on with the state. Since about 1890
there has been a feeling that men in distress from want of employment
should not be dealt with by the poor-law. A circular letter issued by
the Local Government Board in 1886, and subsequently in 1895, coincided
with this feeling. It was addressed to town councils and other local
authorities, asking them to provide work (1) which will not involve the
stigma of pauperism, (2) which all can perform whatever may have been
their previous avocations, and (3) which does not compete with that of
other labourers at present in employment. This circular led to the
vestries and subsequently the borough councils in many districts
becoming partially recognized relief authorities for the unemployed,
concurrently with the poor-law. Much confusion resulted. The local
authorities had seldom any suitable organization for the investigation
of applications. It was difficult to supply work on the terms required;
and the work was often ill-done and costly. Also it was found that the
same set of people would apply year after year, unskilled labourers
usually out of work part of the winter, or men habitually "unemployed."
As on other occasions when public work was provided, very few of the
applicants were found to be artisans, or members of trades unions or of
friendly societies. In 1904 Mr Long, then president of the Local
Government Board, proposed that local voluntary distress committees
should be established in London consisting of poor-law guardians and
town councillors and others, more or less supervised by a central
committee and ultimately by the Local Government Board. This
organization was set on foot and large sums were subscribed for its
work. The report on the results of the movement was somewhat doubtful
(Report, London Unemployed Fund, 1904-1905, p. 101, &c.), but in 1905
the Unemployed Workmen's Act was passed, and in London and elsewhere
distress committees like the voluntary committees of the previous year
were established by statute. It was enacted that for establishment
expenses, emigration and removal, labour exchanges, and the acquisition
of land a halfpenny rate might be levied, but that the rate would not be
available for the remuneration of men employed. For this purpose
(1905-1906) a large charitable fund was raised. A training farm at
Hollesley Bay was acquired, and it was hoped to train Londoners there to
become fit for agricultural work. It is impossible to judge this
experiment p