§ MR. WESTERNsaid, he would beg to ask the President of the Poor-law Board, Whether he is prepared to take any steps by which the Committees appointed under the Parochial Assessment Act of 1862 may be empowered to appoint their clerk to defend their decisions against appeals made at the Petty Sessions or Quarter Sessions, and that the expenses attending such process may be charged to the common fund of the Union? He also wished to ask, whether it is competent to ex-officio members of the Assessment Committee to sit in judgment on appeals?
§ MR. VILLIERSsaid, in reply, that the subject to which the Question of the hon. Member referred, was under the consideration of the Poor Law Board. There was certainly a defect in that part of the Act which related to appeals from the decisions of the Assessment Committee. He hoped that after further evidence was received upon the point an amendment of the Law could be proposed calculated to meet the requirements of the case. With respect to the second question of the hon. Gentleman, he had to state that it related to a matter of jurisdiction on which he did not feel himself qualified to give a decided answer; but he believed there was no Statute to prevent Justices in Petty Sessions from sitting on appeals against decisions they had themselves made in the Assessment Committee.