In compliance with this application, Viscount Palmerston, by a circular dated the 12th of August, 1833, requested each of His Majesty’s Foreign Ministers to procure and transmit, with the least possible delay, a full report of the legal provisions existing in the country in which he was resident, for the support and maintenance of the poor; of the principles on which such provision was founded; of the manner in which it was administered; of the amount and mode of raising the funds devoted to that purpose; and of the practical working and effect of the actual system, upon the comfort, character, and condition of the inhabitants. The answers to these well-framed inquiries form a considerable portion of the contents of the following volume. They constitute, probably, the fullest collection that has ever been made of laws for the relief of the poor. But as a subject of such extent would necessarily be treated by different persons in different manners, and various degrees of attention given to its separate branches, the Commissioners thought it advisable that a set of questions should also be circulated, which, by directing the attention of each inquirer and informant to uniform objects, would enable the influence of different systems on the welfare of the persons subjected to them to be compared. For this purpose the following questions were drawn up:-- The following Questions apply to Customs and Institutions whether general throughout the State, or peculiar to certain Districts, and to Relief given: 1st. By the Voluntary Payment of Individuals or Corporate Bodies. 2nd. By Institutions specially endowed for that purpose. 3rd. By the Government, either general or local. 4th. By any one or more of these means combined. And you are requested to state particularly the cases (if any) in which the person relieved has a legal claim. QUESTIONS. VAGRANTS. 1. To what extent and under what form does mendicity prevail in the several districts of the country? 2. Is there any relief to persons passing through the country, seeking work, returning to their native places, or living by begging; and by whom afforded, and under what regulations? DESTITUTE ABLE-BODIED. 1. To what extent and under what regulations are they, or any part of their families, billeted or quartered on householders? 2. To what extent and under what regulations are they boarded with individuals? 3. To what extent and under what regulations are there district houses of industry for receiving the destitute able-bodied, or any part of their families, and supplying them with food, clothes, &c., and in which they are set to work? 4. To what extent and under what regulations do any religious institutions give assistance to the destitute, by receiving them as inmates, or by giving them alms?