The Sun.
London, England, 1866-01-08 00:00:00

The Administration of the Poor Law.

On Friday Mr. H. B. Farnall, C. 8., the Poor
Law Board's Commissioner, made an official inspec-
tion of the workhouse of St. Giles's, Camberwell,
and some facts relative to the general mode of ad-
ministering the poor law were elicited which may
prove of interest at this time when public attention
is directed to the subject. The Commissioner's visit
was quite unexpected by the workhouse authorities,
and no preparations whatever could have been made
for his coming, so he saw the workhouse in its ordi-
nary every-day working order. He first inspected
the books, and he gathered from these that the work-
house, a straggling building, or series of buildings—
for the place has had several additions made to the
original structure from time to time to meet the in-
crease of poor on the change of the parish from a coun-
try district to be a part of London—has accommoda-
tion for 512 inmates, and that the average number is
450. In the corresponding week last year there
were 455 inmates, while this week they have been
451. Of these 355 are classed as disabled, sick, in-
firm, or insane ; 46 as children, and 50 as able-
bodied men and women. The last weekly return of
vagrants relieved shows the number of houseless to
be 125. About £l6O is given a week in outdoor
relief, and in addition to the people in the work-
house the parish has 252 children being brought up
at an establishment far away from the workhouse
—namely, at Sutton, where they are kept apart as
much as possible from workhouse influences, and so
educated that they may be weaned of all parochial
associations—a plan not, however, generally
adopted. The total number of persons receiving
relief in any shape in this parish is 2,534, out of a
population which at the last census numbered
71,488, and now must be upward of 100,000, if its
growth has been anything like in proportion to that
of other suburban parishes. The visiting book
showed that the inmates are daily visited by a chap-
lain, whose salary for the duty—an anxious and
painful one—is not equal to the wages of a brick-
layer or carpenter. A Roman Catholic clergyman
comes and goes when and where he likes, and
" sisters" and other ladies occasionally visit the
house. The medical books are kept on a plan-to
show the diet and medicine of every patient. The
Commissioner then passed into the body of the
house. Going through a large dining-hall, which
is also used as a chapel, as a pulpit in the centre
showed, and up some well ventilated corridors and
staircases, he visited the places where ablebodied
women, a very small class, were employed at
the wash-tub. In answer to questions directed to
some of these as to what made them paupers some
interesting details were learnt. In one case, the
husband was sick in the house, and in another the
woman had been left a widow with some five or six
children. One of these had been apprenticed and

the others were at Sutton, and the woman was evi-
dently looking forward to the time when, with a little
help from the board, she should be able to take her

little brood " out." Without the stimulating of any
official onlookers she expressed her thankfulness for the
bounties she had received, and acknowledged that she
had all she wanted. The infirm and sick wards of the
women were then visited. In every ward, without ex-
ception , the commissioner went up to one of the unoccu-
pied beds, and, pulling it down, article by article, ended
by turning over the mattress or bed itself, in order
to satisfy himself that all was clean. In every case
the inspection proved satisfactory, inasmuch as the
beds were found well "made," the clothing good,
and the mattress sufficient. In some of the wards,
sacking-bottomed bedsteads are in use, and in some
iron ribs, and the latter are being removed to make
way for the former, a most desirable change. The
commissioner's unceremonious manner of inspecting
the bedsteads led to one or two laughable dis-
coveries, as some hidden treasure of out-door life,
which had been poked under the mattress by the
owner as the place most secure from accidental
observation. In the infirm women's wards the com-
missioner remarked with evident pleasure such little
humanising influences as books—in addition to the
usual religious books—of a light character, and
birds, flowers, pictures, and little ornaments, such as
decorate the homes of the humblest Londoners of
the labouring class. Armchairs, too, he noticed,
were given for the use of the sick and infirm, and
he said he considered this exceedingly kind and
thoughtful, and contrasted very strongly with the
usual form, or straight, panel-backed, uncomfort-
able kitchen chair in some workhouses. The wards
are tolerably airy, and all were clean and tolerably
free from bad smells. From most of the windows
the Dulwich meadows can be seen, and the inmates
have a pleasant view of the manor bought by Ed-
ward Alleyne, " the friende and fellowe-player" of
our national bard, and in the benefaction of the
Dulwich estate this parish receives no little benefit.
All the women said they were quite comfortable,
and they seemed so ; and it was among these old and
infirm people that several of the able-bodied women

were employed, under paid nurses, as attendants.
In the men's wards there was the same clean-

liuess and contentedness observable. In the im

becile wards, and in which only harmless lunatics
are kept, there are, in the men's wards, billiards and
such like games, and in a garden attached a bowling
alley. The women have toys and such like little
indulgences, which keep the poor creatures amused
and happy. An inspection of the out-places gave an
insight into a class of people not exactly recognised
as either out-door or homeless poor, namely, some
dozen men, mostly of the " labouring-class," who

-
are chargeable to the parish, but are contented to

receive a loaf and 2d. a day, for which they work
from 7 a.m. until 4 p.m. at stone-breaking and wood

sawing rather than become inmates. From questions
which were asked of these men, who were single, it
appeared that one or two of them worked out dur-
ing the summer and came back in the winter, a course

one owned he had followed for five or six years, while
another, apparently a very young man, alleged he
" hadn't troubled the parish for this six years." In

making some inquiries and inspecting the accommo-
dation for the houseless, the commissioner found

that it was usual, when mothers or fathers and their

young children occupied one bed between the two,

to make a return that two had been accommodated.
This is important, inasmuch as the accommodation
for the homeless is set down as for 2,000, and the

average attendance each night as 1,238 ; and if in

many cases two " persons" occupy one berth the

margin for more than apply is larger than is gene-

rally supposed. The commissioner, on concluding
his inspection, certified that the house was clean and

n good order and the inmates contented. lie also

expressed his opinion that the condition of the house

showed that every attention was given by the officers.

Carl Schurz's Report on the Condition of
Affairs in the Southern States.

General Carl Schurz's Report on the condition of affairs
in the States of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mis-
sissippi, and Louisiana, has been published.A General
Schurz was sent by President Johnson on a tour through
the Southern States, and his report gives tho results of
his investigations during three months' travel through
the country. The document is exceedingly voluminous,
but of absorbing interest. We extract some of the more
important passages :

CONDITION OF THINGS IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE CLOSE