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The county councils association's proposals for poor law administration
1911.
PUBLIC
THE COUNTY COUNCILS ASSOCIATION'S PROPOSALS FOR POOR LAW ADMINISTRATION. * E County Councils Association have recently T H published in pamphlet form the Report of their Poor Law Committee together with an account of the debate in the Executive Council of the Association, when the report was adopted, and a number of criticisms and appreciations by various authorities on Poor Law Administration. T h e Committee consisted of Mr. W. Ryland D. Adkins, M.P. (Northants), Lord Belper, (Notts), Mr. J. W. Willis Bund (Worcestershire), Mr. A. W. Chapman (Surrey), Lord Clifford of Chudleigh (Devon), Mr. \V. Embleton- Fox (Lindsey), Sir. H. George Fordham (Cambridgeshire), the Right Hon. C. G. Milnes Gaskell (West Riding), the Right Hon. H. Hobhouse (Somerset), Mr. J. Hutton (North Riding), Mr. C. T. Lane (West Sussex), Mr. Tonman Mosley (Bucks), the Duke of Northumberland (Northumberland), Mr. P. P. Pennant (Flintshire), Mr. Christopher Turner (Lindsey), Mr. \ ¥ . R. W h e r r y (Kesteven), Mr. S. H. Whitbread, M.P. (Bedfordshire), Mr. H. G. Willink (Berks), and Lord Zouche of Haryngworth (West Sussex). Mr. A. W. Chapman was elected Chairman of the Committee. The Report of the Committe~ is as f o l l o w s : In submitting the conclusions we have arrived at we desire to point out that in acting upon the reference entrusted to us we have thought it right to confine ourselves strictly to the question of machinery. W e have tried to consider only the specific point of whether and if so in what way the present duties of the Boards of Guardians could be discharged on the basis of larger areas than the existing unions, if Parliament should think it desirable to make any such change, w i t h out
(I) Placing an undue burden of work on county councillors ; or (2) Adversely affecting county administration. W e have consequently not gone into the whole question of Poor Law Policy, which would have involved our doing over again the work of the late Royal Commission, and do not express any opinion with regard to the superior objects or general scheme of social polity which may be supl~osed to be behind either the Majority or Minority Reports. In order that we might decide the question of whether County Councils could, if it should be thought desirable by Parliament, undertake the work at present being done by Boards of Guardians and if possible agree upon a scheme which would enable them to do so, we have had carefully to consider certain general questions of vital im~Puhlighed by P. S. King & Son, Orchard House, Westminster. Price i[-.
285
HEA LTH.
portance to county administration raised by both the Majority and Minority Reports, and have passed the following resolutions :-(a) T h a t in view of the Majority and Minority Reports of t h e P o o r L a w Commission, we deem it desirable that the system of Poor L a w administration be re-organised. (b) That the present unit of area for Poor Law administration is often too small, save for certain executive and subordinate purposes. (c) T h a t generally, the most convenient area for supervision would be that of the Administrative County and County Borough. (d) That it would be very undesirable to have more than one independent elected authority with rating powers for the area of an Administrative County. (e) That all grades of mentally defective persons (whether idiots, imbeciles, feeble-minded, or epileptics) should be removed out of the Poor L a w altogether, and placed in the charge of the same authority that deals with Lunatic Asylums. (f) T h a t the .work of County Councils in connection with L u n a t i c Asylums should be handed over to a Government Department subject to local inspection by a Committee of the County Council, or that other steps should be taken to relieve the Lunatic Asylums Committees in respect of some of their existing duties. (g) T h a t the treatment of unemployed (including habitual vagrants) should be under a Government Department, subject to assistance by local authorities in temporary cases. (h) T h a t this Committee do not for various reasons see their way to accept as a whole the proposals either of the Majority or the Minority of the Royal Commission, nor those of Sir A. Downes and Mr. C. Booth, but recommend the following scheme for consideration and adoption by the Executive. This scheme purports to be only an outline of the best organisation practicable in the counties, and does not pr6fess to deal with London and the large towns. It is submitted to the Executive Committee with the knowledge that it will require considerable explanation, but in the hope that it may be accepted as a practical solution of an exceedingly difficult problem. O U T L I N F S C H E M E OF
THE
COMMITTEE,
Poor Law Areas. A. County or County Borough. B. Urban and Rural Districts. Both A. and B., where small, might be grouped.
