4 OCTOBER 1913, Page 30

[To TEE EDITOR 07 THE "SPECTATOR. "] SIR, _Your columns are

too valuable to allow the prolonga- tion of an old controversy, which, however, is still vitally important. All I will say in reply to Mr. 3. Archibald Allen is that the proposition that a State dole of five shill- ings a week encourages thrift is absolutely unproved, and that the result is to make one class permanently dependent on the rest of the community for a part at least of their maintenance. We old Liberals used to call this pauperism. Whether a Cabinet Minister has or has not a retiring allow- ance should certainly be a consideration in the fixing of his salary. It is so in the fixing of all other salaries.—I am,