§ LORD ROBERT CECILsaid, he wished to ask the President of the Poor Law Board, Whether his attention has been drawn to the case of starvation in Bethnal Green, alleged to have taken place through the neglect of the relieving officer; and whether any investigation into that officer's conduct is to be instituted?
§ MR. C. P. VILLIERSI beg, Sir, to say that this case had arrested my attention on reading the report of it in the newspapers, 1822 and I did what is usual in my office in cases of inquests. I applied to the Coroner for a copy of his depositions, and I further directed an Inspector to proceed to the authorities of the parish to ask for information on the subject. They stated that they were perfectly ready to make any inquiry with respect to the case at once. They stated, what perhaps it would be satisfactory to the noble Lord to hear, that in this case the man, whose wife was stated to have been starved to death, was in the receipt of fifteen shillings a week, and had been so throughout the winter; and the unfortunate woman herself was being attended by the medical officer, and she had made no application for nutriment notwithstanding that it was stated she was starving.