12/29 We are not without examples of such results in England itself. In a period of great general prosperity, that portion of England in which the poor laws had their most extensive operation, and in which by much the largest expenditure of poor-rates had been made, was the scene of daily riot and nightly incendiarism. There were ninety-three parishes in four counties, of which the population was 113,147, and the poor-law expenditure 81,978 l., or 14 s. per head; and there were eighty parishes in three other counties, the population of which was 105,728, and the poor-law expenditure 30,820 l., or 5 s. |