SOCIAL REFORM IN ENGLAND.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 11545, 30 March 1903, Page 4

SOCIAL REFORM IN ENGLAND.

It ia a common failing with reformers to believe tliat the great remedy for all social ills is legislation. Enthusiasm for" 'the cause which lacks assist;mce" is very ,\pt. to blind them to the fruitleasnesa of attempting fb reform their fellow-men by Act of Parliament, and past, experience seems to bo of no avail in pointing the error of their •well-meant but mis-directed effort*. Reformers of this type might very profitably take to heart the advice given by Sir John Goret in a recent speech in Manchester. It was far better, he pointed out, to endeavour to reform the administration of existing laws before they went crying to the Government to give additional powers, nnd before satisfactory progress could be made towards social reform it was necessary to create an enlightened and forcible public opinion. In England, says Sir John Goret, "some "little progress" has been made in this direction. "Persons of all classes, from " the highest to the lowest, are," he finds, " beginning to think more about the con- " ditions of the mass of the people, and "are recognising more every day how '•'vital it is to the welfare of the country " that the happiness oi. the people should "be assured." Amongst the methods by which the "reform from within" ie being attempted in England, the idea of social and educational clubs amongst working men and women deserves attention. A recent issue of "The Times" contains a eketch of an organisation called the " Social Institutes "Union," which, in « quiet way, ie doing much to elevate the young men and women of squalid neighbourhoods'. During the , past few years the Union has formed seven clubs in London—four for men and three j for women—with an average membership of 50 each. These clubs are practically self-supporting, and workmen find in them the opportunity of enjoying their evening game of dominoes or billiards without being compelled to use the bar of a public-house and pay for drinks. On Saturday nights the "'Family Social Party" proves a strong attraction to the members and their wives ajid families. "The meeting of mothers, "wives and sieters with the men on com"mon social ground has," we are assured by the promoters, "been altogether for good." The members are encouraged to help others worse off than themselves by giving concerts at the nearest workhouses, collecting for the hospitals, providing Christmas suppers for the aged, poor, and promoting eick and benefit funds among iJhdi friends. During the winter lecturei aro given on subjects connected with the industries in which the members earn their livelihood. At Camden r town, where piano-forte-making is the chief industry of the neighbourhood, two courses of lectures on sound were given at the Camden Institute, and the manufacturers afterwards sent a special letter of thanke to the Social Institute's Union. The Institutes for girls provide female workers with accommodation, cooking, refreshmente, and recreation. In one Club, swimming, hockey, drill and boating are made a feature of the work, and the improvement in the appearance of the girls and in their efficiency as factoryhands is declared by the manager to be extraordinary. Another excellent organisation working on equally rational Jines is the women's University Settlement, of which Miss Gladstone is Warden. This body diea'.s with the subject of technical education, and attempts to solve the problem, not by any elaborate and costly system, but by the very sensible method of promoting the apprenticeship of girls and boys to skilled trades. Masters willing to take apprentices are sought out, and money is advanced to the parenta to compensate them for the loss of wagee earned by the unskilled labour of their children, who are thus placed in a position to earn fa? better "wages in the future as skilled mechanics. Organisations euch as these point the way to social reform, but the field is too largo and their resources arc too limited for them to cope with the evilson an adequate scale. It is for the people as a whole to recognise the value of such efforts, and by the creation of a strong public opinion to waJken local bodies to a full sense of their responsibility in regard to social ilk.