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
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.
163/180 (page 153)
![DUNDEE TOWN COUNCIL AND CITIZENS' COMMITTEE FOR RELIEF OF DISTRESS THROUGH UNEMPLOYMENT. Instructions fob the Guidance of the Ward Committees. Committee-rooms for the Relief of Distress, in charge of paid officials drawn from the ranks of the unemplojed, have been opened in each of the nine wards of the city. 1. The Ward Committee-rooms shall be open every week-day during such time and hours as the respective Ward Committees decide for themselves. 2. The Chairmen of Ward Committees shall be the Councillors of the respective wards in order of seniority. 3. Checks of the following face value, namely, |d.. Id., 2d., 3d., 4d., 5d., 6d., Is., Is. 6d., 2s., and 3s.—are allocated to each ward. Each check is numbered. The figure above the line represents the ward to which the checks are allocated, the figures below the line denote the consecutive number. 4. No checks to be distributed except by the person in charge of the Ward Committee-rooms at the moment, under the direction of the Ward Committee. 5. All checks shall be kept in the Ward Committee-rooms under the charge of the paid clerk to the Committee. Counterfoils shall be duly and promptly written up and a Register kept of the checks issued. 6. All applications for relief shall be investigated at once, the circumstances of the applicant noted and registered, including age, number of dependents and their ages, income of the home, and all other particulars ; and the relief resolved upon shall be promptly rendered. 7. In no case shall checks be addressed to any particular tradesmen or shopkeeper, but the person relieved shall have a free choice as to the person from whom he shall draw his supplies, subject to this, that it is a recom- mendation that the parties relieved shall patronise the tradesmen or shopkeepers in the ward in which they reside, 8. Payments shall be made to shopkeepers and others in exchange for these checks on their presenting the checks, along with a detailed account of the goods supplied under same, every Monday, between the hours of 10 a.m. and 12 noon, at the Citj' Chamberlain's Office. 9. Parties relieved should be told it is an oft'ence to procure goods under the checks supplied other than those the checks specify, and that they cannot lawfully sell or barter the checks, or in any way use the same or the goods supplied to them in exchange for them, in any other way than to provide them and their homes with the necessaries of life. 10. That the public shall be warned by means of advertisement in the local newspapers to the effect stated in the immediately preceding Regulation. 11. That no application for relief shall be considered or investigated except by the Committee of the ward in which the applicant resides. 12. The Central Committee by the hands of the City Chamberlain shall collect all gifts and apportion same to the respective Ward Committees according to their needs. A stock book of the goods gifted shall be kept by the Central Storekeeper, additions to and withdrawals from the stock being duly registered. 13. A statement of the stock in the hands of the Storekeeper to l3e sent to each Committee-room nightly. 14. Orders upon the Central Stores shall be sent by the Ward Committees not later than 5 p.m. each day to the Storekeeper at Constable Street Baths, on which will be noted the names and addresses of, and the goods to be supplied to, the parties to be relieved. The Storekeeper in turn shall register the goods required and despatch them so as to arrive in the respective Committee-rooms not later than 7.30 p.m. for distribution. A duplicate of the orders given for such goods shall be retained by the Ward Committees. 15. The respective Committees shall keep a register of the particulars of the goods distribvited by them, and the names, addresses, and circumstances of the parties relieved. Before giving out orders or checks for^ goods reasonable investigation as to the circumstances of the applicant shall be made ; the relief granted to be in the manner above provided for. 16. No canvass shall be made with a view to finding cases for relief, except the canvass after-mentionea. 17. All applicants for relief, other than those discovered by the canvass after-mentioned, shall appear in person at the Committee-rooms and state their own case. 18. A complete canvas of the respective wards shall be organised and carried through by the respective Committees of the different wards, as soon as the appropriate Canvassing cards are put into the hands of the Committees. 19. Said canvass cards shall be carefully marked, and the objects of the canvass made upon them shall be :— (1) To provide a fund for relief. (2) To ascertain the number of the unemployed citizens in each ward and their circumstances, with a view to providing them, where necessary, with relief in their homes without their being obliged to go to the Committee-rooms to seek it. 20. The canvassers of these citizens are earnestly asked to exercise the greatest discretion to find out in all cases of those unemployed the number of their dependents, their ages, their income, and where possible the needs of their homes, so that relief may be provided where want is disclosed to the canvasser, and information should at once be afforded by canvassers to the Committees as to cases where special experience and discretion may be necessary to ascertain the real needs of those unwilling to disclose their wants. 21. All unemployed citizens who have not reported to the ordinary canvasser whether they are in want of relief or not shall be specially registered, and visited by a Special Sub-Committee of not more than two of the most experienced members of the Ward Committees, so as to ensure absolute certainty that no deserving unemployed citizen is in want on account of relief not being offered. 22. An exact register of the canvassing cards shall be kept by each Committee, and a receipt signed by the can- vasser for the card handed tQ him or her, and the canvasser shall initial in ink the entry in the appropriate register of the amount collected and accounted for by him or her to the Committee. 23. The Whole Ward Committee shall meet on such evenings as they may appoint at 8 o'clock, or such later hour as they may decide, for the pvirpose of making their management arrangements for the days intervening between meetings. Such Committees, will then be expected to check the cash received, and see that it is duly remitted to the City Chamberlain, and make certain that the books, registers, counterfoils, investigations, and relief, as before provided for, are being strictly attended to. Cash collected shall be handed to the City Chamberlain or his authorised representa- tive the morning following the daj^ of collection, for which a receipt shall be given on the book provided for the purpose. 24. All complaints, requests, suggestions, and others shall be noted by the Clerk in charge, and brought before the Committee at their aforesaid meetirgs. The Committee shall decide thereupon, except in cases that require to he determined by the Central Committee. 25. The Central Committee shall be convened at any time on the request of the Chairman of any Ward Committee after consultation with the Town Clerk. 26. The whole members of the Ward Committees bringing any matter before the Centra] Committee shall be called to the meeting of the Central Committee dealing therewith, and be members of that Committee for the time being in connection with such matter. By order of the Dundee Town Council and Citizens' Committee for the Relief of Distress through Unemployment. W. M. Burke, City Chamberlain's Office, . City Chamberlain. 89 Commercial Street, Dundee. November 20th, 1908. 429—XX.T. U2](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b24400099_0163.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
