§ MR. SCHWANNI beg to ask the President of the Local Government Board whether his attention has been drawn to the result obtained at the Manchester and Salford Mission Casual Ward and Labour Yard by allowing casuals to work in the afternoon in the 469 yard and earn supper, bed, and breakfast, and to be discharged early next morning, so as to be in time to apply for work outside, which is given only early in the morning; and, if so, whether he will make inquiries and see if the same system can be introduced into some of the Onion workhouses, seeing that men refuse to enter Government casual wards because they would be detained next morning at the hours when work may be had.
§ MR. WALTER LONGThe answer to the first part of the Question i3 in the affirmative. As regards the second part, the Local Government Board have always impressed upon Boards of Guardians the importance of allowing casual paupers to be discharged at an early hour in the morning, and an order issued by them in 1892 provides that a casual pauper, who has been detained for more than one night, and has represented, that he is desirous of seeking work, shall be allowed to discharge himself at 5.30 a.m. in summer, and 6.30 a.m. in winter, provided that to the best of his ability he has performed the prescribed task of work. I may explain that, in ordinary circumstances, a casual pauper cannot take his discharge before the morning of the second day after his admission. In exceptional cases the Guardians can relax this restriction; and it is quite competent for them in such cases to permit the discharge to take place at an early hour in the morning.