§ MR. ARTHUR MILLSsaid, he rose to ask the President of the Poor Law Board, Whether it is the intention of the Government to adopt the suggestions contained in the evidence given before the 1534 Select Committee on Poor Relief, respecting the employment of trained and competent nurses in workhouses; whether it is intended to carry out the recommendation embodied in the Report, that quinine and other expensive medicines should be provided, when required, by the guardians; and whether the Articles of the Consolidated Order now in force respecting the voluntary visitation of the sick poor present any practical obstacle to those who may desire to visit the inmates of union workhouses?
§ MR. C. P. VILLIERS,in reply, said, he believed the evidence to which the hon. Member referred was that of a lady, Miss Twining, who appeared as a witness before the Poor Law Committee. She referred to the great want of improvement in the system of proper nurses for the sick poor in the workhouses of London, and stated that in most of these workhouses there was no such attendance at all. Now, he found that this was an overstatement of the case. The Metropolitan Poor Law Inspector had always urged the guardians to employ competent persons as nurses for the sick, and the fact was that upon inquiry, which he (Mr. C. P. Villiers) had directed in consequence of this evidence, he found that there were no less than ninety-three paid nurses in the different houses in London, and that out of the thirty-nine workhouses there were only eight without them. There was, however, great reason to doubt whether they were efficient for the purpose for which they were employed, and there was no doubt a great difficulty in proving who were competent persons; but, in consequence of communications lately received at the Poor Law Board from Miss Nightingale, who superintended establishments for the purpose of properly training nurses, and who was now taking much interest in the state of these houses, there was every reason to suppose that well qualified persons could be obtained, and in number equal to the demand for them, should the guardians be willing to engage them. The Poor Law Board had already issued a Circular to the guardians of all Unions and Parishes in London urging them to employ such persons, together with proper assistants, and it was to be hoped that they would now exercise their discretion in doing so. With respect to the supply of expensive medicines, such as quinine, &c, which the hon. Member inquired about, the Poor Law Board had issued a Circular to all the unions in England and Wales on this 1535 subject, suggesting the propriety of their making arrangements with their medical officers forthwith for this purpose, and he was glad to say that many unions and Parishes in the Metropolis did supply those medicines and found no difficulty in doing so. With respect to the third question, he would read the Article to which the hon. Member referred, by which he would see what was allowed in this matter—
Article 118. Any person may visit any pauper in the workhouse, by permission of the master, or, in his absence, of the matron, subject to such conditions and restrictions as the guardians may prescribe.Under this Article the guardians might permit the visit of any person for any lawful purpose, to any sick pauper; this Article also allowed any pauper in the workhouse to receive the visit of a stranger, subject to such restrictions as the guardians might think fit to impose. The Poor Law Board imposed neither restrictions nor conditions, and therefore the rules and regulations of the Poor Law Board presented no obstacles to those who might desire to visit the inmates of workhouses.