286
PUBLIC
Poor Law Authorities. A. County Poor Law Committee, constituted by a scheme prepared and adopted by the County or County Borough Council and approved by the Local Government Board. The Committee to consist of (I) members of the County Councils and of District Councils, and (2) other persons to be appointed by the County Council experienced in Poor L a w and charitable work, including a fair proportion of w o m e n ; a clear majority of the Committee to consist of members of the County Council, unless the County Council do ottlerwise determine, and in any case a majority of the Committee to be members of the County Council or of District Councils. B. District Poor Law Boards, consisting of (I) all the members of the County Council elected for the District or resident in the District who consent to serve, (2)District Councillors as arranged by the scheme, and (3) not more than one-quarter appointed by the County Council from persons experienced in Poor L a w and charitable work, including a fair proportion of women. Powers and Duties. A. To arrange for the classification and reorganisation of allexisting Poor L a w Buildings and institutions, and to establish new buildings and institutions. To approve the admission of cases to institutions. To administer the Poor L a w Funds, whether from Government grants or rates. To make (or sanction) all contracts over ~IOO. To appoint (or sanction the appointment of) all officers. B. To decide on all applications for Out-Relief, acting under general rules approved by Parliament. To recommend (and in cases of urgency to commit) cases to institutions. T o manage such local institutions as may be delegated to them by the County Poor L a w Committee.
O.~cers. A. Poor L a w Registrar and Clerk. County Medical Officer of Health to superintend infirmaries and county and district medical staff. One or more County Inspectors. B. Local Registrar and Clerk, District Medical Officers of Health and District Inspectors. Finance. Annual estimates of Poor L a w expenditure, subject to revision after six months, to be submitted tothe County Finance Committee by the County Poor L a w Committee, and to be subject to the approval Of the County Council.
HEALTH.
AeRIL,
A County Poor L a w Rate to be made halfyearly by the County Council on the recommendation of the County Poor L a w Board and the County Finance Committee, and to be levied by the overseers together with the County Police and Education rates; with power under special circumstances to levy special rates on particular areas All Poor L a w loans to be sanctioned by the County Finance Committee and raised with other county loans N . B . - - L All Poor L a w Schools to be under Education Committee. 2. Feeble-minded to be dealt wi.th by the same authority as lunatics, but more economically. 3. Unemployed, including habitual vagrants, to be under a Government Department. 4. Scheme not to apply to London or large towns.
QUININE DISTRIBUTION IN LAHORE. -- T h e method I have adopted is as follows : - - F o r the conservancy menial staff, when they came to the office for their monthly pay they were lined up and given about six tablets of 5 grains quinine, one of which they swallowed, at the time, in m y presence. Quinine was available for those members who wished to distribute it. The most was distributed by Mohamed Fateh All Khan to whom 6 tins of i lb. each (:-= 8,4oo tablets of 5 grains) were given. Then for the poor I arranged a drum beater who nlet me, with the Sanitary Inspector (and a J a m a d a r of tim ward which was being visited), and he shouted to the people that quinine was being distributed with the object of the prevention as well as the cure of malaria. The people came gladly for it and on an average each got about IO tablets (of 5 grains of quinine) direct from my hands. At the time it was explained how to take it, and what doses to give to infants. The Sanitary Inspector or Darogha J a m a d a r took part in this explanation. In this way every morning for 21 days every ward of the city was visited, and I had the assurance that people got the quinine. Quinine was given out between I7th August and 3rd December. T h e number of deaths from " f e v e r " from Ist September to 3Ist Decemberin 19o 9 was x,I3O and that for the same period of I9XO was 931 . For next year I am making arrangements for a better system, viz., that of giving out tubes of io quinine tablets, as is now being introduced into Eastern Bengal and Assam. Each tube will have a wrapper giving directions in the vernacular.--Ammal Rekort of Dr. A. G. Newell, Health Oghcer, Lahore.
