ABSTRACT
The present casual ward, it felt, was something of an anachronism, for Labour Exchanges and the telephone should make it possible for work seekers to find jobs without trudging the highways, and rail ticket subsidies issued by the Labour Exchanges would enable them to avoid the ward altogether. Casual ward officers should be full-time professionals with a counselling and welfare role, and the tramp majors should be abolished. The casual wards should become the hub of a job-finding and rehabilitative system, and to this end their amenities should be improved to create a restorative atmosphere: decent washing facilities; where men could also smoke; proper beds and private cubicles; the segregation of young vagrants from the old hands. The outbreak of war in 1939 was again attended by a slump in casual ward use; however, it seems some casuals were evading conscription by slipping from ward to ward.
