PART THE FOURTH FROM THE ACCESSION OF GEORGE THE FOURTH, TO THE CHAPTER XIV A. D. 1820-1834 Accession of George IV.-Savings banks-Servants and apprentices— 1820-1830. THE accession of George the Fourth took place at a George IV. time when public opinion was much divided on certain questions of domestic policy, especially on the subject of Parliamentary Reform, without which, it was with some reason asserted by a large section of the people, it would be vain to expect other ameliorations. Tumultuous meetings were held in the manufacturing districts, and at Manchester a large assemblage had been dispersed by the military. Conspiracies were said to be secretly concocted, and a general feeling of apprehension prevailed, without any very definite cause, excepting that there were great complaints of distress in all parts of the country. It is not necessary, however, to give a detail of these circumstances, as they are sufficiently recent for remembrance. Indeed it must have been noticed that as we approached modern times, 1817-18. The Sav Atcs. reference to details not immediately connected with the Poor Law have been less frequent, as they were less necessary for a right understanding of the condition of the people; and hereafter attention will be altogether confined to poor law measures, and to matters more or less immediately connected therewith. In the Report of the Select Committee on the Poor Laws in 1817, the establishment of Savings Banks is noticed in terms of deserved commendation. These institutions were not altogether unknown, but England is indebted for their legal organisation to Mr. George, Rose, who in February 1817 introduced a Bill for the purpose. The measure gave rise to considerable conflict of opinion at the time, and as first framed was certainly open to objection in parts, the most prominent of which was the provision, that a person having £30 deposited in a savings bank, should nevertheless be entitled to relief from the poor-rates; but this proposition was soon abandoned. The two Acts constituting and regulating these ings Bank receptacles for the small savings of the industrious classes are 57 George III. cap. 130, and 58 George III. cap. 48. These Acts, taken together, empowered trustees and managers "to receive deposits of money for the benefit of the persons depositing the same, and to accumulate the produce in the nature of compound interest, and to return the whole or any part of such deposits and the produce thereof to the depositors, deducting only so much as shall be required for defraying the necessary expenses of management.” The trustees and managers are not themselves to receive any profit or advantage from the institution, for which they are required to frame rules, which are to be entered in a book open at all times to the inspection of the depositors. The rules are also to be enrolled at the sessions, and the justices may reject any that are at variance with the intentions of the Act. The moneys deposited are to be transmitted to the National Debt Office, to be there invested in a separate fund established for the purpose, and for these moneys the trustees are to receive a debenture carrying interest at the rate of 3d. per cent. per diem, equal to £4, 11s. 3d. per cent. per annum, payable half-yearly; and an account of all such debentures is to be laid before parliament annually. Friendly societies, legally constituted, are permitted to invest the whole or any part of their funds in savings banks; but no individual depositor can invest more than £100 the first year, nor more than £50 in any year afterwards.1 Schedules were appended to the Acts, giving complete forms for every transaction; and with due care on the part of the trustees and managers, to see that the money paid in and withdrawn was in each case entered in the depositor's book, and that the whole of the money deposited was duly transmitted for investment, it would be almost impossible for error or malversation to occur. So rapid was the growth of these institutions, that on the 20th of November 1833, there were in England and Wales 408 savings banks, holding balances on account of 425,283 depositors, to the amount of £14,334,393; whilst in Ireland (for which in 1817 an Act was passed simultaneously with that for England) there were at the same time 76 savings banks, with 49,872 depositors, and an aggregate of deposits to the amount of £1,380,718. Taking England and Ireland together, the number of banks established at the above date was 484-the depositors 475,155, and the amount of deposits 1 Six years after this the deposits of individuals were restricted to £50 the first year, and £30 in any year subsequently, and no interest was allowed on any amount of deposits exceeding £200. There were several subsequent reductions in the interest allowed, and individual deposits were limited to £150, and friendly societies to £300. VOL. II.-13 1823. 4 Geo. IV. 34. Servants and apprentices. £15,715,1111— an immense accumulation by the industrious classes, and giving them a large interest in the stability of our institutions, as well as affording evidence of a marked improvement in their habits and social position. 2 The last Act passed for regulating the binding of caps. 29 and parish apprentices was found to be insufficient for the purposes intended, and 4 George IV. caps. 29 and 34, were now enacted-the former to increase the power of magistrates in cases of apprenticeship, the latter to enlarge the powers of justices "in determining complaints between masters and servants," etc. The first of these Acts recites the provisions of 20 George II. cap. 19,3 and 33 George III. cap. 55,* respecting apprentices upon whose "binding out" a larger sum than £5 and £10 respectively shall not have been paid, and then enacts that the said provisions shall extend "to all apprentices upon whose binding out no larger sum than £25 was or shall be paid." The second Act (cap. 34) enables stewards, managers, and agents, as well as masters, to make complaint upon oath of the misconduct of any apprentice, and empowers any justice to hear and determine the same, and to punish the offender; and the justice is also in like manner empowered to hear the complaint of any apprentice, and to summon the master and do justice in the case. There are other provisions enabling a justice to apprehend and punish with imprisonment any servant in husbandry or artificer who fails to fulfil his engagement, and also to enforce payment of any wages which upon examination appear to be due to any such servant or artificer, but into this question it is not necessary here to enter. The circumstance most worthy of notice in connection with the above Acts, is the successive increase of the sums paid on the "binding out" of parish or other apprentices. In 1747 we find that £5 was, by 20 George II. cap. 55, assumed to be the maximum of payment with a parish apprentice. Forty-six years afterwards, by 33 George III. cap. 55, the amount was increased to £10; and now in 1816, after only half that interval had elapsed, we find the limit raised to £25. These successive advances must be regarded as indicating a continual increase of wealth and demand for skilled labour, for although £25 may not always or often have been paid with a parish apprentice, it would seem to have been so occasionally; and the parish may in some instances have been aided by individual contributions, whilst individuals again would probably be aided by the parish. All apprentices, however, upon whose binding out no greater sum than £25 has been paid, are now placed under the special protection of the justices, both in the matter of "binding out," and in their course of servitude. In each of these respects, such a supervision may have been necessary; for as apprenticeship gave a right of settlement, the conflicting interests which thence sprang up would be apt to lead to the fraudulent and improper binding out of parish children, who again under such |