The English Poor - Law System, Past and Present. By Dr. P.
F. Aschrolt. Teanslated by Herbert Preston-Thomas. (Knight and Co.)—This is another of the many instances in which we English people have been indebted to a foreign observer for a complete and impartial account of something of national concern, this something being sometimes social, sometimes literary. Dr. Aschrolt traces the history of our Poor-Law system from the six- teenth century, and describes it as it exists at present. In both departments his work merits the praise which Professor Henry Sidgwick bestows upon it in his preface. It is in the main descriptive, but is also, on occasion, critical. He does not approve of the exemption of personal property from the incidence of the poor-rate ; and he considers that the one exception to this exemption, the income of the parson or vicar, is unreasonable. It is satisfactory to find an impartial foreign observer con- demning this flagrant injustice. We do not, indeed, always agree with Dr. Aschrolt. It is somewhat optimistic to say that the " Boards of Guardians are usually composed of just the men whom we would wish to see selected." It is surely, to say the least, an over-statement when the author remarks that the "poor-rate cannot be regarded as affecting the owner in the way of a deduction from rent." To a certain extent it is such a deduction. Rents are certainly higher in a lightly rated district, and lower in parishes where these burdens are heavy. On pp. 40-41 there are some curious errors. We read :—
" For the two classes [owners and ratepayers] there are scales of voting ; for the owners, in accordance with 58 Geo. III., c. 69 ; for the ratepayers rated under £200, one vote ; between £200 and £400, two votes ; above X400, three votes." And in a note to the clause relating to owners, we have, " vii. : for a rateable value under £50, one vote ; and for a rateable value above £50, one vote for each X25 up to a maximum of six votes." The two things are confused here. The note refers to rate- payers, and the values given for ratepayers to owners. Further on, we read that " the qualification of a guardian must not exceed .240 a year," " be less than" being obviously meant.
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