Breaking up the Poor Law On Tuesday . the Local Government
Act of 1929 came into force, and with the disappearance of the Guardians a notable epoch in- our social history came to an end. The work of the Guardians passed into the hands of the County and County Borough Councils. It was time for the change, which'had been seen to be inevitable ever since the Royal Commission of 1909. The County and County Borough Councils have appointed Public Assistance Committees which will carry on the old work of the Guardians. Each of these Committees has appointed a Public Assistance Officer who will be helped in the indis- pensable task of local research by " Guardians Com- mittees." Thus a titular link with the past is main- tained. It seems that some of the former Guardians have dropped out of the service—very much to the loss of the nation, as, except in those few places where the Guardians had become simply the medium of indis- criminate charity, they had a fine record of self-sacri- ficing labour. A justly administered relief of the poor must depend upon local knowledge. Direct relief of the able-bodied poor by the Exchequer would dangerously divorce the grants of money from the restraining tests of local inquiry. * * *
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