§ * MR. W. C. QUILTER (Suffolk, Sudbury)I beg to ask the President of the Local Government Board, whether the Local Government Board, in administer- 290 ing the Agricultural Rates Act of last Session, have decided that no grant can be made thereunder in respect of sums required for the service of loans raised by spending authorities, but not actually expended before 25th March 1896; whether in making such decision the Local Government Board have given due effect to the provisions contained in. Subsection (1) of Section 4 of the said Act; and whether, if the Local Government Board are not empowered to equitably adjust the amount of the grant to be awarded in each case, the President will introduce or support a Bill conferring upon the Board the necessary power?
§ MR. CHAPLINThe Local Government Board have considered that, in determining the grant to be paid to a spending authority under the Agricultural Rates Act, they could not take into account prospective expenditure in years subsequent to that ending on the 31st March 1896, and the Board are not prepared to make exceptions to this rule.
§ * MR. QUILTERI should like to ask my right hon. Friend whether he is aware that in the case of the East Suffolk County Council, when the Department found they could effect a saving, they did not—
§ * MR. SPEAKERNotice must be given of that Question.