§ MR. STEVENSON (Suffolk, Eye)I beg to ask the President of the Local Government Board whether he is aware that the number of inmates in the Greenwich Union Workhouse is below the number for which the building is licensed; and that this number includes eighty-four children who are to be removed to better homes; and whether he is prepared to still refuse the request of the Guardians that he should receive a deputation, with a view to pointing out how unnecessary is the new Grove Park Workhouse, which will, if completed and furnished, cost the ratepayers of Deptford and Greenwich nearly £250,000.
§ THE PRESIDENT OF THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD (Mr. WALTER LONG,) Bristol, S.According to the last Return, viz., for the week ended 29th March last, the number of inmates in this workhouse was still in excess of the number for which the building is certified. I am aware that there were about eighty children among the inmates, but of these forty-four were infants under three years of age, who could not be dealt with by the Guardians otherwise than in the workhouse. I understand, however, that representatives of the Workhouse and Infirmary Committees of the Guardians are to be appointed for the purpose of reporting on the whole question. I have been in correspondence with my noble friend the Member for Greenwich as to my receiving a deputation, 17 and after the receipt of the Report referred to I will, it necessary, communicate with him further on the subject.