Upon the report of our Minister of the Interior, and the counsel of the other heads of the executive, We have decreed, and do decree— Art. 1. The principal functions of the Commission are: 1. To draw up a complete report of the Statistics of the country. 2. To point out the omissions or superfluous details which exist in the official statistical publications. 3. To give advice as to the forms of returns proposed for the collection of statistical information, and as to the forms of the tables in which the information collected should be abstracted, which will be forwarded to it from the different ministerial departments, and, in case of need, to propose forms of returns. 4. To guard against unnecessary labour in the duplicate preparation or publication of the same returns. 5. To give explanatory notices upon reports submitted to the King, relating to the statistical labours of the several departments, whenever such reports are to be made public. 6. To transmit general statistical publications to the Minister of the Interior. 7. To make whatever propositions may appear necessary to introduce unity of design, or improvements in the statistical labours of the government. Art. 2. The Commission will correspond with the Minister of the Interior, with reference to the carrying out of its objects, and the latter will communicate the views of the commission to the chief of the department concerned, who will adopt them or modify them, if he deems it necessary. ments or public authorities will be conducted through the medium Art. 3. Provincial or local Commissions of statistics may be established. 1 The members of such commissions shall be nominated by the Minister of the Interior, upon the recommendation of the central Commission. Art. 4. The Commission may, with the authority of the Minister of the Interior, enter into direct communication with scientific bodies or learned men, either in Belgium or abroad, who are engaged upon statistics, or sciences connected with it. It may also appoint corresponding members with the approbation of the Minister. Art. 5. The Commission shall publish an official account of its labours, which shall contain 1. Minutes of its sittings. 2. All documents relating to the statistics of the country, which are not of a nature to form special publications. 3. Notices or articles concerning national, foreign, or comparative statistics, which may be addressed to it. 4. Reports, or other documents, the publication of which would be interesting. The Commission, in ordering the insertion of unofficial documents or articles, will take care not to hold itself unanswerable for the opinions advanced by the authors. Art. 6. The ordinary meetings of the Commission shall be held, by written notices, every fortnight. Independently of the ordinary meetings, the Commission may assemble on extraordinary occasions, if the members, or the president, think proper. Art. 7. Minutes shall be made of each meeting; these shall be read at the commencement of the following meeting, and, after their adoption, be transcribed into a register, and signed by the president and secretary. A copy shall be forwarded to the Minister of the Interior. Art. 8. The assembly shall not be empowered to deliberate unless at least one-half of the members be present: their names shall be entered upon the minutes. Art. 9. A register to receive the signature of the members present shall be deposited in the office, and kept by the secretary. Art. 10. The President shall open and close the meetings, announce the correspondence, determine the order of the speakers, put questions, pronounce decisions, and, after having consulted the Commission, appoint a day for the next meeting, as well as the order of business. He shall be especially charged with the execution of these regulations. Art. 11. The Secretary shall draw up the minutes of the meetings, read the papers, take charge of the library, archives, and correspondence, and all business appertaining generally to the office. Art. 12. All letters shall be signed by the president and secretary. Art. 13. A register shall be kept of all letters received or sent. Art. 14. In case of the absence of the president or secretary, they shall be replaced by a member appointed by the Commission to act during their absence. Art. 15. Every member shall have the right of making propositions. These shall be signed and placed in the hands of the president, and notice must be taken of them in the minutes. The discussion upon them shall take place at the ensuing meeting, if required by two members. The previous question, or the order of the day, may always be called for. Art. 16. The Commission shall nominate from its body one or more members, to examine communications addressed to it, or propositions which come under its cognizance. The reports of subcommittees shall be made in its name, after having been confirmed by it. The author of a proposition shall invariably be added to the members appointed to examine it. Art. 17. Members of subcommittees shall have papers transmitted to them according to the order of their nomination, and shall make their observations thereon in writing. The papers and observations upon them shall be sent to the reporter. The commissioner first nominated shall be the reporter, unless otherwise specially determined. The subcommittee shall, if necessary, be summoned by the secretary to draw up the report. Art. 18. All decisions shall be determined by the majority of votes of the members present. In case of an equality of votes, the discussion shall be adjourned to the following meeting, and if the votes should again be found equal, the president's vote shall decide. Art. 19. Before the 1st of October, 1842, the names of those members who are to go out at the first and second partial reappointment of the Commission will be balloted for. The member nominated in place of one who resigns, or who withdraws from the Commission from other