§ MR. FELL (Great Yarmouth)To ask the President of the Local Government Board if he can supply the names of the Committee of the Working Colonies who sent the fifty-two unemployed from Hollesley Bay to London to vote at the borough council elections; what was the amount of the fares and expenses paid for these fifty-two voters; and whether these were the only voters among the 138 unemployed at Hollesley Bay Farm at the time of the election.
§ MR. FELLTo ask the President of the Local Government Board who has the control of the funds of the voluntary contributions account for the unemployed; and by whose sanction were these funds used for the purpose of sending up voters from the farm colonies to vote at the borough elections in London.
§ MR. FELLTo ask the President of the Local Government Board if any of the unemployed at any other of the farm colonies, besides Hollesley Bay, were sent up to London to vote at the recent borough council elections; and, if so, how many; and were their fares and expenses also paid out of the voluntary contributions account.
§ (Answered by Mr. John Burns.) I will answer this, and the two following Questions on the same subject, together. The Committee to which the hon. Member refers consists of eighteen members. I will send him a list of their names. The railway fares of the men who came up 1002 to vote from Hollesley Bay amounted to £17 11s. No other expenses were incurred by the Central (Unemployed) Body in respect of their visit. I am unable to say whether these men were the only voters among the unemployed at Hollesley Bay at the time of the election. I understand that all the men there were informed that those who were entitled to vote would be allowed to do so; the leave to count as ordinary furlough. Only those who applied were allowed to come up. The funds in the voluntary contributions account are under the control of the Central (Unemployed) Body. Sanction to the expenditure in the present case was given by the Working Colonies Committee as a matter of urgency, and was confirmed by the Central Body on 31st October. I understand that, in addition to the men from Hollesley Bay, forty men, in respect of whom employment was provided at Fambridge and the Garden City by the Central Body, were allowed to come up to London on the occasion referred to, and that their travelling expenses, amounting to £4 17s. 4d., will be defrayed out of the voluntary contributions account.