§ MR. TALBOT (Oxford University)I beg to ask the President of the Local Government Board whether in the Thorne Union workhouse the services are taken alternately by the vicar of Thorne and by some Nonconformist ministers; whether the majority of these inmates of this workhouse are entered as members of the Church, of England; whether in the Beverley Union workhouse there are any Church of England services on Sundays: 647 whether in both these cases the guardians have declined to appoint chaplains, as required by the regulations of the Local Government Board; and whether he proposes to take any steps to remedy this state of things.
§ MR. CHAPLINI find on inquiry that the answer to the first paragraph of the question is in the affirmative, and to the second in the negative. There has been no paid chaplain at the Thorne workhouse since 1879, or at the Beverley workhouse since 1881, and hitherto we have received no complaint on the subject. In reply to the last paragraph, I have directed a communication to be addressed in the first instance to the guardians in each case, pointing out the duty which rests upon them as regards services on Sundays, and asking for their explanations as to why that duty has not been performed.
§ LORD HUGH CECIL (Greenwich)What will the right hon. Gentleman do if the explanation of the board of guardians is not satisfactory?
§ MR. CHAPLINI am not prepared to answer that.