MR. CORNWALLIS WEST (Denbigh, W.)asked the President of the Local Government Board, Whether he can suggest any mode by which the salaries of officials connected with Boards of Guardians can be revised, in order to meet the pressure of rates in the present state of agricultural depression?
§ THE PRESIDENT (Mr. JOSEPH CHAMBERLAIN) (Birmingham, W.)The Local Government Board were advised by the late Lord Chief Justice, then Attorney General, that a Board of Guardians are not legally empowered, even with the consent of the Board, to reduce the salary of an officer during the legal continuance of his office without his consent, unless the appointment or contract was in such terms as to reserve the right of altering the salary. But the salary assigned to an office can, of course, be revised when a vacancy occurs. It may be observed that a time of depression tends to increase rather than diminish the duties which devolve on the officers of Boards of Guardians.