§ MR. FERRANDsaid, he rose to ask the President of the Poor Law Board, Whether he has yet received the Return of the number of unemployed unmarried women in the Cotton Factory districts of Lancashire and Cheshire?
§ MR. C. P. VILLIERSsaid, in reply, that the only way in which those persons were known was by seeking relief, and that relief was derived from two sources—one, the parishes; and the other, the Committees distributing voluntary relief. The only Returns which he (Mr. Villiers) could order would be from the parishes, but the only entry made in the parochial books was of unemployed women. There was none with respect to occupation. With respect to the Relief Committees—and there were 170 local Committees—the sex of the recipients was not entered in their books. The consequence was, that there would be great difficulty in getting the Return which the hon. Gentleman desired. He told the hon. Member on a former occasion that he would ascertain whether there was any possibility of obtaining that Return from the Voluntary Belief Committee; and, having made inquiries from the secretary, that gentleman said he would try, but the secretary informed him that up to Monday last he had not been able to get the Return asked for.