motives, shall complete the turn of the person whose place he takes. Art. 20. The attendance fee shall be 6 francs, and the secretary shall have in addition 1,000 francs, annually, dating from the month succeeding his nomination. Art. 21. Abstract lists of attendance shall be prepared half yearly, and after signature by the president and secretary, shall be transmitted, together with the documents in support of them, to the Minister of the Interior, in order that the accounts may be settled. Art. 22. The expenses of the Commission shall be passed to the accounts of the Minister of the Interior, and defrayed out of the sum voted for the publication of general statistics. Art. 23. Our Minister of the Interior is charged with the execution of this decree. Given at Brussels, the 20th October, 1841. Report on the Condition of the Working Classes in the Town of Kingston-upon-Hull. By the Statistical Society of Manchester. [Read before the Statistical Section of the British Association, August 2nd, 1841.] In the early part of 1839, the Manchester Statistical Society sent their agent to Hull, to conduct an examination of that town from house to house, in order to extend their inquiries as to the state of education, and the social condition of the population, into a community differing widely, both in character and circumstances, from that of the manufacturing, or of the agricultural districts to which their previous investigations had been confined. The educational part of the inquiry, furnished matter for a copious, and on the whole a favourable report.* The results of the other branch of the inquiry, have been condensed into a series of tables, which are herewith presented, and call for a few preliminary observations. The examination was conducted by an experienced agent, who visited every house in the town part of Kingston-upon-Hull, and recorded in a book, ruled to the subjoined pattern, (see p. 214) all the information he could obtain, directly or circuitously, by careful and repeated inquiry. It will be readily believed that much suspicion and reluctance were at first encountered; but forbearance and perseverance smoothed the way, and these difficulties were ultimately overcome. Tables I., II., III., and IV., relate to the numbers, age, and occupa-. tions of the resident population, the total of which reaches 37,885. Of these it appears that 95.08 per cent. are English. 2.24 Irish. •48 100.00 *Published in the 4th volume of the Statistical Journal, p. 156. These proportions are exceedingly different from those which prevail in the towns on the West coast, where the facilities of intercourse with Ireland cause a large influx of the labouring classes from that country. In Manchester and Salford, 16 per cent. were found to be Irish, and 3.5 per cent. to be Welsh. It may be observed in reference to these tables, that in comparison with manufacturing towns, a sea port affords little employment for women and children, and not very regular or constant occupation even for adult males. Of 20,151 females of all ages, only 3,857 have any definable occupation apart from household duties. Of 11,400 adult females, 8,794 have no ostensible occupation; and as this number corresponds almost exactly with that of the heads of families, it may fairly be inferred that there are but few cases in which the labour of adult males is not sufficient for the support of the family, and that the mothers are therefore enabled to devote themselves wholly to the management of their household. In the manufacturing districts, we know this is far from being so generally the case; though we have not sufficient data to afford an accurate comparison. A great difference is also observable in the number of minors (under 21 years of age), who are employed, and in receipt of wages. The proportion is 21 per cent. in Hull, against 35 per cent. in Manchester and Salford, and 40 per cent. in the Ashton and Dukenfield district. These proportions are not given as exact, but as approximations, for there is some reason to believe that in the two latter cases some adults were classed as minors, from the circumstance of their continuing to live with their parents. Tables V., VI., VII., VIII., and IX., give a comprehensive view of the condition of the dwellings inhabited by the working classes; and before examining them, it is necessary to observe that of those which are entered in these tables, as not ascertained," about 2,900 were houses inhabited by the middle and higher ranks, which it did not enter into the plan of the Society to investigate. t The first point to remark upon (which will be seen on a reference to Table I.), is the very small portion of the population resident in cellars. In Liverpool, this proportion was about 15 per cent. of the entire population. In Manchester, 12 per cent.; in Salford, 8 per cent; and in Hull, only 1 per cent. The houses, too, are more frequently subdivided into separate chambers in Hull; consequently the separation of families is more distinct, and the system of taking in lodgers less generally practised. The average number of individuals to each separate occupation, affords another proof of this, being 4 in Hull, against 5 in Pendleton. It will further be observed that the rental of cottagehouses in Hull, appears to be very moderate. The average is 2s. Id. per week for houses, is. 5d. for chambers, and 1s. 2d. for cellars. In Manchester and Salford, the average weekly rent of houses was 2s. 1ld., and in the Dukenfield district, 2s. 7d. Upon the condition of these dwellings so much both of the habits and character of the people depends, that it would be most desirable to compare the state of drainage, &c., in Hull, with that in other places; but unfortunately few materials for such a comparison exist. The Leeds town council (who have set an example worthy of all imitation,) recorded, in their first table, the state of sewerage, but were only able * See vol. ii., page 406. * |