Mr. Chamberlain, in presiding at the annual meeting of the
West Birmingham Relief Fund, on Monday, described the- action of that Association. A very small relief-area is taken, and within this voluntary help is entirely relied on to sift the cases and eliminate the impostors. "Three-fourths of their visitors," said Mr. Chamberlain, "were working-men, who gave up their spare time to help their fellow-workers. None of them knew for certain that misfortune might not dog their steps, and that they might not in time be in need of the assistance which. they were now giving. They were, therefore, the careful trustees of the fund which they administered, and took great care that the money was not wasted." That is an excellent plan, for it makes the neighbours who really know the circumstances of the families asking aid, judges of whether they deserve help. Curiously enough, the scheme unconsciously carries out a suggestion made twenty years ago by Sir Robert Morier, in his extraordinarily able pamphlet on Local Government. He was anxious that small, or even " street" committees of working-men should be utilised to administer the Poor-Law.
Previous page
