Post-Office Insurance for Labourers. 
79 
infirm paupers, not to be separated from their wives on coming 
" into the House." 
III. Relations to be compelled to pay eitlier all or part of the 
cost of paupers in receipt of relief, as may be ordered after 
enquiry by the magistrates. 
IV. Better supervision of the poor than- that commonly ex- 
ercised. 
V. The abolition of all composition for poor-rates, and the 
collection of the rate to be levied on occupiers of tenements who 
are not excused payment. 
VI. Boards of Guardians to authorise relief to applicants who 
belong to "certified"* Friendly Societies, if they think the same 
is necessary. 
VII. Boards of Guardians to refuse relief, other than the 
House, to applicants who belong to societies which are not 
" certified " by the Registrar. 
A few remarks on points 1. and II. may be quoted from the 
article already referred to : — 
I. and II. With regard to idle and vicious paupers. There is, 
at present, no provision in our unions suited to their deserts 
The cost of their maintenance and clothing should be exacted 
from the male paupers of this class. Retaining the power of 
dealing with refractory and disorderly paupers according to law, 
the Guardians should be empowered to draft able-bodied paupers 
of bad character, from among the inmates of the Union, and 
send them, for a stated term, to an establishment where work 
is exacted in return for maintenance. One such "Workhouse" 
in each county would suffice, and labour, both outdoors and 
indoors, could be found without difficulty. 
But in the case of those whose want arises from infirmity, 
age, or misfortune, the care of the Guardians should be exer- 
cised with kindness and even some indulgence — often, be it 
remembered, shown at present on the worthless as well as the 
deserving poor. There are "able-bodied" paupers in the eye of 
the law who are not able-bodied in any other sense. And to 
them may be added those who, from natural incapacity, are ever 
gravitating towards the bottom, and cannot compete even in the 
unskilled labour performed either above or underground. It is 
further germane to the improvement of the poor that a reform of 
the law in points in which it is at variance with laws designed 
by the Creator for the good of the human race should be made. 
The rrgulations which separate husband and wife, parent and 
child, which break up families, are perpetuating worse evil than 
is inflicted on those who are thus put asunder. 
* The term " certified will be explained below. 
