MR JOHN BURNS.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIII, Issue 9095, 14 March 1908, Page 5

MR JOHN BURNS.

-AS ONE OF THE UNEMPLOYED.

In"tlihe course of the debate in the House of Commons on methods of dealing with the unemployed Mr John Burns made a' protest against the pauperising influence of iudiscrimate relief and told the following story: “After his first levee at Buckingham Palace, and still wearing his Court dress, he took his place at 1 o’clock in the morning in the long queue of 300 or 400 men who assemble nightly on the Thames embankment. He mixed with these men for two or throe hours, _ and he was glad to say that they did not recognise him as one who had come fresh from the Palace of his Majesty. He turned up the collar of his coat, pulled his bowler over his eyes, and looked as miserable as he could: and at tlie end of this long queue he, a Minister in receipt of £2OOO a year, held out his hand and received his portion of soup and his pound of bread. Was that a discriminating kind of charity? London, indeed was being damaged in the name of sentiment to such an extent as he had indicated. When a man knew that this sort of thing took place, what kind of incentive was being held out to any sturdy vagrant getting probably 6d, Bd, or 9d a day from certain sources, to prevent him from coming up to London and swelling the ranks of the unemployed. ’ ’