§ MR. DUNDASasked the President of the Local Government Board, Whether he can state the number of unions and parishes in England and Wales in which out-door relief to able-bodied persons is not prohibited by order of the Local Government Board; the number of the unions and parishes in which able-bodied male persons, if relieved out of the workhouse, are not obliged to be set to work by the guardians; and the number of able-bodied persons who received out-door relief in England and Wales in the last year, for which Returns have been made up?
§ MR. SALTThere are 116 unions and parishes in England and Wales in which out-door relief is not prohibited by an order of the Local Government Board, and in these cases out-door relief is administered in accordance with the regulations in the Out-door Relief Regulation Order of December, 1852. There is no instance in which able-bodied male paupers, if relieved out of the workhouse, are not obliged to be set to work by the Guardians; but both the General Order prohibiting out-door relief and the Relief Regulation Order contain provisions to meet exceptional cases. The actual number of able-bodied persons who received out-door relief during any year cannot be given; but a census of paupers is taken on the 1st of January and the 1st of July in each year, and the mean number of able-bodied paupers, including men and women and children under 16, in 1875, was 268,436, showing a decrease of 143,574 as compared with 1871. The mean number of adult outdoor able-bodied paupers in 1875 was 89,918, as against 147,760 in 1871.