The support of a cottager’s household, consisting of husband, wife, and three children, in the middle part of Sweden, costs yearly about 146⅔r.d., according to the prices of last year; the husband being occupied during the whole year, and his wife having enough to do with the care of her children, so that neither she nor her husband can calculate on any additional earnings.
The labourer receives 2½ barrels of rye, or in money 16r.d.32sk.; 1 barrel of corn, 5r.d.16sk.; half barrel of pease, 3r.d.16sk.; half ditto of malt, 2r.d.32sk.; 2 ditto potatoes, 2r.d.; 1½ lb. salt, 32sk.; 4 lbs. herrings, 2r.d.16sk.; 1 lb. of butter, 4r.d.16sk.; 3 lbs. of hops, 1r.d.; 1½ pint of sweet milk per day, 10r.d.16sk.; 3 pints of sour milk during the summer, 4r.d.16sk.; 9 gallons of bränvin (a kind of whiskey), 5r.d.16sk.; lodging and fuel, 16r.d.32sk.; annual wages in money, 44r.d.; earnest, 3r.d.16sk.; contributions, 3r.d.16sk.; sundries, 6r.d.34sk.; total banco, 146r.d.32sk.That is, on an average, 29r.d.16sk.annually for every individual; and daily, 3sk.10½rst.
On a gentleman’s estate in the neighbourhood of Stockholm, the following was given last year: Annual pay in money, 33r.d.16sk.; ¼ barrel of wheat, 2r.d.32sk.; 4 barrels of rye, 24r.d.; 2 barrels of corn, 9r.d.16sk.; 2 ditto potatoes, 2r.d.; 10 heads of white cabbage, 32sk.; ½ barrel of herrings, 4r.d.32sk.; 1 lb. salt, 21sk.; 2 lbs. of meat, 2r.d.; 1 lb. of bacon, 2r.d.32sk.; 1 lb. of hops, 16sk.; 2 pairs of shoes, 3r.d.16sk.; sweet milk, 10r.d.; sundry expenses, 5r.d.; lodging, wood, earnest, taxes, 25r.d.; equal to 123r.d.21sk.Were that sum divided among five persons, 25r.d.29sk.would accrue to each; and daily, 3sk.3rst.
The household of a cottager belonging to this estate, about 10 English miles from Stockholm, was bound, according to a written contract, for 10 years to perform the following labour for the estate or landowner; namely,
In Stockholm, a poor mechanic’s household, consisting of husband, wife, and four children, can hardly be supported on less than 546r.d.banco annually, as follows:
Hence will be seen that the master of such a family must earn daily, during the whole year, nearly 2r.d.banco, and consequently no masons, carpenters, smiths, &c. can be included in this class. If the husband, wife, or children are sick for any length of time, the state of such a family is far more deplorable than that of the agricultural peasantry of Sweden.
Per week, in towns, 1 to 2½fl., fed and lodged. In villages, 20kr.to 1fl., fed and lodged.
Note.—1fl.is equal to 60kr., or to 20d.sterling.
All these rates of wages rise or fall according as the work requires more or less dexterity or exertion, as the individual workman is more or less distinguished by skill, strength, or diligence, as the scarcity and the supply of workmen is greater or less, as the days are longer or shorter, &c.
Daily labourer, 1s.4½d.
Yearly labourer:
Per day, summer, 1s.2½d., winter, 11d.without food; per year, 12l.; with food and shoes, per month, 9s.
N.B. Only 248 working days.
Near Towns: Skilled, per month, 1l.with provisions; 1l.10s.without provisions; unskilled summer, per month, 9s.with provisions; 1l.without provisions; winter, one-third less.
Distant from Towns, a little more than half. Common labourer, near towns, per year, about 18l.; in other districts, about 8l.
Wages of artisans, about double those of common labourers.