§ MR. BOUVERIErose to ask the Lord Advocate the questions of which he had given notice, and which he begged to say were founded upon the fact of a paper having been printed and circulated amongst the parishes in Scotland, the object of which was to obtain written replies from persons applying for relief to twenty-three queries contained in it. He would not 981 undertake to read all those queries; but the impropriety of some of them deserved particular attention. One was, "Have you any right to or expectation of inheriting or succeeding in any manner to any property? and if so state the full particulars of such property, and your right, title, or expectation to it." Another was, "State how long you have resided in this parish, also the names and addresses of the landlords from whom you have rented houses. Produce also your receipts for rent and receipts for parish rates, &c., paid by you whilst living in the parish." Another was, "State to what congregation you belonged, or what place of worship you attended." The last was, "Are you willing to subscribe the following declaration, that you will give up your right to whatever property you inherit, until compensation be made to the parish for relief afforded you." The paper on which those queries were printed bore the name of the printers to the board of supervision of the poor. Now the law provided that every destitute person was entitled to relief on proof of destitution; yet he had been given to understand that relief had actually been refused to destitute persons, because they refused to answer all the queries in that paper. He denied that any right existed to compel or to call upon paupers to give replies to them, and he hoped that they had not been issued under the sanction of the Lord Advocate or the Home Secretary: if they had not been so sanctioned, he trusted there would be no objection to giving publicity to the fact that paupers were not bound to answer them all before they could become entitled to relief; and he should therefore conclude by asking the Lord Advocate of Scotland whether a printed paper, entitled "application for relief," have been printed and circulated in Scotland with the knowledge and sanction of the board of supervision of the poor; if so, whether it have been with the sanction of the Lord Advocate or Secretary of State for the Home Department; and whether it have been with their knowledge and sanction, that the applicants for relief are required to answer the queries contained in that form of application before their claim to relief is considered, or that claim allowed?
The LORD ADVOCATEreplied that the Messrs. Murray, the printers to the board of supervision of the poor in Scotland, were also printers for their own behoof, and the paper containing the queries 982 alluded to by the hon. Gentleman, which bore their name, had not heen printed by order of the board of supervision, nor under their direction or sanction. So far as he knew, the paper had been printed by desire of certain parishes, the overseers of which thought that some such form was necessary in order to test accurately the claims of paupers to relief. By the statute, parties applying for relief were bound to answer some questions, although in the meantime and pending inquiries they were entitled to relief. If it were refused to them, as the hon. Member for Kilmarnock had been informed, they could obtain redress by going to the local judge, the sheriff of the county. It would be therefore seen that the board of supervision had nothing to do with the matter. But it was important that the parishes should obtain information regarding parties applying: they would otherwise be subjected to great imposition. In the first place, it was necessary they should know that the party applying was entitled to obtain it; which he certainly would not be, if he had property. Again, it was necessary to ascertain whether or not another parish was liable to support the applicant. It was for many reasons important that searching questions should be put to applicants for relief; but if any had to complain of its being refused to them, for not answering those questions, they had their redress immediately, in the manner he had before stated.