§ SIR HENRY FOWLER (Wolverhampton, E.)I beg to ask the President of the Local Government Board, whether under the provisions of the Act passed last year, which enacted that Loans should be 1658 repaid within such period, not exceeding 60 years, as the Guardians with the sanction of the Local Government Board might determine, the Local Government Board have declined to sanction any period exceeding 30 years for the repayment of Loans raised for the purpose of building union-workhouses; and what are the periods fixed by the Police and Sanitary Committee for several years past, and sanctioned by Parliament, for the repayment of Loans for the erection of public buildings by local authorities?
§ THE PRESIDENT OF THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD (Mr. H. CHAPLIN,) Lincolnshire, SleafordThe terms of the Act referred to with regard to the period for repayment of Loans are similar to those of the Public Health Act, and the Local Government Board (in the case of Loans to Boards of Guardians under the Act) are adopting the same course as they have for many years followed with regard to Loans to the local authorities of urban and rural districts. Thirty years is the period usually sanctioned by them for buildings; but a term of 50 or 60 years is allowed in the case of Loans for land. It appears from the Reports of the Police and Sanitary Committees during the last 12 years, that with respect to buildings which can be regarded as public buildings, in some cases it has been left to the Board to determine the period for the repayment of the Loan, whilst in others the period has varied from 25 to 35 years. I understand that there are only five cases during the 12 years where longer periods have been sanctioned for these buildings, and it is not improbable that in these cases the Loan included not only the buildings but also the cost of the site.