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Poorhouse provided, and proper powers given for governing, maintaining and employing the poor. By the provisions of the Act, the Churchwardens of the Collegiate and Parish Church and Overseers of the Poor for the township are vested with full power for putting it into execution, and they swear" to administer it without favor or affection, prejudice or malice." They are to meet once a month at the Poorhouse to transact business, and once quarterly, (five to form a quorum) namely, on the first Monday after the 25th. March, after the 24th. June, after the 29th. September, and after the 25th. December, for the examination of accounts and all other proceedings of the past quarter, when a statement of the inmates of the House, their ages, and earnings, must be produced. Two Churchwardens may at any time call a special meeting; the Churchwardens on all these occasions to pay their own expenses. The Poorhouse and its furniture are vested in the Churchwardens and Overseers, who may appoint a governor, matron, steward and other servants, as well as "some clergyman of the Church of England to attend and perform divine service in the said Poorhouse, as often as the said Churchwardens and Overseers shall direct and appoint, to instruct the poor in the principles of the Christian religion and morality, to visit the sick, and perform other offices of his function," for such allowance as may be fixed. The building, though actually sitnated without the boundaries of the township, is to be regarded as within it. The Magistrates for the Division, or persons appointed by them, may at any time visit the Workhouse and investigate all matters respecting it, of which a report must be made to the next Quarter Sessions and enrolled by the Clerk of the Peace. The Churchwardens, besides being empowered to purchase land to the extent of ten statute acres, and to erect and furnish a Poorhouse, (which shall be exempt from parochial and Parliamentary taxes,

and be situate in or within two miles of the township) for which purposes they may borrow money on security of the rates, paying it off at the rate of £6 per cent. per annum ; may also enlarge the Poorhouse by the same means. They may make rules to govern the House and the poor, which must be approved by two Justices; the poor may be punished for misconduct by confinement or hard labor, or distinction in dress or abatement in diet. They may be employed "in any work, trades, manufactures and employments whatsoever," the proceeds of their labor to go in aid of the poor's rate, after deducting such reward to the industrious and skilful, in proportion to the quantity and perfection of their work, as the Churchwardens may appoint. Children found wandering and begging in the township, and appearing in need of care and protection, or being deserted by their parents, or the children of poor persons leading idle and dissolute lives and setting an example of vice and idleness, may be sent to the Workhouse, there to be trained in habits of religion and industry until their seventeenth year if males, or their fifteenth if females unless sooner discharged by order of Justices or in course of law, when they may be apprenticed, the Churchwardens providing their clothes; or they may be put out as domestic or menial servants in husbandry, housewifery or otherwise, when or before they attain the age above-named. Churchwardens may order out-door relief to industrious poor persons, and idle and disorderly persons neglecting their families may be prosecuted and punished on the application of the Churchwardens and Overseers, or two of the latter, with the former. Two Justices of the Division may appoint additional Overseers, according to the 43rd. Elizabeth, assigning their salaries. The laws relating to the poor are to continue in force in the township, "save as herein they are expressly altered or this Act is wholly repugnant thereto."

The Poorhouse, under this local Act, was finished in 1791, and the meetings of the Churchwardens and Overseers took place there for the dispatch of business until about 1809-10, when, the town increasing so rapidly, and the poor's affairs requiring more time and greater attention from the officers, it was considered desirable to have offices in a more central situation, not only on their account, but for the convenience of the leypayers at large as well as the recipients of the local fund.

Before the building of the present one, the Poorhouse was in Cumberland-street, and, for a short period, in Millers Lane.

The management of the Manchester Poorhouse or Workhouse, for it embraces in some measure the character of both, has always been considered as of the first order. There are a governor, matron, chaplain, resident housesurgeon, consulting physician and surgeon, as honorary officers, and such an establishment of subordinates as is necessary for so large a concern.

The following is a comparative statement of expenditure on its account; the number of inmates per week on the average of the year; the expense per head per week for food; and the population at the several census, during a period of twenty-five years:

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The following is a copy of the dietary or bill of fare:

DAYS.

BREAKFAST.

DINNER.

SUPPER.

one pint of milk.

Sunday
Monday..
Tuesday....
Wednesday. Milk pottage and four
oz. of bread.

Rice milk & four oz. Four oz. of meat, four Oatmeal pottage &
of bread.
Oatmeal pottage and
one pint of milk.
do. do. do.

Oz. of bread, and
potatos or cabbage.
Soup and six oz. bread.
Potato-ash and four oz.)
of bread.
Same as Sunday.
Do. Monday.
Do.

do. do. do. do. do. do.

do. do. do.

do. do. do.

do. do. do.

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do. do. do.

Thursday.. Oatmeal pottage and

Friday
Saturday.

one pint of milk.

Tuesday.

The sick have a better diet, under the regulation of the medical attendant.

The "State of the House," as given in the annual report, is an interesting document; that of the past year (183536) is subjoined:

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Average weekly number in the House throughout the year, 602

Average weekly expenses per head for food

for clothing..

0204 0 0 54

Ditto
ditto
Value of coffins given to the out-poor, by order of the Boards. 216 8 6
Stock of clothing on hand...

285 17 6 WILLIAM ROBINSON, Governor.

Physician to the Poorhouse, William Henry, M. D.; Surgeon, Mr. James Ainsworth; Chaplain, Rev. William Burns; Resident Surgeon, Mr. Richard Baron Howard.

The internal management of the Poor-house seems to partake of the business character of the population to which it belongs. There is not only an efficient establishment to carry into effect the several duties which so large a concern requires, but there is also a strict supervision by honorary officers, the chief of whom is the junior Churchwarden of the parish. By the arrangements of the Board of Churchwardens and Overseers this duty

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