§ MR. HARWOODTo ask the President of the Local Government Board if he can state how many orphan and deserted children there are amongst the 52,804 who are entirely dependent upon the rates, and amongst the 22,240 who are at present maintained in workhouses and workhouse infirmaries.
(Answered by Mr. Walter Long.) Fifty-two thousand eight hundred and four is the total number of children classed as in receipt of indoor relief on the 1st January, 1902. It includes not only children in establishments belonging to the guardians but also those in hospitals and other institutions where the cost of their maintenance is borne by the guardians. Of this number 34,506 were orphans or children relieved without their parents. The corresponding numbers for the 1st January, 1903, are 54,493 and 35,620. Of the children in workhouses, infirmaries and sick asylums on the 1st January, 1903, 10,356 were orphans or children relieved without their parents.