§ SIR JOHN SHELLEYsaid, he would beg to ask the President of the Poor Law Board, Whether the Poor Law Board intend in this Session to take any, and, if any, what steps to carry out the recommendation of the Select Committee on Poor Relief, that in future, cod liver oil, quinine and other expensive medicines shall be provided at the expense of the guardians, and not, as heretofore, by the parochial medical officers?
§ MR. FERRANDsaid, he also wished to ask the right hon. Gentleman when he proposed to go into Committee on the Union Chargeability Bill?
§ MR. C. P. VILLIERSsaid, in reply, that a great deal of correspondence had taken place between the Poor Law Board and the guardians of the poor throughout the country on the subject referred to by the hon. Baronet (Sir John Shelley), and he did not despair of inducing the guardians generally to adopt the recommendation of the Select Committee. Difficulties existed through the contracts entered into with the medical officers, some of those contracts being made with the medical officers for life, and there had therefore been an unwillingness to disturb them. In other instances the contracts were annual, and in those latter cases the Poor Law Board would insist on the adoption of the Committee's recommendations.