Post- Office Insurance for Labourers. 
81 
neglects upon being called upon to do so, is, if the relation 
become chargeable, liable, by the police regulations, to im- 
prisonment during such time as the relief might be required." 
The "Instruction" enjoins on "overseers and visitors" to 
impress and enforce this duty (the legal obligation of supporting 
relatives) upon all occasions. 
IV. Better supervision of the poor than that commonly made 
is also needed. In a paper* read at the Conference of Chairmen 
and Vice-Chairmen of Boards of Guardians in London last 
November, allusion was made to the mistaken "economy of 
having an inadequate staff of relieving officers. Sir Charles 
Trevelyan, Sir Baldwyn Leighton, Mr. Smith, M.P., and other 
speakers, were in favour of careful investigation and scrutiny of 
the out-relief lists." Bearing in mind that the test of " the 
House" is not yet used in Elberfeld, the reader will be 
interested to notice the substitute for such test, and a few hints 
may be extracted therefrom which will be useful in dealing with 
our own applicants for relief : — 
" The applicant is subjected to an examination so close and searching that 
no man who could possibly escape from it would submit to it. He is not one 
of several hundreds who can tell his own story to an overworked relieving 
officer, but one of a very few, never exceeding four, frequently the single 
applicant, who is bound by law to answer every one of that long string of 
([uestions that his interrogator is bound by law to put to him. ... He must 
state whether he has a settlement in Elberfeld, that is, whether he has resided 
in it without receiving relief for 12 months, how long he has resided in it, 
where he resided before, ... he is bound to give, with his own name, the 
name of every member of his family, the day, month, and year of the birth of 
each, his birthplace, religious profession, . , . his occupation, the name of his 
employer, his average weekly earnings ; he must declare whether his_ family 
leads a moral and honest life, specify which of the members does not, .... 
the name, dwelling, business, and circumstances of surviving parents, parents- 
in-law, and grandparents, as well as children not living with the head of the 
family. The applicant is bound to give ' the causes of his pauperism.' This 
IS no superficial inquiry in which he can palm off some plausible story of 
distress, and the cause of it, but is a strict investigation into the circumstances 
of the man's life and present position. After the claim is admitted, the pauper 
is kept under constant surveillance ; he is urged to find work, and, if he 
cannot find it, labour is provided for him." 
While I admit that it would not be possible to adopt the 
system of Elberfeld in this country, there are many Guardians 
who might most usefully aid the labours of the relieving officer 
by instituting strict inquiry in addition to that made by the 
servants of the Board, and who, by impressing on the labouring 
class the duty of maintaining their relations, would raise in 
some degree their moral perception as to their duty. 
V. On the fifth point, of abolishing composition in lieu of 
* By Rev. Septimus Hansard. 
vol/. VIII. — S. S. 
G 
