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Anunal Report of the London County Council, 1913.
pauper, and perhaps, indirectly, an effect upon the use made of the accommodation in common
lodging-houses. Early in November, 1911, with a view to securing greater uniformity of administration
in the 28 casual wards of the Metropolis, the Local Government Board issued the
Metropolitan (Casual Paupers) Order, 1911, forming under the Metropolitan Poor Act, 1867, a new
district co-terminous with the Metropolitan Asylums district for the relief of the casual poor. The
managers of the Asylums Board were constituted the managers of the new district and the existing
casual wards were transferred to their control. The Local Government Board in forwarding the Order
pointed out that uniformity of administration was of the first importance, more especially as regarded
the treatment of the habitual vagrant. It was suggested that under the powers given by the Order,
the Metropolitan Asylums Board would be able to make more adequate arrangements to ensure to
destitute wanderers and wayfarers the provision of food and shelter, and that experience might make
it possible to obtain some classification of casual paupers so as to differentiate the occasional from the
habitual vagrant.
On 1st April, 1912, the Metropolitan Asylums Board assumed control of 24 of the 28 casual
wards of the Metropolis, the remaining 4 wards being discontinued. Steps were at once taken to secure
uniform observance of the Regulations, and to equalise the tasks and the dietary. In addition, the
wards were connected by telephone and a central index of vagrants established. It is a remarkable
fact that with the inauguration of the new scheme the numbers of applicants for admission to the casual
wards rapidly declined. From a weekly return published by the Local Government Board it appears
that on the night of the 7th February, 1913. the casual paupers relieved numbered only 561. On
the corresponding Friday nights in the years 1910-1912, the numbers ranged from 1,112 to 1,033. It
has been pointed out, moreover, that the reduction in numbers has not been accompanied by an
increase in the number of vagrants making use of the casual wards in the extra-Metropolitan area.
There still remained the problem of dealing with those persons who remain all night in the streets.
As an attempt towards solving the difficulty a scheme was on 30th October, 1912, put into force for
dealing with homeless persons in the Strand district, including the Embankment. The Metropolitan
Police were supplied with tickets for distribution to homeless persons found on their beats. These
tickets had to be taken to an office on Waterloo Pier, where inquiries were made and tickets were issued
entitling the holder to lodging at a casual ward or shelter as the case might be. The shelters are maintained
by the several voluntary agencies affiliated to the scheme. During the month of November,
1912, of the 2,966 tickets distributed by the police 2,608 were presented at the office on Waterloo Pier.
Of this number of persons 595 were given tickets for charitable institutions, and 2,013 were given tickets
for admission to casual wards. 551, or nearly 93 per cent. of the first-mentioned tickets, were used
and 996, or just over 49 per cent., of the latter.
The facts just stated have a very important bearing on the relationship existing between the
homeless person, the casual pauper, and the common lodging-house inmate, and the following tables
enable comparison to be made of the variations existing at the time of the enumerations in the several
years. The latest figures relating to the casual ward accommodation have been kindly supplied by
Mr. T. Duncombe Mann, the clerk of the Metropolitan Asylums Board.