took the matter up, and made the observation "That the days of penal servitude for the sick and aged may come to an end as soon as the guardians have grasped the idea that old age and sickness are not criminal." The Manchester City News also entered into the dis cussion, publishing more than one article calling attention to the dietary table, and indulging in some adverse criticisms. Some guardians thought that much of the criticism was unfair, and even untrue, but nevertheless a new scale was drawn up on a somewhat more liberal basis, and finally adopted, to the benefit, I hope, of the paupers.

A very singular case came before us in the month of June, when several inmates applied for a week's outrelief. Amongst these was a decent-looking woman of middle age, who came from Scotland to the workhouse with an infant aged five months. Her husband, she explained, had been good to her. He was looking for work, but she did not know where. He had served ten years' penal servitude, and since then, having no testimonials as to character, he had not been able to obtain regular employment. If she were given a week's outrelief she would go to Stockport, where she had some friends, and try to obtain work to keep herself and child. Her application was complied with. We had various other questions before us from time to time, of which I will just mention two or three, in order to give you some idea of the variety of matters which the guardians have to sit in judgment upon. For instance, there was the question of dress material for the girls, and tobacco for the old people, of bonnets at 3s. 6d.. of the proper dress for poor people, of the quality of the butter supplied, of the kind of fish to be given to patients, and half a hundred other things.

A very pleasant break in the ordinary routine of the Board's existence took place on the last Thursday but one in July. A few of the members, I being one, took about 340 of the children from the workhouse for a day's outing to Southport. We left Pendleton station at nine o'clock in the morning; the day was cloudy and the rain came down "rather dree," to use a Lancashire expression, the whole of the journey. We reached Chapel Street station about ten o'clock, and at once proceeded through the streets in procession to Cambridge Hall, kindly and generously lent us by the Mayor of Southport, for the accommodation of the children for the day. After partaking of luncheon we proceeded by the long promenade to the large lake, where boats were in readiness for the little ones to have a sail, not on a stormy sea, but on a stormy lake. A more boisterous day I never experienced in Southport, although I have been going there twice or thrice a year for the last thirty-five years. The sand

two

of the shore blew in clouds, the force of the wind was terrific-truly a 'ruffianly blast," in the words of Thomson. With sand blowing in our eyes, and the boats tossing on the lake, it was au experience not easy to be forgotten. But the children enjoyed it immensely, the more the boats tossed, the more they enjoyed the storm. All along the inner promenade-for there are promenades at Southport now-the sand was drifted in heaps, and the gardens in front of the lakes, in places, were literally covered with sand. Not even the boulevards in Lord-street were free from drifted sand. Don't let me hear people say there are no storms at Southport. When the children had had their hour's sail they left the boats, and at once proceeded to Cambridge Hall to dine off pies, sandwiches, bread and butter, and new milk, all of which had been brought from Manchester. During the dinner a boy between 13 and 14 years of age was prostrated in a corner of the room from the effects of the great storm. We gave him tea (kindly brought us by the hall. keeper, a kind and gentle dame), but that he couldn't drink. Then we arranged with the hallkeeper, who allowed us to take him into her kitchen, where we laid him on the sofa, and he soon got into the arms cf Morpheus, the god of dreams. After a good sleep he was able to promenade with us again in a procession through the town for a couple of hours, after which we returned and again partook of refreshments, and then proceeded to Chapel-street station, to catch the special train to Manchester as arranged for seven p.m., and reached Pendleton station shortly after eight o'clock.

So far as I could see everything passed off with flying colours. The matron, the teachers, and the nurses made themselves very active indeed to render the outing pleasant and enjoyable to all the children. The priest (Father Sáffenreuter) and the minister (John Walsh) were particularly active in attending to the wants of the little ones. Each of the guardians that were there spared no pains or expense in making the girls and boys happy.

A somewhat curious point came before the Board in August Mrs. Booth, one of our four respected lady guardians, having taken unto herself a husband, was, in the opinion of some members, disqualified by this proceeding from continuing in the office of guardian. The Board were somewhat in a dilemma, as they had no wish to show any want of gallantry towards their colleague, whilst, on the other hand, they could not of course consent to her retention of office if she were disqualified. It fortunately happened that none of the four lady members were present at the meeting

when the question came up for discussion, and the Board-wisely, as I think-shifted the responsibility of settling the nice little point on to the broad shoulders of the Local Government Board. Mrs. Booth resented this action, but in the end the question was amicably settled, and I am happy to say that the lady continues to be a valued member, and I hope she may long remain so. must not detain you with any lengthened description of the debates which took place from time to time upon such questions as the surcharging of the steward at Hope Hospital for dinners supplied to the Guardians, the cost of deputations, the quality of the margarine supplied to the old men and children, and the kind of coffins in which the paupers were buried. I may, perhaps, however refer to a resolution which I moved, and got passed, on the difficulty of the law of settlement. The resolution was as follows:-" That the law of settlement and removal as between this Union, the township of Manchester, and the unions of Chorlton, Prestwich, and Barton-upon-Irwell be abrogated, provided other unions join in the undertaking.'

