(1) Widening and improvement of the London-Tilbury Road, including new by-passes at Rainham and Purfleet.
(2) Construction of new road 21 miles in length from Tilbury to Southend in continuation of the Greater London “Eastern Avenue” already in progress.
(3) Widening and improvement of existing trunk roads in North Kent:
(a) Erith-Dartford Road.
(b) London-Folkestone Road.
(c) London-Dover Road.
(d) Watling Street (Dartford-Strood).
The Provincial Schemes
In the provinces so large a number of schemes have been put in hand that only a few typical cases can be mentioned.
Wallasey is widening her principal exit to the Wirral area and Birkenhead.
Middlesex County Council is undertaking the widening to 60 feet of Kingsbury Road, which connects Kingsbury, Hendon and Harrow.
Lancashire County Council is constructing anew road so that through traffic between Preston and Liverpool may “by-pass” Ormskirk. They are also improving the road from Liverpool to Prescot, parts of the existing road being widened, and the line and width of the remainder being improved by new construction.
Glasgow has widened an existing road and constructed two sections of new road, thus affording a connection between her principal south-western exits, and has also widened the road to the south-east. In addition, a commencement is now being made upon the widening to 80 feet of the road to Milngavie and Paisley.
Bolton has taken in hand the widening to 60 feet of Wigan Road.
Coventry is constructing a new road which will connect two of her north-western exits, and is widening to 50 feet Barker’s Butts Lane, which will afford an additional convenient outlet in the same direction.
Norwich is constructing a section of a ring road round the city, including the erection of three new bridges.
Redcar and Eston are constructing a new road between Redcar and Grangetown, part of a scheme for providing better communication between Middlesbrough and Redcar.
Neath Rural District Council is constructing a new road through the Dulaid Valley, which will be a great improvement upon the winding, narrow and steep road that has hitherto been the only route through this industrial area.
Plymouth has widened the main road from Devonport to the north, and another road which will afford a less congested route from Plymouth towards the west.
Birmingham has in hand several extensive road widenings, forming part of her town planning scheme.
Southport is constructing a section of new road to enable traffic to and from Liverpool to avoid an exceedingly narrow portion of the existing road.
Durham County Council is constructing a section of new road from Easington towards Hartlepool which will provide a much shorter route for East Coast traffic.
Conditions Attaching to Grants
Since the initiation of the 1921-22 Roads Programme, the following conditions have been attached to all grants made from the Road Fund towards the cost of road works started with a view to relieving unemployment:
(a) Unskilled labour to be employed to the fullest extent practicable.
(b) All unskilled labour for a probationary period of six months to receive a rate of wages not in excess of 75 per cent. of the local authority’s rate for unskilled labour. This requirement of a lower rate of wages than the prevailing local rate does not apply in cases where the work is carried out by contract.
The reduced rate of 75 per cent. does not apply to skilled men, employed in their trade, nor to properly qualified navvies.
In cases where the men are employed for not more than three days in the week the reduced rate applicable is increased from 75 per cent. to a maximum of 87½ per cent.
The probationary period may include the time during which the man has been employed on Government-assisted works under previous schemes.
The reduced rate (for the probationary period) must be calculated to the nearest farthing per hour.
(c) All unskilled labour to be obtained through the Employment Exchanges, which give preference to ex-Service men, and do not submit unskilled men for engagement unless they have been registered at an Employment Exchange for at least seven days.
4. POOR LAW RELIEF
In this country the traditional method of alleviating distress resulting from unemployment has been by Poor Law relief administered by Boards of Guardians. During 1920 and 1921, many persons who were uninsured and faced with destitution, and many persons who, though insured, found the benefit insufficient for the maintenance of themselves and their families, came to the Guardians for relief. There were three times as many people in receipt of out-door relief during the winter of 1921-22 as there were in 1915, and two and a half times as many as in 1910. This has necessitated the raising of large sums by Guardians and heavy increases in the Poor Law element in local rates. The administration of out-door relief under circumstances such as the present is a matter of the greatest difficulty. Guardians are, not unnaturally, disposed on humane grounds to give relief on as generous a scale as possible, which varies according to the Guardians’ views and the district. On the other hand, this results in heavy charges on ratepayers, and a preference in many of the able-bodied recipients for doles instead of work, and possibly thereby an aggravation of unemployment. The general supervision of the work of the Guardians falls to the Ministry of Health, and that Department has undoubtedly discharged that invidious duty with judgment and efficiency.
Principles Governing Administration of Relief
By a circular letter dated December 29, 1920, the Minister of Health directed the attention of Guardians to the fact that under Article 12 of the Relief Regulation Order, 1911, they could not grant outdoor relief on a wholesale scale, or depart from the standard prescribed by that article unless under special circumstances—they were, therefore, bound to examine into the special circumstances of each particular case, and report to him any departure from the ordinary practice. This was a most necessary admonition in view of the amount being distributed from State funds in the shape of out-of-work donation and pensions. Again, by Circular 240 dated September 8, 1921, the Minister of Health reverted to this important matter and indicated the rules which, in his opinion, and that of the Association of Poor Law Unions, should govern the administration of relief. The first was that as Poor Law relief should be restricted to what was necessary to relieve distress, the amount thereof should be calculated on a lower scale than the earnings of the independent workman maintaining himself by his own labour. I need hardly stop to criticize the Labour contention that the relief should be of no less amount than the full Trade Union rate of wages of the recipient—it would be as demoralizing to the recipient as it would be disastrous to the community. The second rule was that no relief should be given without full investigation of the circumstances of each applicant, obtaining from the latter a signed statement of the total income of the household from all sources. The third rule was that the greater proportion of the relief granted should be given not in money but in kind, i.e. goods supplied on presentation of an order drawn on the Guardians’ own out-relief distribution stores or on local tradesmen. Guardians were further urged to make, by way of loan, all relief given to or on account of any person over twenty-one, or to his wife or any member of his family under sixteen, in cases where there was a reasonable prospect of the recipient being able to repay within a reasonable period.
