An important circular has been issued by the Poor-Law Board to the various unions throughout the country, drawing the attention of the guardians to the existing system of relieving vagrants, and suggesting several reforms.
In order to distinguish between professional tramps and those whose real destitution gives them a claim to relief, the board suggest that the name and occupation of each applicant, with the place whence he comes, and the place to which he is going, be recorded in a book of reference; that the applicant should forthwith (except when ill) be put into a bath; that, as far as practicable, he should be lodged in a separate cell, and that the performance of a sufficient task should be required before he sets out in the morning.
For reasons which the recent publication of tramps' opinions as to the relative comfort of certain workhouses make manifest, the board point out the desirability of providing a uniform scale of diet and task work in the casual wards throughout the country. With a view to the attainment of such uniformity, the board append to the circular a scale of food and work, which they submit for the consideration of the several boards of guardians, and ask for an expression of opinion as to its suitability.
In return for a night's food and lodging male tramps will be inquired to break from 1½ to 3 cwt. of stone, or to pick one pound of oakum; and women to pick half a pound of oakum, or to perform such other task as the guardians may deem more suitable and the board may sanction.
The board intimate that when the answers from the various unions have been received and considered, an order embodying these suggestions, or such modifications of them as may seem desirable, will be issued.
Source: The Illustrated London News, No.1520—Vol. LIV, Saturday, January 9, 1869, p.38