Land Problems and National Welfare 



cost to the public is only ;^6 1 5s. per destitute child. 



With us the authorities have, it is to be feared, 

 no such clearly formulated principles for guid- 

 ance ; the State interferes where destitution 

 is glaringly patent — interferes with results that 

 are often deplorable, and at an annual cost of 

 up to l^o per child in the country, and up to 

 ^54 per child in the towns. 



It is because the Minority Report of the Poor 

 Law Commission so clearly recognises these 

 three guiding principles, that to my mind it 

 merits support.* 



I do not see how a satisfactory condition can 

 be created unless the present poor law system is 

 done away with in toto. And, as a practical 

 worker on the County Council, I should be glad 

 to see the whole question of the allocation of 

 local work carefully considered. The County 

 Council should be the supreme financial auth- 

 ority for all things local ; if the burdensome 

 care of the mentally infirm were transferred 

 from County to Imperial Authorities, there is no 

 doubt that the Councils could cope with the poor 

 law work. Practically all the necessary com- 

 mittees now exist, and the local education com- 

 mittees could deal with the destitute children of 

 their districts. In the country — and my remarks 

 are confined to rural districts — this is not a very 



• And above all that it is based on the principle that prevention is 

 better than cure. 



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