128 BRITAIN FOR THE BRITON 



" ' No subject has occupied onr mi'nrlg so fully since the Council 

 resumed its sittings as the questiou of unemployment. It is a 

 matter of the utmost anxiety to all of us,' " 



said the Hon. Williami E. Peel, the leader of the Reform party 

 in the Couucil. 



Loans, which would provide work for the unemployed, increased 

 by £l,70;^,'J51) between August 1 and November 2i this year, as 

 compared with the same period of last year. The figures are — 



The Lewisham Borough Council, in reply to the suggestion 

 of the Array Council that a supply of leaflets should be dis- 

 tributed on the subject of affording encouragement to the un- 

 employed to join the Special Reserve, recommended — 



" that the War Office be informed of what has been done with 

 reference to its posters and leaflets, and that this Council is of 

 opinion that it is necessary that the Territorial Forces should be 

 properly and efficiently armed with modern artillery, and that proper 

 ammunition columns should be provided ; and that if this were 

 carried into effect, employment could easily be found in this direction 

 for about two thousand men in the Arsenal and dockyard at 

 Woolwich, thus materially lessening the number of unemployed in 

 that and the neighbouring boroughs." 



Philanthropy now comes in with a " Ball in x\id," 



" A ball in aid of the distressed unemployed will be held at the 

 Empress Rooms, Kensington, on the 8th inst., commencing at half- 

 past nine o'clock, under the patronage of the Countess of West- 

 morland," etc.* 



Here is another recent examj)le which is referred to in no 

 cavilling spirit, but partly with the object of pointing out how 

 unlikely is all this philanthropic effort to afford anything but 

 partial temporary relief to a national disease which is too deep- 

 rooted in the lives of the people to be cured by such simple 

 palliatives, and partly to emphasise the attitude of negation 

 assumed towards this vital question by members of the House 

 of Lords. 



At a meeting of the " Church Army " at Lansdowne House, 

 on December 1, 1908, Lord Lansdowne and Lord Cromer, in 

 referring to the Unemployed question, said, respectively — 



* Daily Express, November 23, 1908. 



