n 



were not ])iovid«d under the present system 

 accommodation of the kind would still be 

 necessary. Among the changes which he 

 favoured he would have all poor law legis- 

 lation uniform, and none of the Acte should 

 be permissive. He was instrumental in 

 getting the Canterbury Board to adopt the 

 Act of 1882. As a result of the deterrent 

 which was put upon casuals under that 

 system the number of vagrants dropped 

 from 12,000 a year to about 2,500 and that 

 had been kept up for the last 10 or 12 

 years. Hie view was that Guardians should 

 be exclusively occupied in administering 

 the poor law. The able-bodied poor should 

 be dealt with by another authority. He 

 would do away with mixed workhouses, and 

 there should be no place for the lazy vaga- 

 bond. No matter what was done for those 

 people, they would simplv skulk and rot 

 out their existence. If tliey could be put 

 into labour colonies and made to earn some- 

 thing and reform themselves the prospect 

 would be more hopeful, but as far as he 

 could see, the vagrants themselves were 

 quite satisfied— they wanted nothing better 

 than they had at present. Another thino- 

 which he would be preparcil to forego wal^ 

 the assessment of piopeitv. He could not 

 quite see where the qualification to look 

 after the bringing up of children ga\u a 

 Iierson the qualification to value a canal or 

 a limekiln. The Guardians should, he 

 thought, be dispossessed of those powers 

 and an authority with some technical know- 

 ledge might take over that work. The 

 supervision of vaccination he looked upon 

 as a sanitary matter which should come 

 under the purview of the medical officer- 

 and the Inf.Tntile Life Protection Act, and 

 the Children's Act could be better carried 

 out by the police than by relieving officers 



He had his suspicions that in the past ia 

 Canterbury there had been jiersons who had 

 undertaken the care of children who had 

 not altogether done their Ijcst by those 

 children, and had not taken them as a result 

 of disinterested feeling but rather for the 

 gain which they had brought. His view 

 was that if the administration of those 

 Acts was vested in the Watch Committee, 

 and an inspector went round in a blue 

 uniform with buttons it might be more 

 helpful to the efficient administration of the 

 Act. The machinery of the poor law ought 

 certainly to be scrajiped. The methods of 

 procedure were simply maddening, and it 

 required more brains than the ordinary 

 human being possessed to comprehend the 

 intricacies of many of the enactments, the 

 worst feature of which was legislation by 

 reference to various statutes. The whole 

 of the poor laws should be consolidated. In 

 conclusion. Councillor Stone claimed that, 

 after a survey of the steady improvement 

 which had been brought about by Boards 

 of Guardians in the poor law administra- 

 tion, they would fail to see any reason to 

 do away with those authorities any more 

 than they would do in the case of Town 

 Councils and other bodies. Unless they 

 were prepared for the luxury of increased 

 rates he thought they would do better to 

 bear the ills they had than to incur others 

 of which they knew nothing. 



An interesting discussion ensued, being 

 taken part in by Messrs. C. A. Gardner, 

 W. T. Leeming, "W. Cozens, Colin Eoberts 

 (Master of the Workhouse), the Chairman, 

 Messrs. E. E. Glanville and T. Underbill. 



There was, for the most part, very gene- 

 ral agreement with the conclusions arrived 

 at by Councillor Stone. To him a very 

 cordial vote of thanks was given at the close. 



THE GENEEATION OF ELECTEICITY .AND ITS USES. 



LECTURE BY MR. F. LEWIS. 



Mr. F. Lewis, of the Canterbury Muni- 

 cipal Electricity Works, gave an interest- 

 ing illustrated lecture at the Beaney 

 Institute on the 26th Feb. The lecture 

 was given under the auspices of the East 

 Kent Scientific and Natural History 

 Society, and was well attended. About 

 the room were arranged various electrical 

 apparatuses, including electric irons, grills, 

 kettles, pans, cookers, ^ horse power electric 

 motor, etc. The room was heated by a 

 Dowsing electric radiator, and a Ferranti 

 electric fire. There were also two electric 

 ovens, one of the ' ' Tricity ' ' make, the 

 other, perhaps more interesting locally, 

 made bv Messrs. H. M. Bigglestou. of Can- 

 terbury, under the Harrison patents, Ixith 

 of which ovens were shown complete. The 



Biggleston oven is used in a household in 

 the City, and with current at IJd. per unit 

 (the price in Canterburv), all the food, 

 including bread for a familv of five persons, 

 is cooked by the oven, the cost for last 

 quarter being 13s. 9d. for electric current. 

 After mentioning the wide range the sub- 

 ject covered, the historical port was briefly 

 mentioned. The word " Electricity " is 

 derived from the word " Electron, "which 

 IS Greek for amber. Thales, of Miletus 

 discovered 600 B.C. that amber, when' 

 rubbed with silk, attracted licrht bodies 

 owing to Its electrific-vtion. The Greeks 

 and Romans made no use of electricitv. 

 In 1799 Volta announced the results of his 

 experiments, which were the foundation of 

 the scientific applications of electricity as 



