§ LORD ELCHOasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether a large increase of vagrancy had not taken place in the Metropolis?
§ MR. GATHORNE HARDYadmitted that the subject was worthy of attention, but he was not aware that a large increase of vagrancy had taken place in London, though undoubtedly there was a great amount of it existing there. There could be no doubt that the Houseless Poor Act gave encouragement to vagrancy of every kind, and that a great number of able-bodied men took advantage of it.