§ MR. HOBHOUSEI beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether county councils can combine for the management as well as the establishment of certified inebriate reformatories, and whether joint committees of such councils can be formed for the purpose of management; and if he proposes to make any regulations for boards of management.
§ *THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT (SIR M. WHITE RIDLEY,) Lancashire, BlackpoolThe power conferred on county councils by Section 9, Sub-section (1) of the Inebriates Act, 1898, to combine for the establishment or maintenance of a certified reformatory seems to me to include management, and I think this would be a matter of common interest in respect of which county councils might appoint joint committees under Section 81 of the Local Government Act, 1888. The regulations which I have made prescribing the duties of managers would apply to boards of management, though in special circumstances they might need to be modified. I shall be ready to consider carefully any proposal for joint action by county councils, which is a thing to be encouraged.