Note 662 — Chapter IV · (continued 2)

Mr. Longley, indeed, in his Report on the Administration of Outdoor Relief in the Metropolis, seems to allude to the official dictum of the Poor Law Board under Mr. Goschen, in favour of "free medicine to the poorer classes generally." He sternly condemns "any gradual drifting into a system of medical State charity," and deprecates the fact that this tendency "has received higher sanction than that of the prevalent belief of the poor, or even of the practice of Boards of Guardians" (Third Annual Report of the Local Government Board, 1873-4, p. 161).