A meeting was held on Tuesday at the Queen's Hall
under the presidency of Lord George Hamilton to discuss the formation of a "National Poor Law Reform Association?' Lord George Hamilton in an admirable speech explained the need for such an organisation. The aims of its promoters were substantially those of the Majority Report of the Poor Law Commission, signed by fourteen out of eighteen Commissioners, and sanctioned by the official and more experienced members, and they were forced to take action by the "energetic and ubiquitous agitation, aided by all the Socialistic organisations in the country," which had been set in motion " to advertise and exploit the proposals of the minority and to belittle the reforms advocated by the majority." Lord George Hamilton thus contrasted the aims of the two Reports:—" We pro- pose only one authority with power to give relief from public funds ; the minority propose five authorities with separate objects and separate sets of officials, and each such authority is to be under the control of a different Department of State. We propose to deal with a family as a whole ; the minority propose to disintegrate it by sending each item of it to a separate Committee. We propose to place the granting of relief and its recovery in the hands of the authority who give relief ; the minority propose to separate the two functions."
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