The Express.
London, England, 1867-03-13 00:00:00

HIGH WATZILAT LONDON BRIDGE.

—Me DAT —Morning, 6 4481..—.. oon,
Talloahow—Morning, 7h. 4018...... Afternoon, Bh. 15s.

LONDON, IVED.VESDAY, MARCH 13.

THE usefulness of Mr. HARDY'S instalment of
Poor-law reform will henceforth depend upon the
vigour and spirit with which its provisions are
carried out. The House of Commons has given
emphatic support to the principle embodied in
the new bill, and the public has now a right to
hold the Poor-law Board responsible for the pro-
per treatment of at least a portion of the metro-
politan sick poor. The parliamentary conversa-
tions upon this measure have been sufficiently
desultory ; some honourable members having
made proper administration of our poor laws a
plea fur advocating the claims of pharmaceutical
chemists and the interests of medical men, while
others have, as one speaker sarcastically put it,
" objected to men being qualified," and dwelt
ecstatically upon the advantages of guardian
management, and the danger of interfering with a
system fraught with so many blessings to the
country. But, underlying these puerilities has
been manifest a tacit thankfulness to Mr. HARDY
for a measure which touches on most of the abuses
complained of, which promises much, and which is
sufficiently elastic to entitle its author to assure
opposing boards that he has neither the intention
nor the wish to interfere with such of them as do
their spiriting well. Mr. HARDY tells us, how-
ever, that the extremely moderate guarantee
afforded by a limited number of unpaid nominees
of the Poor-law Board sitting with the different
sets of guardians will not come into operation
where ex of guardian, are plentiful ; and that
as the clause is purely permissive there is little
fear of the power of appointment being widely
exercised. In other words, the constitution of
some metropolitan boards will remain unal-
tered ; and it will rest with the officials at White-
hall to determine which parishes and unions these
shall be. Those who have seen reason to be
dissatisfied with the inconclusiveness of the pro-
posed nominee system are not likely to
have their doubts allayed by the discovery
that it is to be partial in its operation,
particularly as experience proves that ex officio
guardians are no safeguard against abuse. Some
of the most revolting disclosures made respecting
workhouse cruelties and mismanagement related
to Paddington, where we find from thirty to
forty officio guardians—or nearly double the
number of elected ones—on the board. It was at
Paddington, too, that lady visitors were peremp-
torily excluded from the workhouse, as a punish-
ment for giving evidence at the official inquiry ;
and, if report speak truly, the Poor-law Board
has even now under consideration particulars of
flagrant parochial mismanagement, carried on
under another metropolitan board, at which seve-
ral members have the right to sit. If,
therefore, nominees are not appointed to such
places as these, a grave responsibility will rest
with the Poor-law Board. The fruitful
cause of existing evils has been the prevalence
of permissive instead of compulsory clauses in poor-
law enactments ; and when we find the one prevision
relied on for improving the constitution of local
boards possesses this grave defect, it is hut natural
to be apprehensive as to the result. There are many
reasons for fearing that a hybrid board of nominated
and elected guardians will constitute no security
against mismanagement ; but when the suspicion
of invidious selection is added to its other possi-
bilities of evil, it is difficult indeed to believe
that this portion of Mr. HARDY'S measure will
work well. In spite, however, of its drawbacks, it is
certain that the Bill and the discussions it has pro-
voked will effect considerable improvements in
poor-law discipline ; and the few gentlemen who
went into the lobby the other evening to record
their protest against what the rest of the House
thought a judicious extension of central au-
thority, maidens' good service by showing
how completely public opinion in that regard
has been nimlitied within the last few years. The
unanimous wish now is that parochial cruelty and
mismanagement may be abolished, that our paupers
may be treated witlia proper regard to their legal
rights, and that neither in the workhouse nor the
parish hoard-room is ignorance or jobbery to run
riot. Mr. HARDY considers that his measure
secures these ends, besides relieving the poorer
parishes of as much of their heavy burdens as is
fair. Time only can show how far the first as-
sumption is correct ; but if any gross failure in
parochial administration be brought to light in