§ MR. AUGUSTUS SMITHasked the First Lord of the Treasury, Whether it is intended to fill up the office of the one Secretary of the Poor Law Board, rendered capable of sitting or voting as a Member of the Commons' House of Parliament by the ninth clause of the Poor Law Act, now understood to have been vacated by the hon. Member for Northampton; also, whether that Department of the Executive Government required that it should be represented on the Treasury Bench by two highly salaried officers?
§ VISCOUNT PALMERSTONsaid, he could assure the hon. Gentleman and the House that it was with great regret he had received the resignation of his hon. Friend the Member for Northampton (Mr. Gilpin); and he regretted it the more inasmuch as it 238 arose from the state of his health, which he thought was such as to render him unable to discharge the Parliamentary duties of his office. The office was one, however, which it was deemed by the Government desirable and proper to fill up, and it was, therefore, their intention to do so. He believed that the Committee which sat last year were of opinion that the office ought to be continued.