The Sun.
London, England, 1865-11-09 00:00:00

PRICE
STAMPED 5d.!

The Poor Law Board and the East London

Union.

Ycsterday, at the Nveekly meeting of the C uardians
of the East London Union, a communication was
read from the Poor Law Board with respect to the
official inquiry held on the case of Sarah Trusty, re-
ported in The Slll2 of the 21st ult. It will be remem-
bered that at the close of the hop-picking season a
wretched-looking diseased woman, nearly blind, and
with two young children, made application to the
sitting justices at the Mansion-house for assistance
in obtaining admittance to a workhouse. She stated
that she was chargeable on the East London Union,
and had that day tramped from Eltham, a distance
of eight miles from London-bridge. On applying
to the relieving-officer for an order of admittance
to the workhouse she had been refused, she al-
leged, as the relieving-officer had told her he
could not give her relief until he had made in-
quiries as to where she had last:slept. An officer went
with the woman to the Union, and it was understood
that she had the relief she stood in need of. The
Commissioner of the Poor Law Board then attended
the union, and examined the several persons on
oath, and the woman swore that she walked on the
day in question from Eltham, and, being houseless
were to
and destitute, she applied to Mr. Williams, the re-
lieving-officer, for relief, but he told her he must
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starve meanwhile, ordered her to be turned out of
the room. She went to the Lord Mayor, she said,
and on returning she had an order, which she had
to carry to the workhouse at Homerton, about
three miles distant, before she had relief or anything
to eat. The relieving-officer alleged that he only
asked the woman where her husband was, and where
she last resided, and that she became abusive, on
which he ordered her to leave the room. He ac-
knowledged that she had told him she and her chil-
dren had tramped that day from Eltham, and that
he had not given her or her children anything to
eat. In looking over the copies of the orders given
to paupers the Commissioner found:that the reliev-
ing officer had written across the one given to the
woman Trusty, " A most disreputable woman." '

The communication now read was signed by Lord
Enfield, and said :

" With reference to the case of Sarah Trusty, I
am directed by the Poor Law Board to forward to
you, for the information of the guardians of the
"East London Union, the enclosed copy of a letter
which the Board have addressed to Mr. J. Williams,
the relieving officer of your union, on the subject."

The inclosure, which was signed by Mr. T.
Fletcher, the assistant-secretary of the Poor Law
Board, and was addressed to Mr. J. Williams, re-
lieving-officer, was as follows :
" Sir,—l am directed by the Poor Law Board to
state that they have had under their consideration a
report made to them by their inspector, Mr. Farnall,
after the inquiry held by him on the 19th ult. into
the case of Sarah Trusty, the poor woman who, it is
alleged, was refused relief by you on Monday, the
2d ult. From the evidence taken at the inquiry the
Board have arrived at the conclusion that, in the
absence of any evidence of Sarah Trusty not being
destitute when she made application to you, you
erred in postponing the order for the workhouse for
which she applied. The Board further consider that
to intimate your opinion of the character of a woman
who must have been already known to the authori-
ties at the workhouse by writing on the order of
admission that she was a disreputable woman was
an improper course to adopt, and ought not to be
repeated."

On this letter being finished, one of the guardians
exclaimed, "Mr. Williams is let down very gently,"
—an opinion in which the majority appeared to
acquiesce.

In answer to a question as to what would be done
with the document, the clerk said it would lac catered
on the minutes, and the guardians then went on
with the next business.

The Houseless Poor and Parish Guardians.

The last parish in the metropolis which had not
made, and had not promised to make, arrangements
for adopting the Houseless Poor Act of last session
was the Holborn Union, the guardians of which
were yesterday morning visited by Mr. Farnall, the
Poor-law Board Commissioner, who desired to con-
fer with them as to the means they w ere willing to
adopt for relieving the houseless.
The COMJIISSIONER, in the course of a statement
he matte to the guardians, in which he repeated the
general facts stated to other guardians, said
that he was aware that the houseless poor were re-
fused admission in this workhouse on the plea that
there was no room. This, he pointed out to them,
was illegal, and that, whether the guardians adopted
the Houseless Poor Act or not—that is to say,
whether they made arrangements which the Poor-
law Board required, and so became entitled to be
recouped the cost of the houseless poor out of the
general fund, or whether they preferred keep-
ing as they were and paying the whole cost out
of their own rates—they were bound to relieve the
houseless wanderers who applied to them for relief
and lodging. If they could not find room within the
workhouse ho suggested that they should fit up a
place elsewhere, but he said it behoved them to give
all able-bodied recipients of relief a measured task
of work as a test, and no place thus fitted up would
be complete unless arrangements were made for
applying this test. The cost of fitting a place up
for this purpose would, he said, be paid out of the
general fund, as well as the salaries of those en-
gaged in the relief of the houseless.

The CHAIRMAN, in reply, told Mr. Farmll that
the question had been for some time under the con-
sideration of a committee of the Board. This com-
mittee had had several meetings, but they had
experienced great difficulty in finding a suitable
place out of doors. It had been suggested that a
vacant cowhouse should be taken for the purpose,
but it had been thought that if anything happened
to any of the people who were lodged there it would
be said by the public that the guardians turned the
poor into infectious places. He assured the Com-
missioner that the guardians had the utmost desire
to do their duty.
A GUARDIAN wanted to learn from the
Commis-
sioner what other parishes had done in the outlay
entailed by their arrangements.
The COMMISSIONER said many of the parishes
had made arrangements in the workhouse, but he
was afraid this could not be done in the Holborn
Union Workhouse.

A GUARDIAN said that sometimes one of the
houseless As taken ill, and was admitted to the
infirmary, would the cost of keeping a person of
this character in the workhouse come out of the
common fund ?

The COMMISSIONER replied that it would not, as
other parishes had to take their share of this burden.
The GUARDIAN expressed his belief that this par-
ticular parish got more than its share of such cases,
and that country parishes were packing off their
poor to London.
The COMMISSIONER replied that, with regard to
the first point, if the guardian made inquiry he
would find the other London parishes were no
better off than Holborn ; and with regard to the
second, if the London guardians gave the recipients
of relief who were able to do a measured task of work,
the country poor would soon pack back again. The
London workhouses, he went on to say, had become
little better than hospitals for the sick and refuges
for the old, and the number of permanent inmates,
he believed, was greatiy increased by the medical
officers certifying that sick persons could be removed
to the workhouse who might have been better con-
tented to remain in their own homes on out-door
relief. In conclusion, he urged them to make ar-
rangements as speedily as they could for the house-
less, informing them, at the same time, that it was