Minority are so shocked. Elsewhere they charge the Guardians with various sins of commission or omission, which are hardly consistent with superior "calibre," intelligence, or even humanity. "They settle down to slipshod inquiry and the soothing dole" (p. 746). "They take no steps to require the most elementary sanitary conditions even, we grieve to say, where children are being reared" (p. 750). They tolerate "mephitic atmospheres" in nurseries. The Local Government Board "despairs" of being able to induce them to remove children from the workhouse (p. 802). "They cannot be got to think of anything but board and lodging" (p. 813). "They have not troubled to look after the children they were maintaining" (p. 831). "The average Guardian is more impressed by these trifles than by solid work" (p. 817). They have been guilty of inhuman or irrational practices (p. 820), and so forth in many other places. Guardians will probably take these buffets and rewards with equal thanks. It is very improbable that they will be cajoled into support of the Minority proposals.
Inconsistencies.
Inconsistency has no terrors for the Minority in speaking to their brief. Inquiry is "slipshod" on p. 746, on p. 833 and elsewhere it is " inquisitorial." In one place Borough Councils are condemned for taking on men "at haphazard" (p. 1162), in another the Unemployed Workmen Act has failed partly owing to the "inquisitorial inquiries" (p. 1129). Coming to their own proposals, the Registrar is to have a staff of officers for "systematic" inquiry. We may ask whether "systematic" inquiry is to be "inquisitorial." They are scornful of the Majority for proposing
