§ MR. BAXTERasked the Lord Advocate, If it is true that the expenditure for the relief of the poor in Scotland has risen from £680,000 in 1862 to £794,000 in 1875, although the number of paupers has decreased during that period from 126,000 to 105,000; if the expense of management, which was£85,000 in 1866, was £116,000 in 1875; and, if he has any measure in contemplation for altering the Scotch Poor Law, with a view of preventing its becoming increasingly burdensome to the ratepayers?
§ THE LORD ADVOCATE, in reply, said, it was true that the Poor Law expenditure in Scotland had risen from £680,000 in 1862 to £794,000 in 1875, and that the 818 number of paupers had decreased in the same period from 126,000 to 105,000. But it was also true that the expenditure, which was £821,000 in 1869, had now fallen to £794,000. Again, the poor rate, which in 1862 was at the rate of £4 13s. per cent of the value of rateable property, was now only £3 19s., the rate per pound having fallen at the same dates from 11d. to 9½d. In regard to the increase in the expense of management, it was strictly true that it had increased from£85,000 in 1866 to £116,000 in 1875, while the number of paupers had diminished between those dates. But any one practically acquainted with the subject must know that if there was any connection between the number of paupers and the expense of management, it was this—that the more complete—and therefore the more costly—the management was, the smaller would be the number of paupers, inasmuch as the probability of detecting cases of spurious poverty was increased where inspection was thorough. It might not be out of place to mention that the percentage of expense of "management" on the total Poor Law expenditure—excluding medical relief and buildings—amounted in Scotland to £16, while in England it rose to £26, and in Ireland to £32. But while he could not admit that the Scotch Poor Law was becoming "increasingly burdensome to the ratepayers," there were some matters connected with its administration which seemed to call for amendment, and it was probable that a Bill for this purpose might be introduced during the present Session if the state of Public Business should permit.