Reports on the sanitary condition of the labouring population of Scotland : in consequence of an inquiry directed to be made by the Poor Law Commission.

Great Britain. Poor Law Commission.

Date:: 1842

Credit: Reports on the sanitary condition of the labouring population of Scotland : in consequence of an inquiry directed to be made by the Poor Law Commission. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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$engage, at a fixed annual allowance (which need be but small), a proper medical person, who shall bo bound to attend any of the poor of the parish whenever called on to do so. This mea- sure is more desirable and urgent from the absurd prejudices against the doctors unhappily still so prevalent among the vul- gar, and which often prevent them from receiving medical aid, e\ en when they might have it gratuilomly. I believe, indeed, the medical men of the district are always, when they have their time at their own disposal, ready to advise the poor gratis, and even to attend them gratuitously in cases of peculiar urgency. It would be proper, perhaps necessar3^ that the Board should ap- point an officer or messenger, one of whose principal duties it should be to call the doctor when his services are required for the poor, as well as to report to a superintendent appointed by the Board all cases in which medical aid may be presumed desirable. The feelings and prejudices of the poor, in my opinion, render these appointments necessary. With respect to the working classes generally, I would remark, 2nd]y, That in this district they seem in no instance to have availed themselves of the principle of association, productive of such advantages both to themselves and the public in England, and especially in Holland. They have no ''Benefit Societies of any description; this is a glaring desideratum, proceeding partly from the narrowness of their means, but chiefly from igno- rance. This is a circumstance which I would earnestly press upon the consideration of all who have any influence o\ er them, and who feel a real interest in their improvement. I would observe, 3rdly, with reference to education among the poor,' that it is very defective and superficial, partly from the watit of a vigilant and effective supervision of the schools, partly from the prevalence of Gaelic, but chiefly from the irregular at- tendance of the children. The winter is here the season selected by the poor for the instruction of their children at school. Then a miscellaneous crowd of youth of all ages, released from the labours of the harvest-field, flock to the parish school; but un- fortunately, as soon as the active round of rural labour returns, as soon as the nights grow short, the fagging ends, and the poor urchins are withdrawn, to forget, during a long summer of toil^ almost all that they had learnt during the few and short days of winter. Poor parents employ their children at an early age on various easy kinds of work, such as herding, weeding, and hoeing; and so little sensible are they of the importance of education, or so little do they value what is to be learnt in their schools, that they allow their children to play the truant on the most frivolous pretences. It is undeniable that the whole system of parochial scholastics in this quarter requires a thorough inspection and revision. 4thly. In the formation of large farms by the aggregation of$