PUBLIC
THE COUNTY COUNCILS ASSOCIATION'S PROPOSALS FOR POOR LAW ADMINISTRATION. * E County Councils Association have recently T H published in pamphlet form the Report of their Poor Law Committee together with an account of the debate in the Executive Council of the Association, when the report was adopted, and a number of criticisms and appreciations by various authorities on Poor Law Administration. T h e Committee consisted of Mr. W. Ryland D. Adkins, M.P. (Northants), Lord Belper, (Notts), Mr. J. W. Willis Bund (Worcestershire), Mr. A. W. Chapman (Surrey), Lord Clifford of Chudleigh (Devon), Mr. \V. Embleton- Fox (Lindsey), Sir. H. George Fordham (Cambridgeshire), the Right Hon. C. G. Milnes Gaskell (West Riding), the Right Hon. H. Hobhouse (Somerset), Mr. J. Hutton (North Riding), Mr. C. T. Lane (West Sussex), Mr. Tonman Mosley (Bucks), the Duke of Northumberland (Northumberland), Mr. P. P. Pennant (Flintshire), Mr. Christopher Turner (Lindsey), Mr. \ ¥ . R. W h e r r y (Kesteven), Mr. S. H. Whitbread, M.P. (Bedfordshire), Mr. H. G. Willink (Berks), and Lord Zouche of Haryngworth (West Sussex). Mr. A. W. Chapman was elected Chairman of the Committee. The Report of the Committe~ is as f o l l o w s : In submitting the conclusions we have arrived at we desire to point out that in acting upon the reference entrusted to us we have thought it right to confine ourselves strictly to the question of machinery. W e have tried to consider only the specific point of whether and if so in what way the present duties of the Boards of Guardians could be discharged on the basis of larger areas than the existing unions, if Parliament should think it desirable to make any such change, w i t h out
(I) Placing an undue burden of work on county councillors ; or (2) Adversely affecting county administration. W e have consequently not gone into the whole question of Poor Law Policy, which would have involved our doing over again the work of the late Royal Commission, and do not express any opinion with regard to the superior objects or general scheme of social polity which may be supl~osed to be behind either the Majority or Minority Reports. In order that we might decide the question of whether County Councils could, if it should be thought desirable by Parliament, undertake the work at present being done by Boards of Guardians and if possible agree upon a scheme which would enable them to do so, we have had carefully to consider certain general questions of vital im~Puhlighed by P. S. King & Son, Orchard House, Westminster. Price i[-.
285
HEA LTH.
portance to county administration raised by both the Majority and Minority Reports, and have passed the following resolutions :-(a) T h a t in view of the Majority and Minority Reports of t h e P o o r L a w Commission, we deem it desirable that the system of Poor L a w administration be re-organised. (b) That the present unit of area for Poor Law administration is often too small, save for certain executive and subordinate purposes. (c) T h a t generally, the most convenient area for supervision would be that of the Administrative County and County Borough. (d) That it would be very undesirable to have more than one independent elected authority with rating powers for the area of an Administrative County. (e) That all grades of mentally defective persons (whether idiots, imbeciles, feeble-minded, or epileptics) should be removed out of the Poor L a w altogether, and placed in the charge of the same authority that deals with Lunatic Asylums. (f) T h a t the .work of County Councils in connection with L u n a t i c Asylums should be handed over to a Government Department subject to local inspection by a Committee of the County Council, or that other steps should be taken to relieve the Lunatic Asylums Committees in respect of some of their existing duties. (g) T h a t the treatment of unemployed (including habitual vagrants) should be under a Government Department, subject to assistance by local authorities in temporary cases. (h) T h a t this Committee do not for various reasons see their way to accept as a whole the proposals either of the Majority or the Minority of the Royal Commission, nor those of Sir A. Downes and Mr. C. Booth, but recommend the following scheme for consideration and adoption by the Executive. This scheme purports to be only an outline of the best organisation practicable in the counties, and does not pr6fess to deal with London and the large towns. It is submitted to the Executive Committee with the knowledge that it will require considerable explanation, but in the hope that it may be accepted as a practical solution of an exceedingly difficult problem. O U T L I N F S C H E M E OF
THE
COMMITTEE,
Poor Law Areas. A. County or County Borough. B. Urban and Rural Districts. Both A. and B., where small, might be grouped.
