§ MR. DISRAELI, seeing the right hon. Gentleman at the head of the Poor Law Board in his place, wished to inquire when the report of the Commissioners on the operation of the law of settlement would be laid upon the table of the House?
§ MR. BAINESsaid, that the report was in the hands of the right hon. Gentleman the Secretary for the Home Department, and would, he believed, be laid upon the table either to-night or to-morrow.
§ CAPTAIN PELHAMwished to put the following questions to the Secretary of State for the Home Department: whether Her Majesty's Government had any intention of bringing in any measures for abolishing or altering the laws of settlement and removability, and the treatment of vagrants; for altering the rating for the support of the poor, either in reference to the area of chargeability, or the property to be assessed; or for transferring any of the charges now levied upon the poor-rate to other funds? His second question was, whether Her Majesty's Government will bring in any measure for facilitating the borrowing of money from the State, or private capitalists, by landowners in England and Wales, for the purpose of improving the condition of estates? The last question was, whether Her Majesty's Government intended to bring in any measure for facilitating the sale or exchange of landed property in England and Wales, in settlement, with a view to the relief or mutual improvement of estates, and the better cultivation of the soil?
§ SIR G. GREYsaid, that the first question put to him by the hon. and gallant Member was one to which it was difficult to give a very explicit and categorical answer, without being subject to some misconception. The question of the law of settlement had occupied much of the attention of the President of the Poor Law Board, and in a very few days the information to which the hon. Member for Buckinghamshire had just referred, and which had been collected by his right hon. Friend the President of the Poor Law Board, would be in the hands of hon. Members. The 345 annual reports of the Poor Law Board, which had already been laid upon the table, would also very shortly be in the hands of Members, and would be found to contain some satisfactory information with regard to vagrancy. He could only state at present that the Government had no immediate intention of proposing to Parliament a measure on the subject of settlement, but they reserved to themselves the power of doing so if they should deem such a course expedient. The latter part of the question included a very wide field of inquiry. Three notices had already been given by Members upon subjects connected with the law of rating for the support of the poor, and as he would have an opportunity of expressing the views of the Government on the question at a future time, he must decline entering into the matter now. With regard to his hon. Friend's second question, he must remind him that by Acts already in existence, authority had been given for the issue of a sum of 2,000,000l. in Great Britain, for the improvement of land by drainage. The whole of that money had been appropriated by the Enclosure Commissioners, to whom the distribution was committed, and a considerable portion of the amount had been issued and expended. He was bound to state that very many applications for further advances had been made and refused, not because the parties did not come within the regulations prescribed by Parliament, but because the sum at the disposal of the commissioners had been wholly appropriated among previous applicants. The Government, however, would reserve for future consideration the question whether any further advances for this object should be proposed. With regard to the third question, by the laws for the settlement of landed property, powers of sale and exchange were already conferred; and by the Enclosure Act, 9 Victoria, c. 118, see. 147, through the agency of the Enclosure Commissioners, very extensive powers of sale and exchange were given for lands which were to be the subject of enclosure. If further powers were considered necessary, the Government would be prepared to entertain any application which might be made to them on the subject; but he had not received any intimation which led him to suppose that it would be necessary to propose to Parliament any further measure. He had omitted to refer to one point in the second question—whether the Government contemplated any measure for 346 facilitating the borrowing of money by landowners from private capitalists. He might remind his hon. and gallant Friend that the Act 12 & 13 Victoria, c. 100, had been passed to promote the advance of public money for the drainage of land in Great Britain and Ireland, and no representations had been made to the Government, which led him to suppose that that Act was inadequate to the purpose.