[from the Medical Aid and Poor Relief Commission Report - 1879]

POOR RELIEF.

Upon the question as to whether "there should be greater uniformity in the administration of poor relief than now exists, and, if so, what would be the best mode of providing such greater uniformity and what ought to be the principle which should govern the distribution of poor relief," our opinions have been to some extent indicated in the earlier portions of this already too long report.

We will, however,here endeavour briefly to summarise them.

Notwithstanding occasional instances to the contrary we are of opinion that the charitable funds at the disposal of the vicars and wardens of the country parishes are, upon the whole, well and carefully admistered by them, and this is pre- eminently true of the funds disposed by the poor relief associations of the towns of Castlet Ramsey.

If in the parish of Lonan & poor relief be formed (as suggested by Mr Bellamy) by the vicar and wardens, and the Laxey Mines Poor Relief Committee, and the Lonan Harvest Home Committee, bringing all their funds into one common purse, and entrusting the disposal of the same to a joint committee, all danger of overlapping of relief would cease, and a thorough investigation of all applications for assistance from the funds might be readily attained.

So, too, in Patrick, where the vicar and wardens might combine with the ministers of the Wesleyans and the Primitive Methodists, and with the captain of the Foxdale Mines, and other persons, who at present organize the Foxdale and Dalby tea parties, to form one joint committee for the relief of the poor from the common fund contributed from these several sources. At present about £48 a year is contributed by the vicar and wardens, and nearly an equal amount from the several other sources, none of whom appear, as a rule, to know what the others are giving.

If again, in the parish of German, and town of Peel. a central association for the relief of the poor be formed by the vicar and wardens of the parish in combination with the High Bailiff of the town and others interested in the work, upon which all denominations should be represented, as at Castletown and Ramsey; and if some such centralized system of organised charitable relief, as we have suggested, be adopted in Douglas in connection with the House of Industry, we believe that the charitable funds at present bequeathed or contributed from various sources for the relief of the poor throughout the Island would he probably found to be more than sufficient for all the objects to which they have hitherto been devoted, and would, if our subsequent suggestions be adopted be administered with sufficient uniformity.

In the other country parishes the poor, as we have already seen are almost wholly relieved from funds at the disposal of the vicar and wardens, and their relief may, we think, be left in their hands, subject to the proviso that it should be always given after due inquiry into and consultation upon the circumstances of the applicants, and that for this purpose the vicar and wardens should meet not less often than once a month.

Should the funds at present bequeathed and contributed fall short at any time of the requirements of any parish, a very simple and easy source of additional supply would be found in the adoption of the suggestion, already referred to as advocated by several witnesses, that a permissive power should be given to the parishoners, in vestry assembled to levy a rate in aid. Such rate should be levied on the basis of the Lunatic Asylum valuation, rather than on the quarterlands, &c., according to the ancient custom, but might, to save expense, be collected with the Church cess.

We agree with the opimions expressed in their evidence by our colleague, the Rev H. S. Gill, and by Archdeacon Moore, and believe it would be rarely requisite to have resource to a rate in aid, except to meet some extra strain upon the present resources ; but that does not render it the less desirable that, instead of meeting special cases by grants from the Church cess, the sanction of the law should be given to the voluntary imposition of a special rate.

There appears to be a general conecurrence of testimony to the willingness of the people themselves of such a power in case of need.

No witnesses we have examined have, perhaps, greater experience of the habits and feelings of the Manx people than the two gentlemen last cited, whose opinions we now quote. Mr Gill thus expresses himself —

" And I would say that, if there is a necessity for supplementing the funds already provided for the relief of the poor, that is one way of doing it —and the money could be raised with ease—by allowing the people to rate themselves at their annual vestry meetings. They would feel that they were doing it themselves, and levying it them- selves, and it would not, in my opinion, in the least interfere with that flow of private charity which we wish to preserve. If it is necessary to try any- thing further—say, for instance, if a hospital was to be established in the four towns, and money was wanted—it might be raised in this way. We have evidence that our funds are sufficient for the present needs of Castletown : but, supposing an extra strain is to be placed on our funds, I question if they would stand it. And I say that, in such a case, the people of Malew would levy at once, with their church cess, any sum that might be required ; and such a system, I think, should be legalised."

