MR. SHAFTO ADAIRinquired whether it was the intention of Her Majesty's Government to make any alteration in the law with respect to the relief of the casual poor?
§ MR. C. BULLERwas glad that his hon. Friend had put the question. The subject was one which had frequently been brought under his notice by complaints from all parts of the country. Where a union workhouse was situated in one parish, and the relieving officer resided in another, all casual persons applying to that relieving 125 officer for relief were thrown upon that particular union in which the officer resided. This appeared to be a great evil; but he was not prepared at the present moment to say what the intentions of Her Majesty's Government were, because he had not brought the subject formally under their consideration. It was a question which involved the law of union rating and the law of settlement, and he hoped it would be in his power to separate the two questions, and to devise some remedy for the evil complained of. An opportunity for doing that would occur this Session, when the Act called Mr. Bodkin's Act would expire.