I have tried also to show a way out of this difficulty to those Guardians in whose earnest efforts for the good of all the children under their care I most heartily sympathise, who urge, reasonably, that the Girls' Friendly Society does not cover all the ground, but 'takes the good and leaves them the bad.'

The Ladies' Association, or some local Society, can care for girls of all characters, but the Girls' Friendly Society only can ensure that the good characters will be looked after by some one on the spot wherever they may go. Any Board of Guardians might, of course, subscribe to both Societies separately; but it seems to me simpler and less troublesome to subscribe to only one. It would be difficult to decide previously the amount of subscription necessary for satisfactory and unsatisfactory cases, and it is better to leave such division of the funds to the ladies, who can apply them, and classify characters, according to individual cases.

With regard to boys, the Young Men's Friendly Society appears to me to be the most suitable, since it is the only universal one of the kind, able to befriend young men wherever they may go; and if any local Society should seem more suitable for subscription on account of the number of characters unfit for the Young Men's Friendly, the local and universal Societies can work together in the manner I have described for girls.

It is perhaps as well to guard against any possible idea that any Society could make a hard-and-fast contract with Boards of Guardians to lodge all boys or girls indiscriminately, and without exception, from any Union. The children may themselves refuse to be so lodged or watched over, and many other difficulties may make it impossible in various and individual cases. But a Society should be able to show that it can and does give material assistance in case of necessity,' and that it is calculated to render useful aid in the administration of the relief of the poor,' before the Local Government Board gives permission for subscriptions thereto from the public money. The widest limit is left to the kind of 'assistance'

or useful aid' given. The various Boards of Guardians who subscribe to the Metropolitan Association for Befriending Young Servants, and to the Ladies' Association for the care of Friendless Girls, do so on this understanding, and there is no reason why they should not subscribe in the same way to the Girls' and Young Men's Friendly Societies. It is true that it is not the object of either of these Societies to lodge or give any kind of material assistance to the boys or girls who are their Members; indeed most of these Members are in no need of such help: but, as a matter of fact, this assistance is given, when required, as a means of promoting and preserving good conduct. Neither of these Societies could pledge themselves, as a whole, to lodge or maintain pauper children between situations; but there is no reason why a particular Board of Guardians should not make an agreement of a certain elasticity with a particular local Branch of either of these Societies to provide for any young people from their own Union in such circumstances, whenever in the power of the Society to do so, on the payment of a certain annual subscription. I foresee the objection that may be made by some Associates of these Societies, that the Guardians will exact from them more than they have undertaken to perform, and expect them to take charge of unsuitable or impossible cases; and on the other hand by Guardians, that the Associates may refuse or neglect cases coming within their scope; but I only suggest the plan for places where the Guardians and the local Associates are able mutually to trust and respect each other, and where any difficulties which may arise can be overcome in private and friendly conference.

I ain not now speaking of the general work of those Societies, which consists in organizing good influences for young people. Numerous Boards of Guardians have given permission for the Associates to visit the children while still under their care, so as to become acquainted with them and be able to befriend them when they go out into the world.

It is no part of the plan of either of these Societies to ask for subscriptions from the rates. But their object is to preserve good character; that character is endangered by a return to the workhouse, and it is a reproach to these Societies if any young persons under their care do so return; their funds are limited, and they cannot be expected to pay for the lodging and maintenance of all the pauper children in the country between situations: it is therefore only fair that Boards of Guardians should subscribe towards the maintenance of the children who, but for these Societies, would be entirely chargeable to the rates; remembering, too, that when girls or boys have once returned to the workhouse they generally lose their self-dependence, and return again and again. Care, thought, influence, and labour, the Associates undertake to give, and such efforts alone can do, and have done, much, in the work of de-pauperization.

The understanding must be mutual. A Board of Guardians cannot subscribe without assurance that some material aid, though not specified by hard-and-fast conditions, will be given by the Branch of whatever Society they work with; and a Branch cannot, in general, undertake to give material aid unless the Board will subscribe. There should be a clear understanding that this subscription from the rates shall only be applied to the needs of young people who, but for such help, would be chargeable to the rates, and it should be reserved as a special fund for such cases. It should not be used for the general purposes of the Society, nor for the benefit of boys or girls who are not paupers, nor in danger of becoming such. This arrangement is particularly easy in the Girls' and Young Men's Friendly Societies, which reserve special funds both central and local, for distinct purposes.

I do not see that in Unions so small that no regular subscription can be wanted, or asked, the work of any other than the Girls' and Young Men's Friendly Societies is necessary. The Associates can generally find other individuals, if not

Societies, to look after the few unsatisfactory characters; or can bring each case before the Board, to be dealt with on its own merits, the Guardians sending them, if necessary, to suitable Institutions.

I hope it will be understood that it is not egotism which prompts me to speak of my individual opinion, nor an idea that that opinion is of any weight. I only desire to show that no Society is responsible for what I have said. This paper ispublished by myself individually, to save letter-writing, and for the convenience of those who have not the time nor the opportunity for searching through thick volumes and collections of Acts.

And if I have not gone into every possible detail, it is not because I have overlooked points which may occur to those who read this paper, but because it is not possible, in a small space, to explain how to provide against every imaginable contingency; nor to enter into every side-issue, giving reasons for everything at full length. Something must always be left to be filled in by the imagination of the reader. If there are objections which I have not mentioned, there are also answers to those objections which I have not mentioned either.

I append a list of books of reference, and other publications, and abstracts of Acts, of which a knowledge may be necessary or useful.

BOOKS OF REFERENCE AND

USEFUL

PUBLICATIONS.

THE Orders of the Local Government Board give all regulations concerning Poor Law; sanitary matters, vaccination, education, and all that comes within the province of the Guardians. The best collection is Glen's 'POOR-LAW ORDERS,' ninth edition, published by Shaw and Sons, Fetter Lane and Crane Court, price 26s. It is dated up to March, 1883, and contains explanatory notes elucidating the orders, tables of statutes, cases, &c.

A cheaper edition, price 125., is published by Knight and Co., 90 Fleet Street; but it is not well arranged, contains no notes, and gives no Orders issued since 1877. It gives, however, in full, the Circulars accompanying the Orders issued up to date, which Glen's edition gives only in the form of footnotes.

The 'LOCAL GOVERNMENT DIRECTORY,' price 8s. 6d., is also published by Knight, and gives lists of all the Officials, Unions, Districts, Certified Institutions, &c., of the Department. Unfortunately, as it is published annually in January, and the elections of Guardians take place early in April, the names of the Chairmen and ViceChairmen given are only to be depended upon as correct for the first three months of the year.

The Reports of the Poor-Law Conferences are also published by Knight, 6d. each. That of the 'ELEVENTH CENTRAL POOR Law CONFERENCE' contains the paper, 'Prolonged Protection for Pauper Girls,' by M. H. Mason.

The Annual Reports of the Local Government Board, containing the Reports of the Inspectors, and much valuable information, price varying from about 3s. 6d., according to bulk, and the Acts of Parliament, are published by Eyre and Spottiswoode, East Harding Street, Fetter Lane, E.C.

'LOCAL GOVERNMENT,' by M. D. Chalmers, and 'POOR LAW,' by T. W. Fowle, are published in Macmillan's 'English Citizen Series, 3s. 6d. each. Short, concise, and readable.