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 by creating nurseries of casual labour throughout the country. It has been unanimously condemned by the Royal Commission on the Poor Law. Yet no one has had the courage to put an end to it because a large section of the political world believe that they see in it the germ of further extension. Both Mr Ramsay Macdonald and Mr Crooks have hailed it as a recognition of the "right to work," and the Fabian Society welcome it as a recognition of the principle of the break-up of the Poor Law. And so we see acceleration at work with the prospects of further acceleration.

In 1895 another step was taken towards the break-up of the Poor Law when Mr Chamberlain propounded his scheme of deferred annuities in order to make provision for the aged poor outside the Poor Law, and Old Age Pensions were then for the first time brought within the range of practical politics. His scheme was contributory and strictly limited, but the limitations were pronounced to be impracticable. It paved the way, however, to a host of similar contributory schemes, and over a hundred of them were considered and reported upon by Lord Rothschild's Committee in 1898. None were recommended, but by this time "the principle had been accepted," and Mr Charles Booth published his universal non-contributory scheme which ultimately became the basis of the present Act. But the Act itself had hardly been passed before the process of acceleration again set in. It was at first intended that Poor Law relief should disqualify, and there were many prophecies that this would stimulate to self-support until the pension age was reached. But this provision led to such obvious injustice that the idea was soon abandoned, and in 191 1 the Poor Law disqualification was swept away altogether.

In 1906 the first step towards removing children