Nor, therefore, can the Council establish and finance its own staff or department to undertake the actual work of caring for the beggars. This is unnecessary, however, since the Council has approached and has been fortunate in obtaining the consent of the Salvation Army to undertake the work of beggar relief on behalf of the Settlement. The finan. cial aspect of the problem remains, nevertheless; since it will be readily appreciated that the existing budget of the Salvation Army has not been framed to include the financing from existent or contemplated Army funds of so gigantic a project of public welfare, The public must, therefore, be relied upon to meet this expense in its own interest. It is believed that it will show little hesitancy in doing so, in order to meet a problem which so closely touches all sections of the community and which it is in the interest of everyone to solve. The fact that the public at present voluntarily contributes considerable moneys by direct donations and through the voluntary entertainment levy to relief which falls in the category of refugee" work, and the close relationship of the refugee and beggar problems, has led the Council to consider the possibility of the refugee the limited extent of a contribu-of the policing and public health involving cheap temporary structures of bamboo, matting and mud, or other temporary' materials. The rehabilitation of beggars received into the camp would be achieved by means of their education, teachers being employed on the camp staff, and by giving them employment within the camp. A possible method would be for the beggars to make goods of commercial value and be permitted to retain what they earn, Tt is to be emphasized that the Council's ultimate object is the economic rehabilitation and repatriation of the beggars. The scheme would thus have for its aim not the perpetuation of the present large body of indigent beggars, by any system of mere pauper relief. The Council's hope is, therefore, to achieve a progressive diminution in the numbers of beggars in the camp, as a result of their gradual repatriation, "To estimate with any accuracy the cost of this project is a matter of some difficulty. A provisional estimate is that a scheme as above envisaged, on a basis of the care of 1,000 beggars, would cost approximately $175,000 in the first year of its operation and $150,000 per annum in succeeding years. Such estimated cost does not, however, include the Cost of the necessary land on which to house the camp.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.