27 NOVEMBER 1926, Page 32

THE ENGLISH POOR IN THE EIGHTEENTH .CEN- TURY. By Dorothy

Maishalf, Ph.D. (Rotitledge. ' 12s. 6d. net.)—As our Poor Law administration is to be remodelled in the near future, it is well -to take into account all our past experience in poor relief, in which, by the way, England led the world. Dr. Marshall's careful study of the system in vogue between the Restoration Act of Settlements (1662) and the: French war. of 1793 is based largely on parish and county records, and brings out very clearly the disadvantages of the parish as the administrativennit. Since poverty is a malady which attacks an entire ntttion,,17,*he says, " it must be dealt with by the central goverriinent7 acting= forerAtilittion as a whole." Yet the local auttioritieS•nrastlsti- y their part.