§ SIR MASSEY LOPESasked the President of the Local Government Board, Whether he is able to give any estimate of the average increased rate in the pound which the provisions of the Public Health Bill will impose upon the ratepayers for the following objects, or any one of them:—expenses of offices, officers, and other establishment charges; of sewerage works and prevention of nuisances; expenses relating to supply and purity of water; of disinfecting apparatus and conveyances for infected persons; for hospital accommodation, dispensaries, medicine, and medical attendance for non-paupers; and, whether he proposes, and, if so, by what means, to give effect to the Recommendation of the Sanitary Commission, that the expenditure for such sanitary objects should be aided by the State?
§ MR. STANSFELDsaid, he regretted that the hon. Baronet did not consult him before giving Notice of the Question, because he thought he could have satisfied him that some modification of it was necessary to enable him to reply specifically to it. It was impossible with reference to a Bill which had not yet passed the second reading to make any but the most hypothetical and untrustworthy statement as to its financial effects upon localities; but he should be prepared to make a statement to the House at the proper time. As to the second part of the Question, the recommendations of the Sanitary Commissioners were at this moment under consideration, and he would not ask the House to agree to any proposal involving expenditure, without being prepared to state the intentions of the Government upon the subject.