" STATE ALMSHOUSES " [To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.]
SIR,—In the Christmas number of The Spectator Mrs. Ray Strachey said " The women of England " have made a living force of their Institutes and other organizations " because they really cared." From this caring have arisen numerous Care Committees, but I have never heard of one with the function of caring for those who are on the wrong side of the poverty line, and growing old, though not infirm. The advancing years of many are overshadowed by the dread of the workhouse ; herein lies an opportunity to effect a humane reform, which has the added appeal of economy. The dread could, and should, be removed once for all by converting certain selected quarters in Poor Law Institutions into free unfurnished dwellings for the indigent aged. In these dwellings old people should be at liberty to come and go at will, see friends, wear the clothes they like, and, above all, keep those treasured "bits of things " the parting with which often makes starvation preferable to " going in." They could cook and look after themselves, do their own washing in communal laundries as in Vienna, thereby effecting economies in staff. Under the present system the cost of one man per week is 29s. One modern manageress, of the sympa- thetic type, could manage several hundred old people on the suggested lines.
The proposal is not only for married couples, but for singly, lonely old men and women of the pensionable age, who may have ten or more active years before them. Poor Law Authorities recognize that the rents of those who have no other income must be provided from Public Assistance, and the rent money often goes to maintain thoroughly unsuitable rooms. The existing old people's quarters in Institutionscould be changed into one-roomed dwellings such as are recommended by the Moyne Report merely by turning out the State-owned furniture. Large wards might be converted into cubicles and similarly used.
It would be desirable to call the converted buildings " State Almshouses." In Holland " Institutions " are only used for mental or moral defectives. In Sweden and Denmark people may keep their own furniture in State Homes. England's " Institutions " have changed in name, but in broad outline they remain as first established three hundred years ago. .
. That the conversion suggested is practicable is evident from the fact that the writer knows of one such Institution which has been sold, and converted into small dwellings let at a profit. Others are being put up for sale ; this in spite of the fact that a good deal of the Poor Law Relief Act of 1601 is still unrepealed.
One sentence of this very humane Act of Queen Elizabeth's reign reads : " Which .places shall not at any time after be used or employed to or for any other habitation but only used for the Poor and Impotent of the same parish."
A Sussex women's Institute is sending up a resolution on this subject for consideration at the annual meeting, and we are hoping for the interest and support of other counties.—
Yours faithfully, C. ISABEL H1LYER (Hon. Sec., Housing Sectional Committee, National Council of Women).
9 Worsley Road, Hampstead, N.W. 3.
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