§ MR. KEIR HARDIE (West Ham, S.)I beg to ask the President of the Local Government Board whether he can now state the extent of the powers possessed by the Boards of Guardians for acquiring laud and opening workshops to enable them to set able-bodied destitute persons to work at reasonable wages; whether employment so given necessarily pauperises and disfranchises the recipients; and whether he will cause a Circular to be issued to Boards of Guardians setting forth these powers, and how far the Local Government Board is prepared to co-operate with the Guardians in putting them into operation?
§ THE PRESIDENT OF THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD (Mr. H. H. FOWLER,) Wolverhampton, E.The 941 Law Officers of the Crown have advised that the powers which were vested in overseers of parishes under the 43 Eliz., cap. 2 (passed in 1661) and the 59 Geo. III., cap. 12 (passed in 1819) are, by virtue of the Poor Law Amendment Acts of 1834 and 1835, vested in Boards of Guardians, subject to the control of the Local Government Board. The result appears to be that Boards of Guardians have power to purchase or rent land not exceeding 50 acres for any parish, and to open workshops for setting destitute able-bodied persons to work, and to pay such persons reasonable wages for their labour. The Law Officers further advised that wages so paid would be parochial relief, and would involve the same disfranchisement as other relief under the Poor Laws. The Law Officers are also of opinion that the provisions of the 43 Eliz., cap. 2, enabling the overseers to require or to appoint persons to work, and, if they refuse, to cause them to be committed to the House of Correction, are still in force. Although these various powers still remain on the Statute Book, there can be no doubt that during a long period of years they have been regarded as obsolete, and since the passing of the Poor Law Act in 1834 they have not been acted upon by Boards of Guardians. The principle by which Boards of Guardians have been governed in the administration of out-door relief to destitute able-bodied persons has been that in each case such relief should be given by them as the necessities of the case require, work being provided merely as a test of destitution. The adoption of schemes for the provision by Boards of Guardians of work at wages would involve an abandonment of what has hitherto been regarded as the principle of the new Poor Law, upon which the orders as to out-door relief which have been in force during the last half-century have been based. Whether so grave a change in the policy and administration of the Poor Law is desirable, and, if so, whether it should be made without legislative authority, are questions on which I could not express an opinion without the sanction of my Colleagues. In the meantime, the fullest and most careful consideration of the Local Government Board shall be given to the whole subject.
§ MR. KEIR HARDIEArising out of the very full and satisfactory answer of the right hon. Gentleman, I wish to ask him whether in cases where two or more parishes are combined in one Union the Union has power to acquire 50 acres of land in respect of each parish or only 50 acres for the combined parishes?
§ MR. H. H. FOWLERWe are advised that it would be for each parish. Therefore, if there were three parishes, the Union would have power to acquire 150 acres.