39. None may beg, but every person who is in such want that he cannot provide for himself and those belonging to him, shall apply for aid to the competent poor commission, or to the overseer. In case any one is guilty of begging, for the first offence he is to be seriously admonished by the overseer of the district in which he has begged, who is likewise to point out to him what consequences will follow a repetition of the offence. In case he offends afterwards, he is to be punished according to the enactments set forth in s. 35; and afterwards, in case of a repetition of the offence, with from two months’ to a year’s confinement in the house of correction.
A person is not to be accounted a beggar who asks only for food, when it appears that his want of sustenance is so great that unless he tried to procure immediate relief he would be exposed to perish of hunger, provided he immediately afterwards applies to the overseer of the district for relief; or in case the poor administration is unable to relieve all the poor in years of scarcity, save in a very scanty manner, and the hungry mendicant then confines himself to the soliciting of food. (p. 706.)
The bill directs that the poor-fund shall consist, in the country,
1. Of the interest of legacies, and other property belonging to it.
2. An annual tax of 12 skillings (equal according to Dr. Kelly, Univ. Cambist, vol. 1, p. 32, to 2_s._ 6_d._ sterling,) on each hunsmand or cottager, and on each man servant, and six skillings on each woman servant.
3. A duty on stills equal to half the duty paid to the State.
4. Penalties directed by the existing laws to be paid over to that fund.
5. The property left by paupers, if they leave no wife or children unprovided for.
6. An annual assessment on the occupiers of land, and on all others capable of contributing, such as men servants, clerks, tutors, and pilots.
Of all the above-mentioned funds, except No. 2, and of a tax of one skilling (2½_d._ sterling) per pot on all imported fermented liquors.
We have already remarked that the report does not state how far this bill has passed into a law, or how its enactments differ from the existing law: they appear likely, unless counteracted by opposing causes, to lead to considerable evils. The relief by way of lœgd resembles in some respects our roundsman system. It is, however, less liable to abuse in one respect, because the lœgd, being wholly supported by the lœgd-yder, must be felt as an incumbrance by the farmer, instead of a source of profit. On the other hand, the situation of the country pauper cannot be much worse than that of the independent labourer; and in towns, though this temptation to idleness and improvidence may be avoided by giving relief in the workhouse, the temptation to give out-door and profuse relief must be considerable, since a large portion of the poor-fund is derived from general sources, and only a small part from assessment to which the distributors of relief are themselves exposed. It is probable that the excellent habits of the population, and the great proportion of landowners, may enable the Norwegians to support a system of relief which in this country would soon become intolerable.