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1908]
240
STATE OF PAUPERISM.
For many years there has been embodied in the annual report of the
Medical Officer of Health a short statement as to pauperism, as shown by the
Poor Law returns in the borough.
At first sight it may not be apparent that there is any connection between
public health work and pauperism, or between a Sanitary Authority and a
Board of Guardians. Nevertheless there is, for as a matter of fact the public
health service of this country is administered by these two authorities, the duty
of the former authority being the prevention of illness through the adoption of
sanitary and other measures, and that of the latter the supply of physicians,
medicines, food and nursing to those who are ill, and without means, to assist
them to recover ; also the provision of food to the destitute and needy to prevent
them becoming ill, or dying, through starvation. The two authorities are,
therefore, allied, the one being the complement of the other. It is for this
reason that the proposal to place the administration of Poor Law work in the
hands of sanitary authorities has been made in one of the reports of the Royal
Commission on the Poor Laws.

Indoor Paupers.—The average number of indoor paupers (inclusive
of children) relieved during each week was 4,558, or 297 in excess of the
average which obtained in 1907, and as contrasted with a weekly average of
3,728 in the decennial period 1898-1907.
Outdoor Paupers.—These averaged 5,791 per week, as contrasted with
5,338 in 1907, and with 4,'214 in the preceding ten years. Of the outdoor paupers
3,752 were adults and 2,039 were children under 16 years of age.