§ *MR. HAZELLI beg to ask the President of the Local Government Board whether his attention has been called to the fact that a large and growing number of persons, estimated at from 50,000 to 60,000 in London alone, sleep in refuges and similar places, and become infested with vermin, and that the same conditions prevail in some of the larger provincial cities; whether this verminous state hinders even deserving persons in their endeavours to get employment, and spreads the evil among the general population when they go to the parks and to other places of public resort; and whether he can recommend the Sanitary Authorities and the Poor Law 1713 Authorities, to permit, as far as they find practicable, all verminous persons who may apply to them, to be cleansed by the aid of the apparatus which these authorities already possess, such cleansing to be without charge and without the applicants being in any way treated as paupers?
§ MR. T. W. RUSSELLAs regards the casual wards, it is the usual practice to provide for the bathing of the inmates and also the cleansing of their clothes where necessary. With regard to those persons who sleep in refuges, it appears to me that it would not be unreasonable to expect that those who supply the refuges should also provide the means of freeing the clothes from vermin where required. With regard to the general question as to the Sanitary Authorities and the Poor Law Authorities providing means, such as those suggested, for cleansing without charge, and in the case of persons who are not paupers, at present it appears to me that there would be considerable difficulty in carrying out such an arrangement. The subject is, however, receiving my consideration.