2 JANUARY 1909, Page 11

How is it that as a nation we have lost

the habit of thrift, while other nations who have perhaps less grit and more d..elight in material pleasures, such as the French, possess 1,t, P We cannot help believing that this want is one of l'Iyae evil legacies of the old Poor Law, a legacy which economic are about to redevise. It is impossible, for obvious m. reasons, to give poor relief to people who have got alsa'v Infil and property of their own. Therefore the State has aPpsared to be offering a reward to those who have saved

nothing, and to be putting under a disability those who have. The Report of the Commission of 1834 gives. abundant evidence of the way in which the poor had come to think it necessary to have the appearance of want in their persons and their houses in order to make sure of relief. Unless they promptly spent all they received, they ran the risk of the parish allowances being cut off. •