The struggle between the Ministry of Health and the iecalcitraht
and bankrupt West Ham Board of Guardians has burst out again. The Ministry refuses any further advances of money and the Board refuses to economise. An audit has revealed that the regulations are disregarded wholesale. These Guardians are, of course, not alone in throwing to the winds the sound old Poor Law doctrine of " lesser eligibility," but the vice of any responsible body borrowing money with no prospect of repaying it and showering it upon others, political supporters or not, is scarcely worse than the deliberate undermining of all sense of family responsibility. This must appear flagrant to anyone who reads of the allowances made to lads (for example) living with .their parents in homes With substantial incomes. The Minister now proposes to bring in to Parliament a Bill by which the Board will be superseded by appointed Commissioners of some kind, presumably akin to those who have superseded the Dublin Corporation or some American bodies whose incompetence or corruption became intolerable.
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