Ffynh 3H

The New Poor Law

Many of the complaints upon the subject of the Poor Law are traceable to that cause, which is at the root of most of the ‘Welsh grievances’, the poverty of the people, and the difficulty of finding wherewithal to meet the continual demands of local taxation. Under the lax and irregular system which formerly prevailed in the rural districts, the Poor-rate was frequently paid in grain or in any other commodity more convenient at the time for the farmer to part with than money ... In this instance again the enforcement of a definite pecuniary impost in lieu of the cheaper and more indulgent system of composition heretofore allowed has fallen with the weight of a new tax on the occupier of the land.

(Report of the Commissioners of Inquiry for South Wales, 1844 [Tip: daliwch Ctrl a chliciwch dolen i'w agor mewn tab newydd. (Cuddio tip)] )