and varying its scope and benefits to their needs, and ever working to reduce the number of applicants by initiating them in self-help. of charities. In this book there are entries of Endowed Charities and The income General Voluntary Charities. Church and Congregational Charities are omitted. It is not possible without a careful analysis of the receipts of these institutions and charities to give any trustworthy estimate of their total income. The total must however be extremely large. An enormous sum is spent annually on beggingletter writers of every kind and degree and given to street mendicants. ment of institutions. The incomes which have been entered are those returned by the Institutions themselves, but it has not been found possible to compile a satisfactory return of the total income of the charities. Some institutions return their income as 'from all sources,' making no distinction between what is received-e.g., from patients and from contributors. Others state their income on one or two heads separately and place the rest of their receipts together, as 'from other sources.' Others return their income under one headinge.g., 'Charitable contributions, bazaars, sales of work,' &c. Others give the gross amount of industrial sales, without deducting the cost of material, labour, &c. Others make a return of income for years, or periods, other than the year last past. A number of institutions make no return whatever as to income.* Passing next Manageto the management of institutions, information on this point also has been inserted. It is not enough to have committees, but to have 'working' committees, who understand the accounts and internal arrangements of their institutions or societies. Inquiry not unfrequently proves that the display of names on the cover of a society's report is entirely deceptive. The committee are men of straw; the patrons know nothing of the institution, never make use of it, and help it only by giving their names; the officials are sometimes absolute managers, sometimes even managers primarily in their own interests. Unpaid service, it is said in extenuation, is shifty and irresponsible, but it is well that as many as possible should be interested in charitable work, even if their services be often only nominal. This argument might be passed by, if the pageantry of names did not cover the working of institutions which are affecting for good or for evil the future lives of many who cannot protest on their own behalf and are practically in the absolute control of their superiors. To guard the donor and the recipient, there ought to be a ready means of ascertaining whether there is a frequent periodical meeting of a committee of management, whose members are qualified to serve from a knowledge of *For a rough estimate, see Addenda, p. clxxvi. ; and for a paper on Committees of Management, see Addenda, p. clxxix. Almsgiving and religious teaching should be separated. the details of their work and of its general bearing. Charities want VIII.-ON DISTRICT VISITING; PERSONAL CHARITY AND WHOLESALE As the giving of money and tickets is subordinated to the endeavour to influence the poor, personal charity, visiting the homes of the poor, and the like, will alter its character. It is questionable whether house-to-house visitation' is not a waste of energy. Comparatively few people have the tact and knowledge to be good District Visitors. A constant intrusion into the houses of the poor weakens their self-respect, and, if combined with religious ministration, tends to hypocrisy. The tract and the shilling are acceptable, not the former only. The dinner or tea before the address is acceptable, not the latter only. The separation of religious teaching and almsgiving is therefore, in the interests of morality, most necessary. It will be said, as it is said by many ministers, that, going to a wretched room, they cannot pray with people who they think are starving: religious ministrations to people left to famish seem a cruel mockery. Yet men, who are intent on doing spiritual good, whose mood for the time must of necessity be one of hopeful and intent earnestness, and who are unable for the moment in their absorption in their object to take notice of details, are quite unfit then to judge of evidence, and quite liable to deception by those who are callous to their earnestness and in no way scrupulous of acting a part. If this is so, it is best that the question of material assistance should be entrusted to other hands, or at least dealt with at another time. Many cases illustrative of this will be found in Mr. Hornsby Wright's 'Confessions of an Almsgiver,' and 'Thoughts and Experiences of a Charity Organisationist.' Relief will be more wisely given if it is given apart from religious teaching, and by the direction of a committee, after a discussion of the particulars in each instance. * care of cases. Instead of 'house-to-house visitation,' a system possible only The afterwhere the leisurely reside, and therefore not to be had in the poorest districts, where presumably it would be most required, the plan should be substituted of visiting in connection with applications for assistance. The appeal for assistance on the applicant's part has given his benefactor a fair opportunity of helping in his own way and on his own conditions. To make inquiries on special points, and for the after-care of the case, when the committee has decided generally on the mode of assisting, personal charity is often required. 