§ MR. PICKERSGILLasked the President of the Local Government Board whether his attention had been drawn to the fact that the Middlesex Magistrates, at their final meeting on Thursday last, passed a Resolution to make a present of £200 to their clerk; under what authority was this done; and does he propose to interfere in the matter?
§ MR. LAWSON (St. Pancras, W.)Will not this £200 under the Local Government Act become a liability of the London County Council? What further claim will the Clerk of the Middlesex Magistrates have upon the Council?
§ *THE PRESIDENT OF THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD (Mr. RITCHIE,) Tower Hamlets, St. George'sThe Magistrates, I believe, dealt with their accounts before handing them over. With regard to the question of the hon. Member for the South West Division of Bethnal Green, I have made inquiry on the subject from the Clerk of the Peace, and I am informed that at the meeting referred to a sum of £200 was voted to Mr. Beal, the acting Clerk to the Committee for Accounts and General Purposes, in view of the fact that his salary was considered to have afforded him inadequate remuneration, owing to the amount of work which had devolved upon him, It was stated at the meeting that the clerical assistance obtained by Mr. Beal had cost him the greater part of his salary. The Local Government Board have no control with respect to any remuneration which Quarter Sessions may have thought fit to award to an officer, and they could not interfere in the matter.