THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. FRIDAY, MAY 13, 1909. A REMARKABLE REPORT.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 3189, 14 May 1909, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. FRIDAY, MAY 13, 1909. A REMARKABLE REPORT.

The Poor Law Commission at Home, which wa3 appointed in 1905, has concluded its labours, and the report compiled is remarkable in some senses of the word, but it discloses a shocking condition of affairs among the poorer classes—among tha lower orders of the"free" mpn of England —an} a sitaation that mast not only be most disheartening to social reformers, but is in itself a grave national danger. Some years ago we used to hear of "the submerged tenth," but that tenth appears to have developed into a very much more substantial fraction of th 3 whole. Some of the larger conclusions of the Commission, disclosing the intense seriousness of the position are as follow:—"It is very unpleasant to record that, notwithstanding our assumed moral ]and material progress, and notwithstanding the enormous annual expenditure, amounting to nearly sixty millions a year, upon poor reliei, education, and public health, we still have a vast army of persons quartered upon us unable to support themselves, and an»army which in numbers has recently shown signs of increase rather than decrease. The statistical review, of the expenditure incurred and of the results attained by it prove that something in our social organisation is seriously wrong, and that, whatever may be the evils, they are not of such a nature as to be improved or removed by the mere signing of cheques or the outpouring of public-funds. Our investigations prove the existence in our midst of a class whose condition and environment are a discredit and a peril to the whole community. Each and every section of society has a common duty to perform m combating this evil and contracting its area —a duty which can only be performed by united and untiring effort to convert useless and costly inefficients into self-sustaining and respectable members of the community. No country, however rich, can permanently hold its own in the race of international competition if hampered by an increasing load of this dead weight, or can successfully perform the role of sovereignty beyond the seas if a

portion of its own folk at home are sinking below the civilisation and aspirations of its subject races abroad. We hope to remove from all sections of society unconsciousness of and unconcern in the wants, the failings, and the sufferings of those outside their immediate circle, and to replace them by knowledge, sympathy and cooperation." Particularly significant is the sentence that "no country, however rich, can permanently hold its own in the race of international competition if hampered by an increasing load of this dead weight, or can successfully perform the role of sovereignty beyond the i seas if a portion of its own folk at home are sinking below the civilisation and aspirations of its subject races abroad," and it must be remembered that the "portion of its own folk numbers hundreds of thousands, indeed the unemployable of Britain have been estimated at a million people. The true note of reform, if it be possible to accomplish such, is'struck in the last paragraph above quoted. Until there is removed | from all sections of society unconsciousness of and unconcern in the wants, the failings, and the sufferings of those outside their immediate circle, and until they are replaced by knowledge, sympathy and co-operation, England's great national peril must continue to increase.