'Let the philanthropist be made to understand,' says Chalmers ('On the Sufficiency of the Parochial System'), 'that, for the purpose of doing aught like substantial or permanent good, something more is necessary than to compassionate the poor-he must also consider them; and let him learn at length that there is indeed a more excellent way of charity than that to which his own headlong sensibilities have impelled him.' tions for a To be competent to visit the poor, the visitor should be able Qualifica to show them how to economise, how to prepare and where to visitor. buy cheap and nutritious food, where to put their savings. She ought to be an authority in domestic business, able to do before them what she wishes to teach them. She ought to know what are the requirements of sanitation. She ought to have that combination of authority and gentleness which wins respect and friendship and can stimulate to duty without giving offence. 'Friendly love perfecteth man.' She should not be an almsgiver, but a friend. done by charity. A word may be added here in regard to 'wholesale' charities, The injury such as soup-kitchens and the like. Many of the ordinary parochial wholesale charities are planned on the belief that the poor must be expected to receive some sort of charitable assistance every year. Charity, in which, from furnishing the materials, local tradesmen have often an interest, is thus continually checking all tendency towards the establishment of co-operative stores or of any system which may make the poor more independent. Like the villagers who were going to establish a friendly society, but repented when they remembered that for its benefits they would have to pay many annual contributions, and in the end have no out-relief, while to qualify for out-relief no such contributions were necessary-the poor see that they need make no effort for themselves. If they push themselves out of the class 'poor,' or rather indigent,' they lose these casual alms. Charities given to the multitude are altogether wrong. To be beneficial, charity must adjust its means to the wants of the particular case, and not leave that case till it * Much may be said for systematic visitation. If that be preferred, some reasonable pretext for calling is desirable. The collection of rents may serve as this or the weekly collection of savings, or a visit in regard to children who attend a school in which the visitor teaches. Charities in kind; how useful. has effected a cure. Wholesale charities either demoralise the poor by their periodicity-e.g. in every hard winter-or they feed the casual pauper, who, if charity is plentiful, lives out of the workhouse; or if, as in a mild winter, it is scarce, retires to the more rigorous discipline of the house. The use of the charities given in kind is limited. They are suitable for interim help until the case is permanently aided; and they are useful in sick cases, in which nourishing diet is required. The way in which tickets and trifles in food and money are often given is illustrated in the following cases : (1) This case had long been known to the Committee. Man is a cabman, aged 41, but suffers from gout, and can seldom do any work. Wife applied to a lady in the neighbourhood for assistance. Their rooms were very dirty and untidy, and £3 was due for rent. There were six children, aged from 3 to 21. It was ascertained that the wife and children were earning 28s. a week and some food, and that they were receiving broken food daily from one lady, and 1s. a week from another, and occasional tickets from the clergy, making their income at least 34s. or 35s. a week, besides anything the husband might earn.' (2) 'A woman and her grown-up daughter, living together, had been receiving charitable tickets for a long time, till the visitor thought it would not be right to spend more on these people, who seemed to get no better off; and the case was referred to this Committee. On inquiring into particulars it was ascertained that their earnings, though not large, would be sufficient to maintain them, if it was not that their rent was very high- 6s. 6d. The Committee persuaded them to move into cheaper lodgings, at 3s. 6d., which were found for them by the Biblewoman; but to enable them to move, and to prevent their furniture being detained for the heavy arrears of rent they had incurred, about 50s. had to be paid, which was given about half by the rector of the parish and half by the Society for the Relief of Distress. They thus became self-supporting; but if the tickets had never been