§ MR. HOBHOUSE (Somerset, E.)I beg to ask the President of the Local Government Board if he is aware that great difficulties have arisen between the county councils and the urban authorities claiming to maintain their main roads owing to the ambiguous language of Section 11, Sub-section 2, of "The Local Government Act, 1888," 204 in reference to the payment to be made by the county councils; and whether, in order to avoid the necessity for numerous arbitrations, the Local Government Board will issue a circular letter explaining the principles on which the payment towards the costs of maintenance and repair of urban main roads by county councils ought to be made?
§ THE PRESIDENT OF THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD (Mr. RITCHIE,) Tower Hamlets, St. GeorgesI am not aware that great difficulties have arisen between the county councils and the urban authorities claiming to maintain their main roads under Section 11, Sub-section 2, of the Local Government Act in reference to the payment to be made by the county councils. Up to the present time no actual submissions for arbitrations by the Local Government Board have been made. The Board have had addressed to them certain inquiries on the subject, and they have replied to the effect that the terms of the sub-section do not render it necessary that the county council should repay the whole of the cost of the maintenance and repair of a main road to the urban authority who claim to retain the powers and duties of maintaining and repairing such road, and that the Board are of opinion that the section contemplates that the urban authority shall receive from the county council an annual payment (to be determined as provided by Sub-section 3) towards the expenditure on the road, the urban authority undertaking, if they deem it desirable, any additional expenditure at their own cost. It does not appear to me that at the present time the Board can with advantage issue a circular letter as suggested.