This fund has been established for the following purposes:--1ᵒ. Of contributing to the support of paupers who, although not properly belonging to the poor of the district in which they have become distressed, must still be relieved; 2ᵒ. Of assisting the parochial fund in extraordinary cases; 3ᵒ. Of defraying all expenses of a general nature that ought to be assessed upon the several parish funds within the jurisdiction of the bailiwick. [Sidenote: Effects of these institutions.] With respect to the effects of these institutions the evidence is not consistent. Mr. Macgregor’s opinion is, on the whole, favourable. Be the management (he says) of the poor-laws good or bad, yet the system itself seems to have answered an important object, that of checking the rapid growth of pauperism. I admit that paupers have increased in Denmark these last thirty years, in the same proportion with the increase of population (_pari passu_); but I am far from believing that the proportion which they bear to the whole population is _much_ greater now than it was in 1803, namely, 1:32, although some of the townships, from particular circumstances, may form an exception. I have diligently perused all the different reports that have been published for the last five years upon the present state of the rural economy of the country, and they all concur in stating that there is a slight improvement in the value of land; that idle people are seldom found; and that there is sufficient work in which to employ the labouring population.--(p. 291.)