CORRUPTION AT HOME.

Evening Star, Issue 3257, 29 July 1873, Page 3

CORRUPTION AT HOME.

There has appeared in London a little pamphlet, which has created a great sensation. It is simply called “ Contrasts,” and is a keen but calm exposure of the waste, jobbery, and corruption of the great Corporation of London. The writer states and undertakes to prove that the local taxation of the city is L 500,000 a-year more than it ought to be, and that tins immense sum is yearly lost in “mismanagement, jobbery, and gluttony.” The mode of proof, as the title of the book imports, is “ by contrasts.” The parallels of the work done in the city with that done elsewhere are skilfully drawn, and the results stand out in bold relief. Taking the administration of the poor laws, the author shows that on an average every man, woman, or child to whom relief is administered, costs the ratepayer 10s a-week. Taking the family as consisting on the average of six persons, the conclusion is drawn that the ratepayers expend weekly no less than L 3, while an average dock laborer has to support the same number on a weekly wage of 18s. The difference representing in the aggregate an enormous sum—is absorbed in administration and waste, which the author maintains can be readily saved, if the ratepayers choose to look into it. In the sick asylums and hospitals the same method of contrast is pursued, with the same striking results. He shows that the mortality in the largest, most showy, and most costly hospitals is in some cases fifteen times as great as in less pretentious institutions, — that the cost per bed in some of the most successful is as low as L3O ; and in others of the least efficient, as high as LBOO to LI,OOO. He shows the same contrasts in the expenditure on staff, — Bethlehem with 2GG patients costing, for example, L 5,100; while Caterham with 1,800 patients, is administered for only LG,3GI. At Bethlehem, the total cost for all purposes is LOO per patient, while that of Caterham is only L 35. Turning to schools, we have similar startling parallels drawn. In Spurgeon’s Orphanage the cost of each boy, for all purposes, is LI4 10s; in Clcwer Orphanage, LI 9 ; and in the schools in connection with the Chichester training-ship, LI 5. In the schools of the London district under the control of the Boor Law Board, the cost is in some cases L 29. it is never below L 23, and the average is struck at L 25. The author is calm and judicial while pursuing his contrasts, but he writes with the bitterness of honest indignation on the abuse of the rich endowments, their mismanagement for private ends, and the malversation of the great City Livery Companies by which they are controlled. Set aside originally for public purposes, lie shows how little they serve either in the education and maintenance of the poor, or the progress of the city. For these purposes and for sanitary improvements, taxation is freely imposed and growlingly paid by the ratepayers, while their noble inheritance is squandered in great banquets, snobbish pomp, and worldrenowned gluttony. The united yearly expenses of the “banquetting halls” alone of some of the leading City Companies represent the interest on two millions sterling, or, in round numbers, LG5,000, “ a sum sufficient to allow 4,370 decayed members of trades, annuities of Liu each.” The pamphlet consists of only 300 pages, but it has fallen like a shell, and created great sensation. In strong language, the author tells his readers <3 0 7 that “ the malversation of these trusts far exceeds the notorious New York frauds, only with the exception that while the execrations of all honest men have been poured upon the latter, in London they have not only been sanctified by our law authorities, but our bishops have stood by “ like dumb dogs, that bark not,” and have calmly watched the poor spoiled of their inheritance, even, in many cases, uttering their benediction on the spoiler.”