§ MR. WALTER HAZELL (Leicester)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Local Government Board, whether the local sanitary authorities and the guardians have already the power to expend money upon the gratuitous cleansing of any verminous persons who may apply to them without treating such persons as paupers, or detaining them longer than is necessary for the purpose, or whether any expenditure for this object would be surcharged against the local authorities by the Government Auditors?
§ MR. T. W. RUSSELLI am advised that boards of guardians have no legal authority for the expenditure of the rates for the purposes referred to in the Question, and that urban and rural district councils are in the same position in this matter. With regard to the second Question, I can only state that it is the duty of an Auditor to disallow any expenditure by a local authority, whose accounts are subject to audit by him, which in his opinion is illegal.