Note. The figures in italics relate to expenditure on the destitute able-bodied unemployed and are additional to the figures in ordinary type.

There has been an increase in the total poor law expenditure of £410,351 during the year 1925-26, representing an increase of £81,500 on poor, excluding destitute able-bodied unemployed, and an increase of £328,851 in expenditure on the destitute ablebodied unemployed.

The increased expenditure on sane outdoor poor, other than the able-bodied (1.7 per cent.) is accounted for by a slight increase in the number of cases chargeable during the year. There was an increase in the cost of indoor poor (1.3 per cent.), the number chargeable having increased by 6.5 per cent.

The increase in the outdoor relief granted to the destitute able-bodied unemployed is referred to in paragraph 7.

There was an increase in the expenditure on other than sane poor (2.4 per cent.), due partly to an increase in the number of cases (1.3 per cent.). The expenditure of parish councils consists mainly of sums paid to district boards of control in respect of asylum cases, at weekly rates fixed at the beginning of the financial year. These weekly rates are based on the estimated costs for the year after taking into account any provision made by district boards towards the reduction of balances on hand or the liquidation of overpaid balances.

(e) Capital Receipts in 1925-26 and Expenditure out of same. -The capital receipts under the Poor Law Acts during the year amounted to £10,489, of which £5,410 was from loans and £5,079 from sources other than loans.

The expenditure out of capital receipts amounted to £14,752, including £11,914 on poorhouse buildings and £2,338 on medical officers' houses (Highlands and Islands).

(f) Valuation and Indebtedness.-The gross valuation of Scotland for 1925-26 was £45,078,366, being an increase of £486,096 compared with the previous year.

Indebtedness for poor law purposes at 15th May, 1926, was £392,847, of which £384,058 was in respect of the erection or enlargement of poorhouse buildings and a parochial asylum.

3. Administration of Poor Law Relief-(a) Applications for Relief and Manner of Disposal.—Applications for parochial relief

during the years ended 15th May, 1926, and 1925 (exclusive of applications from the destitute able-bodied unemployed and coal miners) numbered 158,554 and 115,057 respectively. They were disposed of as follows:

In 1926 separate figures were obtained regarding the number of applications received from vagrants and the manner of their disposal. For comparison purposes the details of the applications in 1926 in the above table include applications from vagrants. The total number of applications from vagrants in 1926 was 50,787, of which 968 were refused, 40,158 were granted outdoor relief, and 9,661 were granted relief in poorhouses.

Of the 4,530 applicants refused relief during the year ended 15th May, 1926, 371 were 65 years of age and upwards; and of the 2,817 applicants who, being offered relief only in a poorhouse, declined that offer, 471 were 65 years of age and upwards.

In

(b) Applications to Sheriffs.-In connection with applications made to sheriffs on the ground that relief was improperly refused, the returns furnished by inspectors of poor shew that, during the year, sheriffs granted interim orders of relief in 55 cases. fourteen of these cases answers were lodged by inspectors, and in two cases relief ceased before answer could be lodged. Two applicants were admitted to the roll of paupers by final orders of sheriffs.

(c) Removal to and from England and to Ireland.-During the year 34 paupers and 14 dependants were removed to England, and 24 paupers and 9 dependants were removed to Ireland either voluntarily or by warrant of sheriff, while 42 paupers and 14 dependants were removed to parishes in Scotland from England by warrant.

(d) Poorhouse Inmates.-The following table shews the total existing poorhouse accommodation and the number of sane poor receiving relief in poorhouses at the several dates specified during the last ten years and the year 1914.

X

* Decrease in number of inmates is due to the fact that several poorhouses were taken over by the military authorities.

(e) Poorhouse Average Weekly Cost.-The tables in Appendices XVIII and XIX shew for the year ended 15th May, 1926, the average weekly cost per head of inmates in the ordinary and lunatic wards of poorhouses in respect of maintenance (food, clothing, fuel, light, &c.), management, upkeep of house, medical relief and debt charges. These costs were based upon the average nightly number of inmates who slept in the house.

(f) Summary of returns under the Children Act.-In Appendix XX a summary of work performed by parish councils under the Children Act for the year to 15th May, 1926, is given.

4. Statutory complaints of inadequate Relief.-Under Section 74 of the Poor Law (Scotland) Act, 1845, any applicant for, or recipient of, poor relief who is dissatisfied with the amount or the nature of the relief afforded to him by a parish council is entitled to make a complaint to the Department. The number of such statutory complaints of inadequate relief dealt with during the year was 252. Of these 55 were complaints by unemployed able-bodied persons receiving relief under the Emergency Provisions (Scotland) Act, 1921. Considering the abnormally large number of persons on the Rolls of Poor, the number of statutory complaints is surprisingly small.

5. Poorhouse Administration.-The number of sane poor persons accommodated in poorhouses and poorhouse hospitals at 15th May, 1926, was 13,049.