And the Archdeacon says—

"I should be very glad to see a Power somewhere to levy an assessment now and then to supplement the existing funds. This power should be exercised in extreme cases. It might be levied by the Easter Vestries. Assuming that our funds are sufficient for the poor, but that special funds are wanted for a small cottage hospital, or for an asylum for aged or infirm poor, or for an industrial home in which children would be trained in the habits of industry, I think the power to levy a special rate would be most desirable. It would be aninsufficient poor rate, no doubt ; but I cannot see any objection to the vestry levying a small volun- tary rate if the power is surrounded by proper precautions."

The objects thus indicated are precisely of a character to meet the most urgent requirements of an improved system of poor relief in the Island, and are such as would most frequently call for the exercise of the power now proposed to be given to the vestries, without departing from the voluntary system of charitable relief, so dear to the heart of every Manxman. They may be summed up in —improved facilities for obtaining medical aid both at the homes of the poor and in hospitals; and likewise for offering in-door relief to certain classes Indeed, it is scarcely too much to say that for the general poor of the Island no such facilities at present exist. Our recommendations as to the appointment of district medical officers, and the formation of cottage hospitals in certain localities, tooether with a reconstruction and enlargement upon a better site of the Douglas Hospital, need not be here repeated. We are of opinion that facilities for offering in-door relief to the poor of fide Island generally would be better and more economically met by an extension of the House of Industry at Douglas, as already suggested, than creating small asylums or workhouses in the other towns, or a new central House of Industry for the rest of the Island. We desire to avoid as far as possible the multiplication of buildings, and we believe that, with an efficient tramp ward, with one well arranged and properly classified House of Industry at Douglas, and two Industrial Homes for children—one for boys, and one for girls—on the cottage principle, to which all parishes in the Island should contribute—all the requirements for imposing a test upon the idle and improvident, for offering an asylum to the aged and infirm poor, and for training poor and homeless children in habits of honest industry, will be fully met, and that the expenditure needed for these purposes will be amply repaid by the benefits which will result.

We have already noticed the absolute need of at least one inquiry officer or inspector of relief in Douglas, and we think it not improbable that the services of a second may be utilised with advantage in the country districts of the Island generally.

If a sanitary inspector be hereafter appointed for the country districts, he could probably perform those duties efficiently in connection with his other work; and the case of the man Bridson, already referred to (and the circumstances of whose death are detailed in Appendix V.,) points to the necessity for such an officer.

Upon the last question submitted to us, "Whether, and to what extent, there should be a legal obligation on individuals to contribute towards the support of their relatives, and, if so, the extent of such obligation, and the mode of its enforce- ment,'" we have already briefly noticed some of the objections to the present state of the law, which will be found fully set forth in the learned Attorney-General's letter to your Excellency of the 8th of January, 1879 (vide Appendix III.), and we are of opinion that it should be simplified and amended as follows :—

Parents and children, grandparents and grand-children should be held reciprocally liable to contribute towards each others support, and the husbands of daughters, or granddaughters, should (as by the present Manx law) remain under the lability to which their wives would be subject if unmarried.

This is, we think, an improvement upon the English law, under which no such liability attaches to the husband of a married daughter.

Beyond these degrees of relationship we do not desire to see the obligation extend, and, instead of the present cumbrous process of a suit in the Ecclesiastical Court, and the inconvenient, and often distressing remedy, alone provided by the present law, of compelling the next of kin by turns to receive the pauper in their houses, a power should, we think, be given to the vicar and wardens, and to the secretary or treasurer of a Poor Relief Association, to recover by summary process before a High-Bailiff, or two Justices, the amount of relief given, or periodically allowed from the charitable funds at their disposal. ;

We have the honour to be, Your Excellency's obedient servants

SAMUEL HARRIS, Chairman UVEDALE CORBETT. J. M. JEFFCOTT. ROBERT J. MOORE. A. DUMBELL. B.P.CLARKE. HUGH S. GILL. EDWARD W. KISSACK.

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