The Express.
London, England, 1867-03-04 00:00:00

THE NEW POOR LAW BILL.

On Saturday a deputation of members of the
Tower Hamleta and Metropolitan Associations for the
Equalisation of the Poor Rates waited on the President
of the Poor-law Board, to urge the necessity of making
some additions to the provisions of the new Metropolitan
Poor Bill.

Lord Esrlsi.D, M.P., introduced the deputation, which
was composed of Sir Charles Bright, M.P., the Rev.
Septimus Hanaard, the Rev. G. H. M•Gill, Mr. Donald
Munro, Mr. R. J. Donovan, Mr. Fox, Mr. Spence, Ur.
Bletchford, and other gentlemen.
The Rev. Mr. aUGill, of St. George's-in-the-East, said
that the object of the deputation was to make known to
the Preaident of the Poor-law Board the resolutions
arrived at by the conference held at the London Tavern
on Monday last, relative to the desirability of making
some additions to the new Poordaw Bill now before par-
liament, with a view to its greater usefulness. These reso-
lutions were embodied in a memorial, which he read, and
which stated that it was desirable that syphilis and cancer
should be placed on the list of diseases to be laid for out
of the common fund ; that a rate in aid should be made
over the whole metropolitan area to meet CMGs of sudden
distress, or of an epidemic visitation such as that of the
cholera during the last summer; anclAhat the wet of the
buildings for the sick should be defrayed out of the general
fund.

Mr. HARDT remarked that with respect to the last re-
commendation the expense would come out of the common
fund ; the building would be paid for in the first instance
in the same way as the district schools were paid for.
The Rev. Mr. M'Citi. said that the general notion was
that the whole of the buildings would be charged to the
parishes.
Mr. HARDT said that the whole of them would not he.
The lunatics and insane poor would be placed upon the
common fund, which would be chargeable for all the ex-
penses connected with that class.
Several members of the deputation having expressed
their views at some length,
Mr. HARDT replied. He aid with respect to the ques-
tion of the cost of buildings, he did not think that in all
cases it would be found necessary to erect new ones, for
there were several that would, no doubt, answer most pur-
poses. But new buildings for the sick would, in his
opinion, have to be constructed, for a system of manage-
mentquite different from that at present in operation would
be introduced. The deputation asked him to charge such
buildings to the common fund. He could not well accede
to that request. In several parishesgreat expense had already
been incurred in tbeerection of suitable establishments, and
it would not be just to call upon those parishes to provide
funds to pay for buildings for those districts that had not
gone to any such expense. As for the question of dis-
pensaries, they were. he understood, for,the most part
hired houses, and therefore the expense would be so tri-
fling that it would not be worth while to put them on the
general fund. Respecting the question of the sick charges
be gleaned from the memorial and from the deputation
that they wished the whole of the sick to be placed on the
common fund, but only two diseases—cancer and syphilis
—wore mentioned, and singularly enough a memorial pre-
sented to him only a few days ago by the Metropolitan
Association asked him to place these two diseases on the
fund. Toe reason why they wanted syphilis so placed
appeared to arise from moral considerations rather than
otherwise. Then there was the question of consumption ;
that appeared to him a most difficult disease to deal with,
as no one knew exactly when it began or at what parti-
cular stage the malady could be really called consumption.
His reason for not taking in all the sick poor was that it
would be almost impossible fo distinguish accurately be-
tween those that were hospital cases and those that were not.
He thought there were considerable difficulties which
militated against the proposition to allow necessaries
ordered to patients by the medical officers to be charged to
the fund, and he was of opinion that nourishment no
ordered could not be classified as drugs, or the cost be
defrayed in the mime way. Then, coining to the proposal
for the establishment of a rate in aid, he said that he felt
very strongly with the deputation that the charitable
contributions of the metropolis led too frequently to
results which the donors bad no knowledge of, and never
anticipated. But he was not prepared to deal with the
question of the rate in aid in the present bill. There
would be great difficulty in knowing when to come in to
the aid of a parish with such a rate. Suppose, for
instance, that it was decided to grant the aid when the
local rate reached the amount of in the pound. There
were some parishes where the rate was already in excess
of that amount, and they would naturally say, " Why not
help us?" With respect to what had been said about the
inadequacy of the local staffs to meet such emergencies as
those spoken of by the Rev. M. M'Gill, he might say that
it was intended to pay the officers out of the common
fund, and be hail no doubt that if any emergency should
arise in future, the Poor-law Board would always be glad
to render the guardians any assistance that lay in their
power. In conclusion, the hon. gentleman said that there
were many difficulties in the way, and what he wished
them all to do was to give and take. If he had a pressure
from the east, there was also a cloud rising in the west.
He would ask them to give him their best support, and he
had no doubt that he would be able to do battle with the
bill as it at present stood.
The deputation thanked the President for the courtesy
with which he had entered into the subject with them, and
the interview terminated.

