§ MR. CLTNINGHAME GRAHAM (Lanark, N.W.)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade to what authority the ratepayers of a vestry should appeal, in a case of dispute with their clerk, as at Newington; and if it is legal for one vestry to take contracts from another, as in the casa of Newington and St. George-the Martyr, Southwark?
§ * MR. RITCHIEIn the case of the Parish of Newington the members of the vestry are elected by the ratepayers. If the dispute is between ratepayers and the clerk, they should appeal to the vestry. If it is between the vestry and the clerk, the vestry have the power in their own hands, as the vestry clerk holds office at their pleasure. As regards 504 the power of vestries to make contracts with one another, Section 149 of the Metropolis Management Act, 1855, gives a general power to vestries in the Metropolis of entering into such contracts as they may think necessary for carrying the Act into execution. The Local Government Board have no jurisdiction as to the contracts entered into between the parishes referred to. I have no information with respect to the contracts, but assuming that I had, I could not undertake to express any opinion as to their legality.