§ MR. MANSFIELD (Lincolnshire, Spalding)To ask the President of the Local Government Board will he state the number of persons who were in receipt of parochial relief on 1st January, 63 1840, and on 1st January, 1903, and the proportion to the population.
(Answered by Mr. Walter Long.) On the 1st January, 1903, there were 847,480 persons in receipt of relief in England and Wales, the proportion to the total population being 2.57 per cent. I cannot give the number for 1st January, 1840; but in 1849 (the earliest year for which I have figures for the 1st January) the number of persons in receipt of relief was 1,104,526. This total, however, is partly estimated. The proportion it bore to the total population is estimated at 6.36 per cent.