§ MR. PICKERSGILLI beg to ask the President of the Local Government Board whether any of the Metropolitan boards of guardians, and, if any, which of them, have passed resolutions in favour of the first sub-section of clause 1 of the Metropolitan Common Poor Fund Bill, which empowers any such board to increase the salary of any of its officers on account of exceptional merit or long service, above the amount sanctioned by the Local Government Board, and to pay such increase entirely out of the rates of the union, without any claim to repayment from the Metropolitan Common Poor 1148 Fund; whether he has taken any steps, and if so what steps, to bring the Bill to the notice of the Metropolitan boards of guardians; and whether he has received any representations that the proposed sub-section will operate very unfairly to the poorer districts of London, and is inconsistent with the principle on which the Metropolitan Common Poor Fund was established?
§ THE SECRETARY TO THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD (Mr. T. W. RUSSELL,) Tyrone, S.The Local Government Board has not received from, boards of guardians, since the Bill was brought in, any communication either in favour of, ar adverse to, the Measure. Prior to the introduction of the Bill, however, communications were received from several boards of guardians, including Fulham, Hampstead, Kensington, City of London, Mile End, Paddington, Stepney, Wandsworth and Clapham, West-minster, Whitechapel, and Woolwich, in favour of the principle embodied in the clause. On the other hand there were some that did not favour the proposal. The Bill was delivered nearly a month ago. It is not the practice of the Board to bring specially under the attention of boards of guardians Bills in which they may be interested. No exceptional course was taken as regards the Bill in question.