§ MR. KINNAIRDsaid, he wished to ask the President of the Poor Law Board, Whether any instructions have been issued to the Guardians of the Poor of Clerkenwell to correct the evils that has been proved to exist in the casual wards of that parish; and if the Poor Law Board have power to enforce such instructions, if issued?
§ MR. C. P. VILLIERSreplied that, in answer to the Question of which he had just received notice from the hon. Member, he had to state that the district to which he had referred was not completely within the jurisdiction of the Poor Law Board, and derived its authority from a Private Act. The Board has, however, always claimed the right of inspecting its workhouses, and had for some years past had reason to complain of the provision which was there made for the inmates, and, indeed, owing to the frequent remonstrances which the metropolitan inspector had made, in consequence of the visit he had lately paid both by day and by night, the guardians had at length determined and were about to obtain premises better calculated to give effect to the requirements of the law. He was, however, assured that this parish had been in former times, and for many years, unwilling to attend to the instructions of the Poor Law Board, and had considered itself entitled to defy its authority.
VISCOUNT CRANBOURNEsaid, he wished to know, whether the right hon. Gentleman intends to introduce a Bill founded on the recommendations of the Committee upstairs, which would meet such a case as that to which he referred—of a Union which considered itself out of the jurisdiction of the Poor Law Board?
§ MR. C. P. VILLIERSsaid, he would not undertake to bring in a Bill extending the powers of the Poor Law Board without further inquiry.