MR. BURNS'S NIGHT OUT.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 160, 31 March 1908, Page 5

MR. BURNS'S NIGHT OUT.

, TAKES CHARITY SOUP IN COURT .dress.; \ ;.v. How a Cabinet Minister,'-in rcceipt of £2000' a year, t-ook soup and bread intended foy the starving poor was related by 'the Right Hon. John Burns 1 in the House of. Commons recently., His fellow-members were vastly amused at his narrative of' apersonal adventure. - The President of . the Local Board was winding up a debate' on unemployment, and declared that pauperism ini London would continue to grow, so long as the unemployed ; movement was exploited by the typo of person who came'to London pot to■ seek employment; but to' talk'about unemployment, and to accept 'the philanthropic charity which was intended for more worthy, people than themselves. As an illustration,. lie ' stated that', he had the.honour of going with his colleagues in the Cabinet to- Buckingham Palace on .his call to office. ' In his Court dress he afterwards took his place at 1 o'clock in ■ the : morning in the long queue of 300 or ( '4OO, meii who .assemble nightly on the Thames Embankment. He mixed with these men for two or three hours, and he was glad to say that they did not recogniso him as one who had como fresh from the Palace of His Majesty. He turned up the collar of his coat, pulled his, "bowler" over his eyos, and looked as miserable as he could —and at the end 'of this long queue lie, a Minister in. receipt of £2000 a year, held out his hand and received his; portion of soup and his pound of bread. Was that a discriminating, kind; of charity? London, indeed, was being shamefully exploited, and tho : movement was being ' damaged in the name of a sentiment to such an. extent as he had indicated. When a man knew that this sort of tiling took place, what kind of incentive was being - held out to any sturdy vagrant getting; probably 6d.,- 8d.,. or 9d. a day from certain sources, with a too indulgent wife, or mother, which should prevent him from coming lip to Londqn and swelling the ranks of the "unemployed ? What was the kind of day's history in the life of such a man in search of ?a; day's work? Between 9 and 10 in the morning he went to Birdcage Walk .and listened to the Army band. After this ho walked across the park to Soho or Piccadilly, and got his luncheon at someone's expense to a cheap restaurant. "What shall we do next?" was the question of one companion to another. "Oh, let us walk across the park and see old Burns go to the levee." ; At'five o'clock came tea at a cabman's shelter; at 10 o'clock there was not enough money for a lodging, but, the night being fine,, this man and his. companions clected to go to the Embankment and get'soup and shelter, t This course "of action was, in his judgment; a corroding of the morale of men who would have been all the better if kept from this kind of temptation.. • j ; • . .