On Friday week, in the House of Lords, Lord Balfour
of Burleigh did a useful service in raising the question of the cost of administration of the Poplar Union, to which we have already referred in our columns. In Poplar one in every sixteen of the population was in receipt of some form of relief. The rates were twelve shillings in the pound, and the cost of outdoor paupers had risen from £16,000 in 1901 to £35,000 in 1905. While the adjoining Unions, with a population of 539,000, had only 3,000 paupers, Poplar, with 169,000 in- habitants, had nearly 7,000. These figures gave rise to the suspicion that there must be extravagance somewhere. The blame, no doubt, was largely to be put on the vicious system of "compounding," which prevailed extensively in Poplar, and under which the householder had no first-hand knowledge of what he paid for local administration. The Guardians had also been most extravagant in the fitting up of their schools, which in this respect were far ahead of Eton and Harrow. There was a strong princi-facie case for a searching inquiry. Lord Carrington in reply announced that the Chief General Inspector of the Local Government Board was at present investigating the affairs of the Union. The question of a public inquiry would have to wait on this official's Report.
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