MR. SMYTH (for General SIR GEORGE BALFOUR)asked the President of the Local Government Board, Whether, under 23 and 24 Vic. c. 51, the penalty 255 of £20 for default for non-rendering Returns of Rates, Taxes, Tolls, and Dues, and Accounts of the Expenditure has ever been enforced against the various authorities, Corporations, Boards, Inspectors, and others who have neglected to render their accounts; and, whether, in future Abstracts of Local Rates, &c. required by that Act to be laid before Parliament, a list of all defaulting authorities will be published, with a statement of the penalties enforced?
§ MR. SCLATER-BOOTH, in reply, said, the penalty had never been enforced since the duty of collection was transferred to the Local Government office four years ago. A threat of legal proceedings had always been sufficient to secure a Return.