Ascertainment of Applicant’s Income
A very important scheme for the voluntary registration of income from public sources such as pensions, allowances or grants from the Ministry of Pensions, or Local War Pensions Committees, unemployment benefit under the Unemployment Insurance Acts, dependents’ allowances under the Unemployed Workers’ Dependents (Temporary Provision) Act, 1921, and from other sources, was put into operation with great success in certain local districts under the auspices of the National Council of Social Service, which pressed the general adoption of the scheme upon the Government. A somewhat analogous scheme was later outlined by the Minister of Health for districts where such voluntary registration schemes were not in operation, which is described in Circular 261 dated November 23, 1921, and provided that similar information should be communicated by the Government Departments concerned to Boards of Guardians. At the same time, the Minister warmly endorsed the principle of voluntary registration. Guardians ought, of course, before giving out-door relief, to ascertain the weekly income of all the members of an applicant’s household. The only sources of income which are not to be included are the first 5s. received from a Friendly Society as sick pay (Outdoor Relief (Friendly Societies) Act, 1904) and the first 7s. 6d. of sickness benefit (National Insurance Act, 1911, as amended by the National Health Insurance Act, 1920). On the other hand, Section 6 of the Unemployed Workers’ Dependents (Temporary Provision) Act, 1921, suspended during the currency of that Act (i.e. up to May 10, 1922) the provisions of the Unemployment Insurance Act, 1920, forbidding Guardians to take account of the first 10s. of unemployment benefit. Section 14 of the Unemployment Insurance Act, 1922, made this suspension permanent and further enables benefit due to any person in respect of any period to be paid to the Guardians, if and so far as they have given that person out-door relief which they would not have given if the benefit had been punctually paid.
Assistance to Guardians to Carry out Works
In a number of cases the Minister of Health has facilitated the undertaking by Guardians of works of excavation, road improvement and the like for the provision of employment, and has allowed a variation of the regulations in force so as to enable Guardians undertaking such works to employ direct labour upon them instead of, as in the ordinary course, resorting to a contractor. In this way Guardians are enabled to select the labour from the ranks of those already destitute. In other cases in which Guardians have themselves been unable to provide any work, arrangements have been made by the Minister of Health by which works, which could not ordinarily be undertaken under the scheme of the Unemployment Grants Committee, are put in hand by the sanitary authorities, the labour engaged being supplied by the Guardians, and, in view of the importance of providing work rather than relief, the Minister has undertaken to give any sanction necessary to cover the contributions made in this connection by the Guardians to the sanitary authorities executing the Works, so long as the poor-rate does not incur a charge greater than the cost of relief which, but for the works, would have had to be given.
Funding of Cost of Relief
The cost of relief is normally a charge upon the current rates. There have been cases where the unexpected increase in the cost of relief resulting from unemployment upset the estimates of annual expenditure made by the Guardians and placed them in serious financial difficulties; and again, others where this annual cost is so heavy as to place an unreasonable immediate burden upon the ratepayers. To meet these abnormal cases, power was given by the Local Authorities (Financial Provisions) Act, 1921, to fund the cost, and for that purpose to authorize the raising of temporary loans for a period not exceeding a maximum of ten years. Temporary loans amounting, up to the middle of July, 1922, to £6,204,776 have been sanctioned by the Minister of Health under this Act, the usual period allowed for repayment being two years, though in several cases as much as five years has been allowed.
Help to Poorer Metropolitan Unions
Poor Law relief in London is always a matter of exceptional difficulty, and there has, since 1867, been a Common Poor Fund, through the agency of which certain Poor Law expenses are pooled and charged to the whole of the unions in London. During the war, this Fund was placed on a stereotyped basis, but with the rise of prices and with the growth of unemployment relief, hardship was caused to the poorer unions. An emergency arrangement was accordingly made for placing this Fund on an unstereotyped basis, much to the advantage of the poorer unions. Later, by the Local Authorities (Financial Provisions) Act, 1921, certain additional expenses in each union, and particularly the cost of out-door relief, so far as this was given within a scale and subject to conditions prescribed by the Minister of Health, were added to the expenses of a union chargeable on London as a whole. By this Act the burden of out-door relief in boroughs such as Poplar has been very greatly lightened by being spread over the wealthier boroughs like Kensington and Westminster. The Minister of Health, by Statutory Rules and Orders 1922, No. 3, prescribed the scale. It is, of course, within the power of Guardians to exceed the scale to meet exceptional needs in any particular case, but not at the cost of the Common Poor Fund.
Assistance to Guardians to Raise Loans
In cases where a Poor Law authority is in danger of being brought to a standstill by inability to raise from other sources loans sanctioned by the Minister for current expenditure, the Minister is empowered himself to advance the necessary money, on such terms and conditions as may be recommended by a Committee established under the chairmanship of Sir Harry Goschen, K.B.E. Up to the middle of March 1922, it had only been necessary to place three applications before this Committee.