by relief. "Pauper ubique jacet," said our famous Queen Elizabeth when in her progress through the kingdom she saw the vast crowds of poor thronging to see her and bless her, and the thought put Her Majesty upon a continued study how to recover her people from their poverty, and to make their labours more profitable to themselves in particular and the nation in general, and " the wise queen found out the way how every family might live upon its labour."
We have all heard of the old Poor Law which brought this country as near to the brink of ruin as it ever has been brought; perhaps some may say we have heard of it too often, but the truth cannot be told too often, and reiteration does not make it any the less true.
It is not necessary, however, to go back very far for illustrations of the effect of wholesale and highly centralised material relief; there are many of us who have not yet forgotten the Mansion House Fund of 1885 and the effect that it had upon the poorer population of London. It may be seen to-day in London and elsewhere where Boards of Guardians have, with the perfectly honest conviction that they are doing what is kindest to the poor, removed so far as they are able all restrictions and limitations upon public relief. In London, after ten years of unexampled commercial prosperity, we have ten thousand more people chargeable to the rates than we had ten years ago. That increase is due to the action of a comparatively small number of Boards of Guardians. The richest West End parish has increased its pauperism in the ten years from 22 to 26 per thousand of the population, and actually has more paupers per thousand than several of the poorest East End parishes. A North London Board has increased its pauperism from 19 to 21 per thousand;
