Letters to the Editor
Friends of the Poor Lady Cynthia Colville Buganda H. M. Grace Is the Travel-Book Dead? R. Conquest Egypt's Dismissed Officials Paul Reed, Dorothy Ginger What Happened at Versailles? Joan Evans, J. R. Sturge-Whiting
The Attack on Baha'i S. H. V. Sanandaji
Corn-Feeding John L. Sweeney FRIENDS OF THE POOR SIR,—It is now fifty years since the Society of the Friends of the Poor started its unique career of social service, and its record through- out half a century has been singularly varied and constructive. Today a combination of the competence that is rightly regarded as an essential part of social work with the leisured kindliness and understanding that the Welfare State has neither the time nor the vocation to provide is further proof that the functions of statutory and voluntary aid are not com- petitive but different and complementary. As, within the limits of their own schemes of charitable provision, most associations tend to concentrate on one particular aspect of public necessity, so the Friends of the Poor, though not abandoning general case - work, have tended to emphasise the need for homes for old people whose education and upbringing make them specially appreciative of privacy, quiet, individual care and intellectual facilities and companionship. These homes vary in size and even in amenities, but they are in every sense homes rather than institutions, and each is provided with a nursing-home to which the residents can be transferred when increasing age or illness makes special care or nursing necessary.
Almost every year the society is entrusted with fresh responsibilities requiring an enor- mous amount of clear thought, hard work and personal devotion, On July 4 the Friends of the Poor celebrate a very joyous jubilee: a service in Lambeth Parish Church is to be followed by a garden party in the Palace grounds, to which the society and its friends have been invited by the Archbishop of Canterbury and Mrs. Fisher. We hope that this occasion may, be the means of, enlisting new friends and fresh interest in work that symbolises in a special fashion the immense contribution that can still be made to the pro- vision of security and contentment for those whom it is a duty and a privilege for the com- munity to serve.—Yours faithfully,
42 Ebury Stroet, WC1
CYNTHIA COLVILLE
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