§ MR. THORNEI beg to ask the President of the Local Government Board if he has sent a letter to any of the distress committees stating that no money will be granted after March next from the £200,000 set aside by the Government last July for the relief of the unemployed; whether the whole £200,000 will all be granted between now and then, seeing that only £29,450 had been granted up to last Thursday evening, the 13th December; to eleven distress committees and whether grants have been refused to any distress committees who have made application for assistance.
§ The PRESIDENT of the LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD (MR. JOHN BURNS, Battersea)The sum of £200,000 has been granted by Parliament to defray charges which will come in course of payment during the financial year ending on 31st March next. It will not be practicable that payments should be made out of it after that day, and I have so stated in a letter to the West Ham Distress Committee. I anticipate that I shall find it necessary to distribute the whole of the share of England and Wales in the grant by the end of the financial year, although, of course, I cannot at present state definitely that this will be the case. There have been instances in which I have not felt able to comply with applications of the kind referred to in the last part of the Question.