§ Order for Second Reading read.
§ THE PRESIDENT OF THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD (Mr. RITCHIE) (Tower Hamlets, St. George's), in moving that the Bill be now read a second time, explained that the object of the Bill was twofold. The first object was to enable the Local Government Board, with the consent of the Treasury, to frame regulations for the purpose of recovering from Local Authorities the charges and expenses of Government Inspectors sent down to different parts of the country for the purpose of holding local inquiries with reference to such matters as schemes of drainage and water supply and Provisional Orders. At present a large part of the cost of this service fell upon the Treasury. The second object which the Government had in view was to save the necessity for a great amount of correspondence and a great loss of time, in connection with disallowances by District Auditors, by providing that payments which had 216 been sanctioned by the Local Government Board should not be disallowed. That will enable the Board, where if a disallowance were made they would remit, to sanction the payment, and thus avoid a disallowance. That would put an end to a great deal of just irritation caused by the present system.
§ Motion made, and Question, "That the Bill be now read a second time,"—(Mr. Ritchie),—put, and agreed to.
§ Bill read a second time, and committed for Monday next.