MR. LAWRENCE (Liverpool, Abercrombie)I beg to ask the President of the Local Government Board whether he has any objection to obtaining a Return from the unions in England and Wales (other than the metropolitan unions) of the amount expended by them in respect of the salaries, remunerations, and superannuation allowances of the officers of their unions (other than teachers in poor law schools) and of the district schools to which such unions contribute, and on drugs and medical appliances during the financial year ended on 25th March, 1899, and of the grant made to such unions by county councils (other than the London County Council) during the same period, in respect of such expenditure, in pursuance of Sec. 26 of the Local Government Act, 1888.
§ THE PRESIDENT OF THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD (Mr. CHAPLIN, Lincolnshire, Sleaford)Particulars as to the expenditure incurred by each board of guardians in respect of the salaries, remuneration, rations, and superannuation allowance of their officers are given in the Local Taxation Returns published annually, and a statement of the amounts certified by the Local Government Board under Section 26 of the Local Govern- 36 ment Act, 1888, and which are paid annually to the guardians under that section, will be found in the Appendix to the Nineteenth Annual Report of the Board. To obtain the exact information suggested in the question would involve considerable labour, and I am not aware of any sufficient reason for this labour being undertaken.