Throughout the year, and especially in the latter part of the year, the accommodation of the poorhouses in the industrial areas was severely taxed. A number of poorhouses were frequently occupied to the full extent of their sanctioned accommodation, and it was occasionally necessary to admit inmates in excess of the sanctioned numbers. A return of the number of vacant beds in poorhouses which was obtained at the

end of the year shewed that in nearly all poorhouses the hospital wards were occupied more or less to their full capacity; and that in many of the poorhouses in industrial areas, and particularly in the west of Scotland, the full sanctioned accommodation in all parts of the institution was occupied, or that only a small margin of unoccupied beds existed. Parish councils in industrial areas who have had to deal with an increased number of applicants for relief have at times experienced difficulty in securing accommodation, and have sometimes had to find temporary accommodation in distant poorhouses. For instance, Glasgow Parish Council at the end of the year had inmates boarded in poorhouses at Thornhill, Kinghorn, Irvine, Stonehaven, Arbroath, Oban and Hawick, and at that time were endeavouring to arrange for boarding inmates in a number of other poorhouses. It is to be hoped that the difficulty is a temporary one, due to the industrial dislocation of the past year, as the scattering of small groups of inmates from a parish in poorhouses in various parts of the country, though probably the only possible course that can be pursued for the present, is not wholly satisfactory.

The following extracts are quoted from the annual report of the Governor of Barnhill Poorhouse, Glasgow, as illustrations of the heterogeneous collection of individuals that are to be found in a large city poorhouse, and of the varied and useful work undertaken by the inmates of that institution.

"As regards the infirm and able-bodied classes, it has to be remembered that with the extension of out-door relief to the able-bodied, authorised by the 1921 Act, few deserving poor and unemployed, who have a home of their own, are sent to Barnhill at all. The majority so sent are, in fact, men and women who have never been in any settled occupation or fixed place of residence; who have been dissolute and intemperate in their habits, many having bad police records; and others who have been guilty of misconduct while in receipt of outdoor relief. The exceptions are the aged, senile, and physically and mentally afflicted, who cannot be properly cared for in their own homes, and for these, as indicated, a scheme of classification is possible. The inmates include, as is to be expected, a large proportion of unskilled labourers and men who, while outside, have lived largely by their wits, but a considerable number of tradesmen are to be found amongst them. During the year the admissions have included two fully qualified doctors, one being on the verge of delirium tremens and the other addicted to drugs; a lawyer; a B.Sc.; an artist, who dissipated a fortune in about two years; the mother-in-law of one of the Deputies of the French Chamber; a man who used to own a large tailoring and clothing establishment in one of the main city thoroughfares; and another, who died at the age of 84, who is said to have been one of the original founders of a large Clyde engineering firm, and who attributed his downfall to having lost £11,000 in the City of Glasgow Bank.

failure. Many other instances of men and women who have been comparatively well-to-do and forced, through various circumstances, to enter the poorhouse, can be quoted, but sufficient has been said to shew that all classes of the community are represented."

"All inmates, not classed as unfit, are put to work according to ability, tradesmen being put to their own trade. Firewood chopping and bunching is largely engaged in by able-bodied inmates, and the sales resulting realised £8,722, 1s. 2d. Farm and garden work, upkeep of grounds, scrubbing and carting and storing of fuel, are also engaged in. Hand-looms, worked solely by inmates, produced 2,118 yards of tweed and plaiding for use in the institution. Shoemakers repaired 4,691 pairs of boots and shoes, of which 324 pairs were the personal property of inmates taking their discharge, and made 54 pairs of slippers, shoes and clogs. Tailors repaired 6,545 articles of clothing and made 240 new garments, mostly outsizes. Upholsterers made 421 coir and hair mattresses and 410 pillows, and repaired 6 chairs and 5 couches. Plumbers made 475 tureens, measures and other tinware for use in the kitchen, and carried out all repairs to kitchen utensils."

"At the workshops mental defectives, assisted by aged and infirm inmate craftsmen, produced 433 articles of basketware, 9 wool rugs, 127 door-mats, 2,375 articles of woodwork, including 4 gross assorted golf clubs and 309 cushions and cosies, and repaired 61 baskets and hampers for other institutions."

"In the female sewing-room 11,368 articles of clothing, &c. were made and 42,217 repairs effected, while in the laundry 850,539 articles were washed and laundered."

6. Co-operation with other Local Authorities.-During the year two important co-operative agreements between parish councils and other local authorities affecting the use of portions of poor law hospitals have been arranged. In Aberdeen, the town council and the parish council have concluded an agreement for the development of the hospital and medical services of the two authorities. The details of the agreed scheme are given in chapter VIII. Two satisfactory results of the agreement may be mentioned here, namely, the removal of the difficulties which have hitherto prevented the recognition of Oldmill Hospital for the purpose of training probationer nurses, and the effective use of part of the hospital which has been unoccupied for many years.

During the year the parish council of Glasgow arranged to make available in their hospital at Stobhill 50 beds for the accommodation of patients in the later stages of encephalitis lethargica. Details of the arrangements for the admission, &c. of suitable patients to the hospital will be found in chapter IV of this Report.