s
difficulty of deciding upon the real merits, and of investigating the
real circumstances, of the great masses of independent and industrious
labourers who live in the manufacturing towns, or are constantly
moving from one great centre of population to another, and circulating
in quest of work through the whole extent of the Empire, it was
suggested that the relief be confined to those who were resident in a
single locality; and it was pointed out that a number of charities,
endowed out of old legacies or donations, and applying to particular
classes or districts, had come to be administered by the Charity
Commissioners, and that in this restricted field they had been able to
convert a large part of the income at their disposal from doles into
permanent pensions.

The thrift test and the character test, which previous inquirers had
found it almost impossible to establish on a satisfactory basis, were
defined on the loosest lines. The pensioner must not, during the
preceding twenty years, have been sentenced to penal servitude or
imprisonment without the option of a fine; he must not, during the
same period of time, have been in receipt of poor-law relief 'other
than medical relief or unless under circumstances of a wholly
exceptional character'; and he must have 'endeavoured to the best of
his ability, by his industry and by the exercise of reasonable
providence, to make provision for himself and those immediately
dependent on him.'

The extreme vagueness and the extreme elasticity of such provisions
are sufficiently manifest; and it is difficult to see how they can
give any real assistance in practical legislation; while they leave
the door open to the largest and most lavish expenditure. I have
endeavoured in a minority report to deal with these questions at
somewhat greater length than my present space will admit; but a few
pages may suffice to give an outline of the case of those who believe
the new policy to be both mistaken and dangerous.

Nothing is more certain or more cheering in the condition of modern
England than the extraordinary diminution that has taken place, during
the present generation, in pauperism. It began with the reform of the
poor law in 1834; and although it has been found possible to relax
greatly the stringency of the poor-law regulations that were then
made, it has steadily continued. Much of this is due to the increase
in the rate of wages which has taken place in most departments of