286
PUBLIC
Poor Law Authorities. A. County Poor Law Committee, constituted by a scheme prepared and adopted by the County or County Borough Council and approved by the Local Government Board. The Committee to consist of (I) members of the County Councils and of District Councils, and (2) other persons to be appointed by the County Council experienced in Poor L a w and charitable work, including a fair proportion of w o m e n ; a clear majority of the Committee to consist of members of the County Council, unless the County Council do ottlerwise determine, and in any case a majority of the Committee to be members of the County Council or of District Councils. B. District Poor Law Boards, consisting of (I) all the members of the County Council elected for the District or resident in the District who consent to serve, (2)District Councillors as arranged by the scheme, and (3) not more than one-quarter appointed by the County Council from persons experienced in Poor L a w and charitable work, including a fair proportion of women. Powers and Duties. A. To arrange for the classification and reorganisation of allexisting Poor L a w Buildings and institutions, and to establish new buildings and institutions. To approve the admission of cases to institutions. To administer the Poor L a w Funds, whether from Government grants or rates. To make (or sanction) all contracts over ~IOO. To appoint (or sanction the appointment of) all officers. B. To decide on all applications for Out-Relief, acting under general rules approved by Parliament. To recommend (and in cases of urgency to commit) cases to institutions. T o manage such local institutions as may be delegated to them by the County Poor L a w Committee.
O.~cers. A. Poor L a w Registrar and Clerk. County Medical Officer of Health to superintend infirmaries and county and district medical staff. One or more County Inspectors. B. Local Registrar and Clerk, District Medical Officers of Health and District Inspectors. Finance. Annual estimates of Poor L a w expenditure, subject to revision after six months, to be submitted tothe County Finance Committee by the County Poor L a w Committee, and to be subject to the approval Of the County Council.
HEALTH.
AeRIL,
A County Poor L a w Rate to be made halfyearly by the County Council on the recommendation of the County Poor L a w Board and the County Finance Committee, and to be levied by the overseers together with the County Police and Education rates; with power under special circumstances to levy special rates on particular areas All Poor L a w loans to be sanctioned by the County Finance Committee and raised with other county loans N . B . - - L All Poor L a w Schools to be under Education Committee. 2. Feeble-minded to be dealt wi.th by the same authority as lunatics, but more economically. 3. Unemployed, including habitual vagrants, to be under a Government Department. 4. Scheme not to apply to London or large towns.
QUININE DISTRIBUTION IN LAHORE. -- T h e method I have adopted is as follows : - - F o r the conservancy menial staff, when they came to the office for their monthly pay they were lined up and given about six tablets of 5 grains quinine, one of which they swallowed, at the time, in m y presence. Quinine was available for those members who wished to distribute it. The most was distributed by Mohamed Fateh All Khan to whom 6 tins of i lb. each (:-= 8,4oo tablets of 5 grains) were given. Then for the poor I arranged a drum beater who nlet me, with the Sanitary Inspector (and a J a m a d a r of tim ward which was being visited), and he shouted to the people that quinine was being distributed with the object of the prevention as well as the cure of malaria. The people came gladly for it and on an average each got about IO tablets (of 5 grains of quinine) direct from my hands. At the time it was explained how to take it, and what doses to give to infants. The Sanitary Inspector or Darogha J a m a d a r took part in this explanation. In this way every morning for 21 days every ward of the city was visited, and I had the assurance that people got the quinine. Quinine was given out between I7th August and 3rd December. T h e number of deaths from " f e v e r " from Ist September to 3Ist Decemberin 19o 9 was x,I3O and that for the same period of I9XO was 931 . For next year I am making arrangements for a better system, viz., that of giving out tubes of io quinine tablets, as is now being introduced into Eastern Bengal and Assam. Each tube will have a wrapper giving directions in the vernacular.--Ammal Rekort of Dr. A. G. Newell, Health Oghcer, Lahore.