SIR,—Mr. Craig's letter in you issue of Mardi 13th cannot
be left unanswered. It is easy to sneer at the activities of the " social worker type," but it is untrue to say, us does Mr. Craig, that " the working classes are quite able to arrange their domestic affairs for themselves." Every magistrate and every probation officer in courts where there is much matri- monial work knows how frequently the contrary is true. They do not bar the way to legal rights, but they try to bring home the consequences of separation and to remove the causes of the trouble. At least half the women who take out Matrimonial summonses, and a much larger proportion of those who are thinking of separation, do not proceed with their claims for legal redress. The " social worker type " gives them better results in other ways.
If some such scheme as Mr. Herbert's were made applicable to " poor person's " divorces, much good would result. Such persons need more than legal aid. In fact what they need is the service of the " social worker type " and that can best be obtained in courts of summary jurisdiction.—Yours faithfully, .1. 1'. [To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.]
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