§ SIR ALBERT ROLLIT (Islington, S.)I beg to ask the President of the Local Government Board whether the Local Government Board has intimated that they are advised that district boards of work in the metropolis are not spending authorities within the meaning of the Agricultural Rates Act, 1896 (59 and 60 Vic. c. 16), and that consequently no grant is payable to them under the Act, and whether, if so, the intimation would apply also to vestries in Schedule A of the Metropolis Management Act, 1855; and, in the event of both Questions being answered in the affirmative, whether the attention of the Board has been drawn to 418 section 96 of the Metropolis Local Management Act, 1855 (18 and 19 Vic. c. 120), which provides that every vestry and district board shall within their parish or district (exclusive of any other persons whatsoever) execute the office of and be surveyor of highways, and to the interpretation of spending authority contained in the schedule to the Agricultural Rates Act which includes inter alia a surveyor of highways?
§ THE PRESIDENT OF THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARDThe answer is in the affirmative, but I am advised that the vestries and district boards in the Metropolis are not spending authorities within the meaning of the Agricultural Rates Act.