§ MR. SOARES (Devonshire, Barnstaple)To ask the President of the Local Government Board whether he is aware that the overseers of Hartland, in North Devon, in conformity with instructions received from the clerk of the Bideford Board of Guardians, interred a dead body which had been washed ashore at Melford beach; that in such cases the contractor for pauper funerals is unable to do the work at the ordinary cost and is obliged to charge an extra guinea; and whether, seeing that the Bideford Board of Guardians have no
† See (4) Debates, cxxiv, 547.143 power to refund this money to the overseers, he will state whether under such circumstances the overseers are expected to pay the extra cost out of their own pockets, or, if not, to whom ought the overseers to look for its repayment.(Answered, by Mr. Walter Long.) I am aware of the matter referred to in the Question. I am not empowered to determine what course the overseers should take in cases of this kind, but I think their attention might be drawn to Section 6 of 48 Geo. 3, c. 75, which provides that for the purpose of reimbursing the overseers for all necessary and proper expenses incurred in the execution of the Act, a justice of the peace for the county in which the body is buried may direct the county treasurer to pay to the overseers such sums as to the justice may seem reasonable and proper.