§ MR. A. WILLIAMS (Glamorgan, S.)I beg to ask the President of the Local Government Board whether he is aware that an Order of the Local Government Board, dated the 27th of February last, united five rural parishes of the Cardiff Union to other parishes of that Union, thus depriving them not only of their representation on the Board, but also of their representation on the Highway Board, and on the Sanitary Authority; whether he is aware that the Board of Guardians on the same day passed, by 1824 39 votes to 14 votes, a resolution protesting against such an Order, and urging the Department to re-consider its decision; and whether, under the circumstances, the Department will reconsider the matter?
§ MR. RITCHIEThe facts of the case referred to are these: The Local Government Board were asked to consider the claim of certain populous parishes in the Cardiff Union to increased representation, and they arrived at the conclusion that the number of Guardians for those parishes should be increased by five. The total number of elected Guardians for the Union at the time was 67, and the Board, in accordance with their usual practice in such cases, proceeded to consider whether the increase in the representation in the case of the parishes referred to might be accompanied by the addition of some of the smaller parishes to other parishes in the Union for the purpose of representation, in order that there might be no increase in the number of Guardians of the Union, which already was unusually large. The Board, on reference to the information in their possession as to the rateable value and population of the several parishes in the Union, found that there were five parishes with an aggregate population of 425, and they determined to add these parishes under the powers conferred on them by the 31 & 32 Vic, Cap. 122, Sec. 26. The Board issued an Order accordingly, having previously been informed by the Guardians of the parishes to which these small areas could most conveniently be annexed, assuming that they were added to other parishes. It is not the fact that these parishes are deprived of representation either on the Board of Guardians, or Highway Board, or Sanitary Authority. They are merely united to other parishes for the purpose of representation, and the owners and ratepayers have the same right of voting for representatives as is the case in every other parish in the Union. I have received a representation from the Guardians on the subject since the Order was issued, but their representation has not in any way affected my view that the course adopted was the right one.