It is the duty of a Poor-law Guardian to be presen at demonstrations in the borough, whether large or small. To some of the demonstrations he can only go when he is asked; to others he can go whether he is asked or not. On November 10, 1895, I was asked by the Mayor of Salford (Alderman Mottram) to accompany him and the Council to Trinity Church to hear a sermon by the Rector of Christ Church, the Rev. Fergus Hill, the text being "Righteousness exalteth a nation." It was a most impressive sermon, given with great power and pathos. The following is an extract taken from the Manchester Guardian of the following day :"The whole history of the world, he said, was a testimony to the truth of this passage of Scripture. The true foundation of the greatness of this country was to be found in the fact tbat we were eminently acquainted with the need for, and the power of, righteousness. Our national life had found its nourish ment and its true source of moral inspiration in the spirit of the righteous law of God. We were not only 'professedly a righteous nation, but our laws had been based on and were administered with a due sense of that profession. The question was sometimes asked whether England was holding her position among the nations of the earth, or whether she was not approaching that time when Macaulay's New Zealander would sit amongst the ruins of London Bridge. He believed that we were not declining as a nation, but that we were progressive. We were, as a nation, making progress in righteousness. The statistics with regard to indictable offences committed all over the country

showed that those offences were not increasing in number, but that they had greatly decreased from what they were forty or fifty years ago, and that notwithstanding the fact that population had greatly increased. These things showed that the devil was not having his own way altogether in Englandnor even in Salford. We should not be too pessimistic. While there were squalor and vice and immorality unfortunately to be found, we yet could not look at our great cities and towns without regarding the miles of streets in which were the homes of great numbers of the artisan classes, homes of brightness, of purity, and of family devotion and love. While that was so, and while our legislative and administrative bodies were formed of men who remembered and acted up to the words of his text, he had little fear for the future of England." The following hymn was beautifully rendered by the choir :—

"Through all the changing scenes of life,
In trouble and in joy,

The praises of my God shall still

My heart and tongue employ.

O magnify the Lord with me,
With me exalt His name;
When in distres to Him I call'd
He to my rescue came.

The Hosts of God encamp around
The dwellings of the just;
Deliverance He affords to all
Who on His succour trust.

O make but trial of His love,
Experience will decide

How bless'd are they, and only they,

Who in His truth confide.

Fear Him, ye saints, and you will then
Have nothing else to fear;

Make you His service your delight,
Your wants shall be His care.

To Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,
The God Whom we adore,

Be glory, as it was, is now,

And shall be evermore.'

Another little experience I had was a visit of inspection with other members of the Board to the Prestwich Asylum. On arrival at the institution we were first shown into the ward wherein the lunatics belong. ng to Salford were placed for our inspection. The

number that we have at Prestwich is about 250; not
one of these was violent, not one attempted to strike
a guardian or anybody else. As a rule, some of them
talked a great deal; others were as meek as a lamb.
One of them was as haughty as a king; he seemed to
have been in a high position. One old gentleman,
advanced in years, was a regular orator, and more
brilliant in speech than any member of the Salford
Board. He was logical too, more logical in speech
than John Stuart Mill in writing; in fact, Sir
William Hamilton or Lord Bacon were not in it. He
scarcely ever made a long pause. Another gentleman
came up to me and shook me very cordially by the
hand, saying that he had known me for thirty odd
years, and he was glad to make a further acquaintance
with me.
He reminded me of the time that we sent
the shuttle merrily through the loom; he said—

"The weaver it surely becomes,
To talk of his web's involution;
For doubtless the hero of thrums,
Is a member of some institution.
He speaks of supply and demand,
With the airs of a great legislator;
And almost can tell you of-hand;

That the smaller is less than the greater." complained bitterly about being kept in the Asylum, saying "when in reality I am as sane and as sensible as any member of the Salford Board of Guardians." I asked him if that was saying a great deal, and he said it wasn't saying much. He said, "when I complain to the keeper about retaining me in the house against my will, he takes no notice of me; so further, when I tell and threaten him that I shall tell the Salford Board of Guardians about his treatment and conduct," the keeper retorts and says "that the Salford Guardians are consummate idiots and fools of a very low type." And, further, he said that they won't go in for any good schemes, and went on to tell how they opposed the amalgamation of the Boards of Chorlton, Barton, and Crumpsall for the protection of the public against the imposition of the tramps.

The picture in this ward was a melancholy one, melancholy because there were SO many there that were once sensible men and women, and it is to be hoped they will be so again. So far as I could gather there were few born idiots that have been sent from Salford. In this desert there was a little oasis in which was a grand picture. It was that of a little girl in all the bloom and beauty of youth-she was a regular Venus as far as beauty was concerned but her innocence and modesty made her made her