The Press. TUESDAY, AUGUST 14, 1906. PAUPERISM AND PLUNDER.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 12571, 14 August 1906, Page 6

The Press. TUESDAY, AUGUST 14, 1906. PAUPERISM AND PLUNDER.

A cable message which we published yesterday, to the effect that a contractor who had been supplying coal to the West Ham Guardians was convicted of defrauding them of £200 and sentenced to six months' imprisonment, refers to what is merely one of a series of very deplorable incidents which have . come to light recently in connection with the administration of local government in England. It must not be imagined that this was an ordinary case of fraud which wae discovered by the West Ham Guardians, and that the prosecution was undertaken at their insfance. On the contrary, it was discovered by the Local Government Board, as the result of investigations initiated by the Department. When, as a result of tho enquiry, the Local Government Board ordered the dismissal of tho steward and storekeeper, who had charge of tho coal the Guardians, so far from exhibiting any desire to assist the Government in putting down dishonesty among the union's servants and contractors, actually seemed to resent the Department's interference. When tho decision was announced to them, they expressed the opinion that the evidence was "flimsy," as at most only proving 'Qaxity," and the action taken on it as "not speaking " much for the wisdom of those who "hold the enquiry." When the contractor wae brought to his trial, he did not even attempt to dispute the charge, but pleaded guilty, so that the public will not have much difficulty in deciding who has shown most wisdom in this matter—the Local Government Board, who discovered that tho ratepayers were being robbed, and secured the punishment of the offenders, or the Guardians who seem to think that dishonesty on the part of public officials and contractors is a kind of amiable weakness which it ie an impertinence on the part of any outside body—even tho Local Government Board itself—to attempt to suppress. The truth is, as the London "Spectator" points out, careless masters breed careless servants, and the recklessness with which the Guardians of West Ham have been flinging about the ratepayers' money for the supposed benefit of the paupers in the district, is good neither for the Guardians, their servants, nor even for the paupers themselves. Bad as is the condition of affairs at West Ham, however, it is altogether put in the shade by the riotous extravagance —and even worse—which has taken place at Poplar, whoro an enquiry by the Local Government Board has also been taking place. There has been a most extraordinary rise in the amount and cost of poor relief in Poplar during the last twenty-one years. Between 1885 and 1895 the number of indoor paupers increased 70 per cent., and that of outdoor paupers 37 per cent. In the next eleven years tho number of indoor paupers showed a growth of 37 per cent., amd tho number of outdoor ' paupers jumped up 249 per cent. " The ' cost increased at a still greater ratio, ! shewing that the Poplar Guardians not ' only relieved more cases, but they spent ■ a good deal moro on the relief of each ' separate case. The greatest increase i was in the cost of indoor relief, and 7 this is not to bo wondered at when we read tho evidence given at the Govern- < ment enquiry already referred to. We 1 read of a bath, cost ing £100, being t provided for the master of the work- •< house, of the paupers being driven to ■< the railway station in broughame, of 3 their being given suits of clothes cost, i ing £2 apiece, of their returning short- < ly afterwards, after having pawned tho < suits, and presumably drunk the pro- a cecds, and of their beiog again fur- s nfched -with fresh suits at the rate- i payers' expense. Apropos of tho ] broughams, it may be mentioned that c the cost of conveyance expenses rose ' from £540 in 1901 to £1545 in 1905. a The jobmaster who carried on the con- I tract for many yeare frankly explained o in his evidence that he gave the master (

of the workhouse one shilling in the pound for all the work ho gave him (tho jobmaster). Furthermore the same fortunate official was allowed a landau or brougham whenever ho wanted one. Once he had three broughams one evenimg for himself ar.d his friends to go to a Masonic lodse. Ho seems to have been a man of nice taste in such matters, inasmuch as he always required that the carriages sent for his use should ,bo rubboT-ty.red and that they should he aocornipaniod by a man; in livery. Nor was this all. Thesamo witness sworo that ho once suppliedfree an omnibus to a guardian who was fighting an election, and that this grateful representative of tho ratepayers afterwards assured him that to that omnibus he owed his election.! Nor was this the only instance in which individual guardians were accused of having chared in the plundering going on. Tho result of the Poplar enquiry has not yet reached us. But anyone can see how cruelly such corruption and extravagance must bear upon the struggling ratepayers who fit rive- to preservo their independence, aud can onOy just make ends mtot. What makes it still more cruel is that this increasing pressure of the rates has already driven ono or two great industrial enterprises from the district, and threatems to close up the rest. The ratepayers, in additio.ll to being bled with unnecessary rates, aro therefore in some instances being also deprived of their livelihood. Hard things are sometimes said about the Charitable Aid Boards in this country and the strictness with "which they administer relief. The truth is that there is every temptation, to be lavish with the public money, but strictness , is required not only in the interests of the ratepayers, but also of the poxeons who apply for relief.