§ Baron HENRY DE WORMSasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether, in view of the fact that the parish of Woolwich has been put to an expense of £1,200 on account of the burial of the persons who perished in the "Princess Alice," and that such expense was thrown upon that parish because the bodies were, in the interest of public decency and the public health, recovered from various parts of the river and brought to Woolwich, as a central point, for interment, Her Majesty's Government will grant a sum from public funds in order to recoup the parish referred to for the burden which has thus unjustly been imposed upon it?
§ Sir WILLIAM HARCOURTWhen I saw the hon. Member with a deputation on this subject some time ago I understood that he was about to introduce a Bill referring to the liability in these matters; but it is a new feature to propose that the Government ought, out of the public funds, to pay this charge, which really belonged to the locality. I have no authority to make such a payment, nor do I see that, whatever might be the question between the locality and the country, it was a charge which should come upon the general funds of the Exchequer.