ROYAL UNITED SERVICE INSTITUTION.
The general annual meeting of the members was
held at the Institution, Whitehall-yard, on Saturday
afternoon, Sir J. PagignroN, First Lord of the Admiralty,
in the chair. There was a numerous attendance of naval
and military officers, among them the Earl of Fowls,
Admiral Sir J. Hay, General Sir J. Burgoyne, Ad-
miral Sir W. Codrington, Colonel Sykes, General
Sir J. Chatterton, Colonel K. A. S. Adair, Ad-
miral Sir F. Nicholson, General Sir W. Mackenzie,
General Lindsay, General Vincent Eyre, Admiral Sir G.
Back, Admiral Ommaney, Admiral Collinson, Admiral
Deacon, General Bloomfield, General Sir F. Smith, Colonel
Stanhope, Captain Fishbourne, General Hope, Colonel
('coke, Captain Selwyn, Captain Craufunl, Captain Tyler,
Captain Symonds, dm. The report showed that during
the part year the income front all sources was
3,488 t, including the annual grant of 6001. from
governmennt ; the expenditure was 3,31 W. ; and the
number of members on the 31et December was 3,891.
The library, containing upwards of 13,000 volumes, has
been enriched by the presentation of numerous works re-
lating to naval and military science and history from the
governments of the United States, Prussia, Netherlands,
Russia, and Austria.

THE SPECIAL SERVICES AT ST. PAUL'S.—Yell-
tenlay evening the ninth of the special services for the pre-
sent year, under the dome of St. Paul's was held, the
large open space being completely filled. The sermon 1•18
preached by the Rev. Francis Pigou, M.A., of Trinity
College, Dublin, incumbent of St. Philip's, Regent-street.
The sermon next Sunday evening will be preached by the
Rev. Charles Wellington Tune, ILA., of Christ Church,
Oxford, Vicar of Staines.

TRADES CONFERSNCE.—The recent decision of
the judges in the Court of Queen's Bench affect-
ing the legality of trades unions, even although
their rules may have been deposited with the
Registrar-General of Friendly Societies, and the
issuing of the Royal Commissions of Inquiry into the
working of trades unions, has crested considerable sensa.
tion amongst the members of those bodies throughout the
kingdom, and a conference of delegates from all tbe socie-
ties has been called by the London Working Men's Asso-
ciation to consider the judgment, and what is needed fur
the protection of society funds. Mr. Neate's bill on the
subject will also be discussed, and the propriety of ap-
pointing a committee to sit concurrently with the royal
commission will be considered. This committee, it is
proposed, shall endeavour to gain permission for one or
two of its members to be present at the sitting of the
commission, with a view to furnish rebutting testimony,
if needed. A precedent for this course is found in the
case of the select committee of the House of Commons on
combination, appointed on the motion of the late Daniel
O'Connell, in 1837. This conference is to assemble at St.
Martin's-hall to-morrow morning. Mr. Neste. Mr. Ayrton,
and other members of parliament, are expected to attend.