§ MR. HAYDEN (Leitrim, S.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he will advise that the law in Ireland be assimilated to that of London, under which the cost of casuals is not borne by a single Poor Law Union; and whether he will introduce legislation under which Irish Poor Law Boards will have the power now possessed by Boards in England, Scotland, and Wales of deporting persons who have become chargeable to them, and who have not been born in the country in which they become destitute?
§ MR. JACKSONThe question is somewhat a large one, and I am afraid I cannot at present promise to answer it.
§ MR. HAYDENI beg to ask the President of the Local Government Board whether the cost of casuals in London is borne by a fund common to all the unions of the Metropolis; and what other items of expense are similarly charged?
§ MR. RITCHIEThe cost of the relief of casual paupers and of the provision of wards for their reception is a charge upon the Metropolitan Common Poor Fund, to which all the unions and parishes in London contribute on the basis of their rateable value. The other expenses which are charged on the Metropolitan Common Poor Fund are:—The expenses of the maintenance of lunatics in asylums, and of insane poor in asylums provided by the managers of the Metropolitan Asylum District; of the maintenance of fever and small-pox patients in the asylums of those managers; of medicines and medical and surgical appliances supplied by the Guardians; the salaries of Poor Law officers, whose appointments have been sanctioned by the Local Government Board; the rations of such officers according to a scale fixed by the Board; compensation to officers who are deprived of their office in certain cases; fees for the registration of births and deaths; vaccination fees and expenses; maintenance of pauper children in separate schools; maintenance of indoor paupers 757 to the extent of 5d. per head per day; school fees of outdoor pauper children, and the expenses of the ambulance stations provided by the managers of the Metropolitan Asylum District. I may also say that under the Local Government Act, 1888, a payment at the rate of 4d. per head per day is paid by the London County Council out of the county funds on the average number of indoor poor maintained during the five years ended the 25th March, 1888.