OUTDOOR RELIEF.'
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] - Sin,—As a Poor Law Guardian, will you allow me to correct an erroneous impression on the subject of outdoor relief given
in your article of the issue of November 30th on "Old- Age Pensions "? The writer of the article, urging the un- desirability of the system of outdoor relief, says :—" A firm refusal of outdoor relief brings to light relations and friends who are able to help, but who, not perhaps unnaturally, will not do their duty in this respect as long as they think there is any possibility of the State doing it for them."
I submit, Sir, that this is a complete error in fact; and as I have on former occasions noticed that the general public are frequently in entire ignorance on this point, I shall be very glad if you are able to insert my letter. When the relieving officer presents an application for outdoor relief to the Board of Guardians, he presents at the same time exact statistics respecting the circumstances of all the members of the applicant's family who are legally liable to contribute to his support—such . statistics including employ- ment, wages, rent, number of children or other relatives chargeable on him, state of health, or any other possible dis- ability—from which information the Guardians decide which
of, and in what proportion, such relatives shall be called on to contribute. In instructing the relieving officer to give a certain sum of out-relief, the Board at the same time make an order on any relations they consider to be able to assist for such contribution as their wages, &c., permit, which contribution is thereafter collected by the relieving officer.
Any persona so called on to contribute may appear before the Board to appeal against their decision ; but if the Guardians are still convinced that such contribution should be made, and should the relative decline to obey, a Magistrate's order can then be obtained compelling the payment demanded, a refusal to comply with which would, of course, entail imprisonment.
It should also be 'remembered that the relieving officer has
a legal right to demand information as to wages, perquisites, rent, &c., from employers, who, if approached by private individuals, might choose to consider such inquiries im- pertinent and refuse to accord any reply. Now, Sir, it is evident that only by an application for relief can all this machinery be put in force to compel the assistance of unwilling relations without expense to the indigent or infirm person; and instead of such relations avoiding their responsibility—I again quote the words of your article—" as long as they think there is any possibility of the State doing it for them," it is this very fact of the State stepping in—not the Guardians' "firm refusal of outdoor relief "—that "brings to light relations" who, not only "are able to help," but ought to be compelled to "do their duty in this respect," and thus lessen the burden of the ratepayers. I have, as a Guardian, known many 'examples of unfortunate persons who, having appealed incessantly and in vain to relations legally liable, and in a position to give assistance, were at last in self-defence obliged to apply to the Guardians as the only authority able to enforce payment of the necessary contribu- tion. Therefore it will be seen that in many cases of so-called out-relief the money given through the agency of the relieving officer is supplied entirely by the relatives, the State merely deciding the amount of the contribution, and arranging for its collection.
In these days of searching inquiry into the methods of administration by. Boards of Guardians it is most advan- tageous that the interest of the public in such matters should be aroused by the articles and reports of the Press; but the hands of the Guardians mill be greatly strengthened if they can rely on the Press to correct, when they are encountered, erroneous ideas which may arise on the important, but often little understood, subject of the Poor Law.—I am, Sir, &c.,
ANNIE LOWNDES, Poor Law Guardian.
Petersfield, Hants.
[Our correspondent describes what Guardians ought to do, and no doubt do, in the case of Boards which act on Charity Organisation Society lines. Unfortunately, however, such Boards are by no means to be found in every Poor Law area. Too often, especially in towns, very little care is taken to act in the way here described. We have heard of Boards granting outdoor relief in cases where nearly 21 a week was coming into the house of the person relieved (a widow) in the shape of wages paid to unmarried children living at home: Guardians, again, often make very perfunctory investigations, and accept statements from those seeking relief that they have lost all traces of their relatives. The laxer the administration of outdoor relief, the less inclined are the relatives to come forward.—En. Spectator.]
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