§ SIR JOHN GORST (Cambridge University)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether he is aware that many Parish Councils have made efforts to obtain copies of the Poor Rate Assessment and Collection Act, 1869, and have failed to do so by reason of the Act being out of print; and, whether he will give directions for a fresh issue of copies of this Act to be made by Her Majesty's Stationery Office, so that they may be available for such Parish Councils as require them?
§ THE SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY (Sir JOHN HIBBERT,) OldhamActs of Parliament passed before the 1st January 1887 were the private property of the printers, and remain so still, excepting in cases in which the Stationery Office has for special reasons reprinted an Act. The Poor Rate Assessment Act of 1869 is not one which has been reprinted by the Stationery Office, no occasion for such reprint having arisen. Messrs. Eyre and Spottiswoode have reported that it is not the case that the Act is out of print. They add—
Nor has the Act been out of print at any time in our recollection. We reprinted last in January 1894, and have at the present time 820 copies in stock.