§ MR. HOBHOUSEI beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury if he will either propose the appointment of a Select Committee to consider the various Measures before the House for making better provision for the aged poor, or arrange for those Measures to be referred to the Committee appointed to deal with the Cottage Homes Bill?
§ MR. J. HUTTON (Yorkshire, Richmond)I beg at the same time to ask the First Lord of the Treasury whether Her Majesty's Government will permit the terms of reference to the Committee to be appointed to deal with the Cottage Homes Bill to be drawn in terms sufficiently wide to cover an inquiry into the whole question of the Poor Laws and of their administration, especially with regard to the aged poor?
§ THE FIRST LORD OF THE TREASURYI do not think the reference to the Committee which is about to be appointed to deal with the Bill that passed its Second Reading on Wednesday week should be so wide as to include everything connected with the Poor Law. But I think it ought to be wide enough to deal with the question of the condition of the aged poor under our present Poor Law system, and if any other Bills dealing with the condition of the aged poor should pass the Second Reading in the course of the Session I think it would be desirable and convenient that they should be referred to the same Committee.
§ MR. LAMBERTDoes that answer refer to Bills proposing old age pensions?
§ THE FIRST LORD OF THE TREASURYI never heard of any Bill proposing old age pensions which did not deal with the condition of the aged poor.