§ SIR W. PLOWDEN (Wolverhampton, W.)I beg to ask the President of the Local Government Board, with reference to an interview reported in the Times of Wednesday, the 4th inst., which a deputation of the Parliamentary Committee of the Trades Unions Associations had with him, and to suggestions made by that deputation in regard to his assenting to the Second Reading of the Bills now down for consideration, dealing with the property qualification in the case of Guardians of the Poor and Vestrymen, whether he will on behalf of the Government consent to these Bills being read a second time together, and referred to a Select Committee?
§ MR. RITCHIEIt is the case that a deputation urged me to assent to the Second Reading of the two Bills referred to, on the condition that they should go to a Select Committee. As to the rating qualification for Vestrymen, I do not think it can be maintained, looking to the fact that no similar qualification is required for either Town Councils or County Councils. At the same time, I think the matter is one which ought more properly to be dealt with in a District Councils Bill. The question of Guardians' qualification stands on a different footing. It cannot be considered as quite satisfactory that the amount should vary so much as it does in different Unions; and if the House consider it desirable, the Government would offer no opposition to the Bills being read a second time and referred to a Select Committee, on the understanding that they must not be held to assent to the principle of the abolition of the qualification for Guardians of the Poor, but merely that the present conditions of the qualification be inquired into.