MR. LLOYD MORGAN (Carmarthen, W.)I beg to ask the President of the Local Government Board whether his attention has been called to the conduct of the Local Board of Llandilo, Carmarthenshire, in expending a sum of money in a manner which they are not by law authorised to expend it; whether, on the 12th of June, in reply to a communication on the subject, he stated that the Board had acted illegally in authorising such expenditure, and that the decision of the Auditor in allowing it could not be sustained in law; whether he declined to interfere with such unauthorised expenditure by the Board, and such illegal decision of the Auditor; and whether he will re-consider the matter with a view to compelling the Board to act legally, and to directing the Auditor to disallow the amount?
§ MR. RITCHIEThe Local Government Board received an appeal from two ratepayers of Llandilo against a decision of the District Auditor in allowing £3 18s. 4d. in the accounts of the Local Board for the year ending Lady Day, 1889, in respect of the lighting and repair of a clock in the tower of Llandilo Church. The clock in question, it appears, was presented to the town in commemoration of Her Majesty's Jubilee, and is stated to have been placed in the Church tower because it was 1476 regarded as the most suitable place for it. The Board, upon the appeal against the disallowance, decided that as the clock, although presented to the town, was not the property of the Local Board they had no statutory authority for the expenditure which they had incurred, and the Board informed the Local Board and the District Auditor accordingly. The Board, however, considered that the circumstances were not such as to require that the members of the Local Board who had authorised the payment should be called upon personally to refund the sums in question, and they therefore in the exercise of the discretion vested in them by the statute allowed the charge to remain in the accounts. The Board's decision applies only to the expenditure in the year ended Lady Day, 1889. If future expenditure of the kind is incurred and charged on the rates it can be objected to at the audit, and will no doubt be disallowed by the Auditor.