§ MR. EDWARDS (Radnor)To ask the President of the Local Government Board whether his attention has been called to the fact that the Guardians of the Knighton Union have passed a resolution declining to collect any rate that may be levied under the Education Act, 1902, for the purposes of elementary education in Radnorshire; and, if so, will he say what steps he proposes to take in the matter; and whether it is the duty of the rate collector to show on the demand note various items which constitute the total sum demanded.
(Answered by Mr. Walter Long.) I have seen a copy of a resolution passed by the guardians of the Knighton Union in May last stating that, owing to the enormous increase in the county rates, they could not see their way to collect such rates after the expiration of the then current half-year, and requesting the Councils of the three Counties in which the union is comprised to issue their precepts direct to the overseers of each parish in the union. It is the duty of a board of guardians to raise the moneys required by the precepts of the County Council; but, if they fail to do so, the County Council have ample power to obtain the money from the overseers with an addition of 10 per cent. The matter is not one in which I am empowered to interfere. With respect to the last part of the Question, the demand note for poor rate in the parishes in the union should show the items prescribed by the Order of the Local Government Board dated 13th April, 1897. Under the item "county contributions" should be stated the amount in the £ required for the expenses of the County Councils, but the amount in the required for the purposes of the Education Act, 1902, should not he separately shown.