given they would have had to move long before; the 3s. a week which they would have thus saved would have been more to them than the value of the tickets; and as the arrears of rent would not have been incurred, a little thoughtfulness would both have saved them from being long dependent on charity, and have saved the value of the tickets and the 50s. for more necessitous cases.' (3) A middle-aged single woman, about eight years ago, applied to this Committee. She was represented by all who knew her as highly respectable; she was said to be well-connected, but she was in great distress, as she could not earn enough to keep herself by needlework. Pending inquiries as to means of permanent employment or assistance, the Committee organised a temporary weekly allowance for her. But those who gave it were not willing to continue any regular help, the woman herself was not willing to work, unfortunately finding begging easier, and the good connections vanished on inquiry. The Committee then refused further help, unless she took a situation. But other persons took another view of the matter. Whenever she called at certain houses she was sure of "a trifle" in money and food; from others she would beg for, and receive, 5s. for materials to make up servants' caps, &c., and from many she received help in reply to letters. One lady sent 1s. a week. but inquired no further into her resources. And what was the result? Side by side with the habit of begging grew the habit of drinking, and last year she was found living in abject wretchedness, in a miserable room containing only a box and a mattress, on bare boards. Still she obtained enough money from "charitable people" to find means to spend her evenings in public-houses, returning intoxicated late in the night. At length her strength held out no longer against such habits, and she found her way to the workhouse, only at first to stay there a short time, and then to come out and drink once more; but there can be little doubt where her days must end. Her tale is a sad monument to the "cruel kindness" of unthinking charity.' IX. THE MUNICIPAL ADMINISTRATION OF THE METROPOLIS. The local administration of the Metropolis is of so complex a character that attention should be drawn to it at the outset. Here and throughout we wish to place before the reader the charities on the one hand, and on the other the legislative provisions for the poor and others. The area of the Metropolis is different, and differently divided for different purposes. The most important area of administration is that known as the Metropolitan area.' It covers 75,462 acres, and in 1881 it contained a population of 3,834,354 It now forms the new county of London (see p. cxxiii.). (1) For the election of members of Parliament it is divided into 58 boroughs and electoral divisions, each of which returns one member, excepting the City, which returns two. For the election of members of the County Council the same electoral districts are used. The registered 'County electors' elect 118 members, two for each division, excepting the City, which has four. (2) For the purposes of local management, local drainage, sanitation, etc., the Metropolitan area is divided into 27 parishes, each under a Vestry elected by the ratepayers, and 13 District Boards of Works (see p. cxx.), consisting of representatives of the vestries in their districts. (3) For the administration of the Poor Law there are, in the Metropolitan area, 30 Poor Law parishes or unions. In each of these there is a Board of Guardians elected by the owners and ratepayers (see p. xxi.), and entrusted with the legal relief of the poor.* (5) For the management of Asylums for Imbeciles and Idiots (see p. cx.), and of Hospitals for Infectious Diseases (see p. cxiii.), there is a Metropolitan Asylums Board, consisting of representatives of the Poor Law parishes and unions, and members nominated by the Local Government Board (see p. civ.). (6) For the purposes of the School Board, the Metropolitan area is divided into 11 parts (sec p. lxxxii.) for purposes of election and administration. The members of the Board are elected by the ratepayers, except in the City, where the voters include all the Parliamentary voters. (7) There is the Police. The Metropolitan Police District covers the area within a radius of 20 miles from Charing Cross. (8) For magisterial purposes, the Metropolis is divided into 13 Police Court districts. The courts are Bow Street, Westminster, Marlborough Street, Marylebone, Clerkenwell, Thames, Southwark, Lambeth, Worship Street, Dalston, Hammer * In the Metropolis for Poor Law purposes there are 14 parishes and 16 unions. For brevity's sake, however, the word 'Union' has been generally used (see also p. xxxiii.). A Union is a union of two or more parishes, each of which sends its representatives to a common Board of Guardians. The parish (29 & 30 Vict., c. 113, s. 18) is a place for which a separate poor-rate is, or can be, made, or for which a separate overseer is, or can be, appointed. b |