Report of the Royal Commission on the Poor Laws and Relief of Distress. : Appendix Volume XXX. Scotland. Statistics and other documents relating specially to Scotland.

  • Royal Commission on the Poor Laws and Relief of Distress 1905-09
Date:
1911
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Report of the Royal Commission on the Poor Laws and Relief of Distress. : Appendix Volume XXX. Scotland. Statistics and other documents relating specially to Scotland. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.

    146/180 (page 136)
    (6j Medical Relief. No. of Councils, &c., making Recom- menda- tion. Parish Councils to have power to detain contacts or persons suffering from infectious or con- tagious diseases - - - - - - 19 Poorhouse governor to have power to prevent sick persons from leaving the poorhouse unless they have a medical certificate ... - 4 Phthisis :— (a) Need of compulsory notification - - 2 (b) Public Health Authority to deal with phthisis 5 (c) Provision of county hospitals for con- sumptive paupers - - - 1 ((/) Phthisical wards to be attached to all poorhouse hospitals - ... 1 (e) Parish Councils to have larger powers to deal with consumptives who are not paupers* ------ 2 (/) Need of suitable provision for treatment - 1 Cases of cancer and other such diseases should not be admitted to poorhouses, but sent to special institutions ------- l Greater powers for Parish Councils to deal with casual sick jioor ------ 3 Local Government Board to sanction, where necessary, medical attendance to the non- pauper population of remote districts - - 1 Poorhouse to be situated in the parish and used for nursing and hospital work - - - - 1 (For recommendation as to the provision of dwelling-houses for Medical Officers, see under Local Authorities—Additional Powers to Parish Councils). (7) Sick, Infirm and Friendless. Parish Councils to be empowered, under due safeguards and conditions (e.g., on sheriff or magistrate's warrant, on medical certificate, or with sanction of Local Government Board) compulsorily to remove sick, infirm and friend- less poor incapable of looking after themselves to a poorhouse, or hospital, and to detain tbem therein 228 Difficulty experienced in dealing with this classf - 3 Parish Council to provide Parish Home with trained nursing 1 (8) Abie-Bodied and Unemployed. Any proposal to grant able-bodied persons a right to relief to be opposed 7 There should be no fundamental alteration of the princij^les of the Poor Law of 1845 - - - 15 Need of legislative measures to compel able-bodied applicants to enter labour colony - . . i Parish Councils to have discretionary power to assist deserving able-bodied persons with or without dependants 42 Parish Councils to have power to grant relief to dependants of able-bodied persons - - 2 Every destitute person, deserving or otherwise, to be given relief in some form - - - - 1 Bona pie workmen on tramp to be objects of relief for one night at discretion of Parish Councils - 3 Respectable starving poor should have temporary relief -------- j County Councils and Town Councils of large towns to deal \vith unemployment in accord- ance with Unemployed Workmen Act, 1905 - 17 Unemployment should be treated as a National question j Workmen's Compensation Acts cause of unem- ployment 1 Careful and judicious reform in fiscal arrangements would provide constant and remunerative work for all - - ~' . , . „ j * No specific recommendations made, f But no remedy suggested. NOTE.—Figures in brackets refer to number of Pat (9) Ins and Outs. No. of Councils, &c., making Recom- menda- tion. Parish Councils to be empowered to compulsorily detain ins and outs for various terms from one to three years :— (a) In labour colonies [25]. (b) In poorhouses [145]. - - - . 177 Period of notice of discharge from poorhouse to be extended --.....2 (10) Blind. State should provide and maintain asylums for the bHnd (11) Children. Amendment of Prevention of Cruelty to Children Act:— (a) Responsibility of prosecuting to be on Public Prosecutor [9]. (b) Prosecution to be by burgh or county police [1] 10 Amendment of Infant Life Protection Act, 1897 :— (a) Duties to be transferred from Inspector of Poor [1]. [b) To cover one child cases [3] - - - 4 Extension of age of control by Parish Councils :— (a) Until sixteen [8]. (b) Until eighteen [1]. (c) Until fifteen [1] ----- 14 Parish Councils to have power to emigrate or apprentice children - - - - 5 Detention of children in poorhouses for a longer period than seven days except in hospital to be prohibited 2 Boarding-out system to be extended ... 3 Appointment by Local Government Board of lady superintendents to inspect boarded-out children l Children not to be boarded-out in island parishes unless medically certified to be sound in mind and healthy in body* . - ... 2 Inspector of Poor of parish of residence should not be'allowed to charge extra for the supervision of children boarded-out with near relations - 1 Liability of a guardian for a child boarded-out by its parents to be the same as if the child were the guardian's own; right of relief being only against the parents in the event of their ceasing to pay for its maintenance . . . l Inspectors of Poor to have same powers of deten- tion as industrial schools ; and children coming under Industrial Schools Act and likely to be chargeable to be handed over to the Inspector on his undertaking to provide for them - - 1 Homes to be established in groups of counties foi training children who are feeble-minded and physically weak . . . - . l Children of Vagrants or of Dissolute Parents :— Parish Councils to have power to compulsorily remove such children from their parents either on Sheriff's warrant or with sanction of Local Government Board :— (a) Cost of maintenance to be recovered from parents if possible [7] - - - - 2i3 Need of education and attention :— (a) The children should be compelled to attend the same school continuously for a full session [2]. (b) The children should be placed in Indus- trial Schools to which State should contribute [5] 27 * Serious and grave dangers are alleged to have arisen through neglect of this safeguard.