§ MR. CUNINGHAME GRAHAMI wish to ask the First Lord of the Treasury whether his attention has been directed to a paragraph which appeared in the Pall Mall Gazette of yesterday evening to the effect that on Saturday the East London Coroner had before him the case of a man who had dropped dead at the feet of his paymaster and whose death the doctor said was from starvation; and whether the right hon. Gentleman can inform the House whether other cases of a like lamentable nature have been reported as having occurred at the East-end; and whether it will be possible to do something to organise labour in that quarter so that such cases may not occur in future?
§ *MR. W. H. SMITHThe hon. Gentleman has not given me any notice whatever of the question. I do not complain of that, but I am sure he will see—and the House will see—that a demand upon the Government to organise labour without any notice whatever is one which the Government cannot undertake to deal with. I am not aware of any measures which any Government could take which would prevent such a sad and sorrowful occurrence as that to which the hon. Gentleman has referred.
§ MR. CUNUSTGHAME GRAHAMThe right hon. Gentleman has not answered the question whether information of other cases of a like kind have reached the Government.
§ *MR. W. H. SMITHNo such information has reached Her Majesty's Government. These matters are dealt with, as a rule, by the Local Authorities, who have ample means of dealing with them.