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labour, unwise relief, and unemployment. Abolition of 
Guardians and Unions, however, won’t remedy these, nor 
can Guardians be blamed for them. The reforms needed are 
the raising of school age, labour bureaux, insurance against 
sickness and unemployment, housing schemes, and land 
reform. All these are national reforms, but still local agents 
will be required. 
As to these local agents, the Lecturer suggested that the 
present Guardians with fuller powers should be retained. 
The difficulties that daily confront Guardians were then 
dealt with, and many typical examples in this and neigh- 
bouring Unions were quoted to indicate how complex and 
intricate is the problem of poverty with which they have 
to deal : cases of desertion, illegitimacy and vagrancy, of 
work-shys, drunkards, and workhouse habitues, of disease 
and vice, were instanced, and the inadequate powers of the 
Guardians to deal effectually with them clearly brought out. 
By the aid of charts and diagrams, the advance that had 
been made since the present Poor Law system’s being initiated 
in 1834 was indicated : in particular, the great decline in 
pauperism from 56 per 1,000 in 1850 to 22 per 1,000 in 1908 
was emphasised as well as the rise of Poor-law Infirmaries 
and of a new and better era for Poor-law children. 
Finally the Memorandum of Dr. Downes, the Senior Medical 
Inspector of the Local Government Board, himself a member 
of the Commission, as well as one of its principal witnesses, 
and possibly the member possessed of the widest and best 
informed knowledge of the present system, was quoted at 
length. 
Inter alia, Dr. Downes says : — 
“ I have signed the Majority Report because I desire to 
support the principle that public relief in every form should 
be administered and controlled by one local authority in 
each area. 
“ The control of assistance from public funds is a foremost 
function of Government, but it is not one which the people 
of this country would willingly surrender to the regime 
of officialism, however this may recommend itself to the 
ultimate aims which have inspired the Minority Report. 
" But I regret that I must dissent from the scheme of 
administration proposed in the Majority Report. I view 
with grave misgiving the wholesale and imminent disruption 
