MIDDLESEX .

At the General Quarter Session of the Peace of Our
Sovereign Lord the King, holden for the County of
Middlesex , at Hicks-Hall in Saint John Street , in the
County aforesaid, by Adjournment, on Thursday the
Fourteenth Day of July, in the Thirty-first Year of
the Reign of Our Sovereign Lord GEORGE the Second,
King of Great Britain, Etc. 1751.

WHEREAS Complaint having been made to this Court, of the growing Expence
arising to this County from the Apprehending and Passing Vagrants, in of the
Frauds committed by the Officers conveying such Vagrants, Etc, A Committee was
appointed to consider from what Causes such Expence arose, and Frauds were com-
mitteed; and also to consider of some Method to ease the County, and to prevent
such Impositions for the Future; which Committee, on the 21st of April [..] ft, did
make their Report, touching the Premisses, to this Court as follows, viz.

Report
at April,
1757.

Your Committee are of Opinion, That the great Expence complained of, and the Fraud com-
mitted, have their Rise form the following Causes:

1st, That one Cause of this Expence is the great Relaxation in the Executing the Statute of the 17th
of His present Majesty, called The Vagrant Act; which is evidently proved from the Swarms of Beg-
gars insesting the Streets, some produced by real Distress, and others, who, by artful Disguises of
Wretchedness, contrive to support themselves and Families in Idleness, and intail a Race of Rogues
and Vagabonds upon Posterity.

2d, That when Vagabonds are apprehended and brought before the Magistrates, the Punishment pre-
scribed by the said Act has been in too many Instances dispensed with: And this We apprehend is not
only a great Incouragement to Beggars, but also renders the Passes in themselves illegal, and such Ma-
gistrates private Fortunes liable to all the Charge incurred from such Passes.

3d, That the Magistrates in general not returning the Duplicates of the Vagrant Passes and Examinations
to the next Sessions, as directed by the said Act, there to be kept as Records, renders the Clause of the
said Act, for the Punishment of incorrigible Rogues, of no Force, for it seems doubtful how incor-
rigible Rogues can be convicted without such Records.

4th, The too liberal Distribution of the Ten Shillings, with which the Magistrates are impowered
to reward Persons apprehending Vagrants, and the [..] rts made use of by Officers in the Conveying of
Vagrants, by obtaining Passage for them at one That of the Expence allowed by Sessions, by Means
of Carriers and other easy Methods, have proved fe [..] lucrative, that a Kind of Trade has been made of
it at the Expence of th County: Your Committee, by inspecting the Orders for paying the Reward
of Ten Shillings, find upwards of Fifty Pounds directed to be paid, in the Compass of about a Year,
by one Magistrate; a Sum, We belive, greater than directed, in the like Cases, by all the rest of the
Magistrates of the County in the same Time: And when the Sums, paid for passing the Vagrants,
are added to the said Fifty Pounds, it amounts to near a Twelfth Part of the whole county Rate, and
near a Fourth of the whole Expence charged upon the County upon this Account: And your Com-
mittee think, That no Magistrate's Clerk ought to make any Deduction upon Pretence of having
made out the Pass and Order out of the Ten Shillings, which is the Reward given by the Law to the
Apprehender: But your Committed found the contrary has been done, and that Four Shillings has
been deducted by the Clerk of that Magistrate out of such Reward; which induces your Committee
to be of Opinion, that this extraordinary Method of sharing the Reward between the Constable and
the Justice's Clerk, may have produced an Imposition upo the Justice, and been the Cause of this
extraordinary Charge upon the County. Nor can your Committee help observing, that many of the
Orders, for the Paying the above Fifty Pounds, are made out in large Sums in one Order, and coached
in Terms not expressive of the Cause for which they were made or given, under Hand and Seal: Nor
does it appear that such Vagrants were either whipped or committed to Bridewell , or that any Dypli-
cates of the Passes or Examinations were returned to the Sessions as the Law directs.

5th, Another Cause of this great Expence has arisen from a wrong Use made of Vagrant Passes,
by the Officers in some Parishes, who, to save the great Expence of Settlement-Passes, or the Main-
tenance of casual Poor not belonging to them, and whose Settlements were at a great Distance, have
passed such Poor a Rogues and Vagabonds, although no Act of Vagrancy had been co [..] d and
more especially the Scotch and Irish Vagabonds.

6th, Your Committee are also of Opinion, That the Putting the Vagrant Act into Execution par-
ticular Parishes and Places, (howsoever laudable the Intention of the Magistrates may be) brings a
large Expence upon the County, without producing the designed Effect to the Publick; for as he De-
sign of putting the said Act in this manner into Execution, relates only to one Species of Vagabonds,
namely, Beggar; Those of them, who are more the Objects of Compassion than Punishment, till the
Lash of the Law , while the artificial Objects of Distress, who have reduced Begging into a Trade,
well know how far the Whip of Justice extends, and carefully avoid coming within its Reach: And
this is a strong Reason for the general Inforcement of the Law through the County.

Another Cause of the Grievance complained of, arise from the ready Harbour Beggars find in the
Out-skirts of the Town, from the Keepers of Houses who lett them out to Vagrants at Two-piece a
Night; though by the Statute before-mentioned, Chap. 5. Sec. 22. "If any Person knowing per-
mit any Rogue or Vagabond, or incorrigible Rogue, to lodge or take Shelter in his House, Ban [..] or
other Out-house of Building, and shall not apprehend and carry him before a Justice, or give Justice
to