§ SIR WILLIAM BULLI beg to ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer whether, seeing that the discontinued grants towards the salaries of medical officers of health and sanitary inspectors were made under the Public Health Act of 1875, which does not apply to London, and that consequently London received no share in these grants; that, notwithstanding this fact, the grant was included in the basis adopted for the distribution of a large part of the grants from the Local Taxation (England and Wales) Account under the Local Government Act, 1888; and that from 1888 to the present time the London County Council has in effect received no grant in respect of sanitary officers, but has been required by Parliament to pay to the metropolitan borough councils one-half the salaries of the medical officers of health and sanitary inspectors employed by them with the approval of the Local Government Board, he can state the additional amount which London would have received from the Local Taxation Account if the sanitary officers grant had been excluded from the basis of distribution fixed in 1888.
§ MR. JOHN BURNSPerhaps I may be allowed to answer this Question. I am aware of the facts referred to in it. The grant in respect of the salaries of provincial medical officers of health and inspectors of nuisances was one of the discontinued grants on the basis of which county and county borough councils outside London have shared in some of the moneys payable out of the Local Taxation Account. Had the grant been excluded from the basis and no other variation in the scheme been made, the county and borough councils outside London would have received less and London would have received more. Calculations have been made showing that on the altered basis about £295,000 would have changed hands, as between the provinces and London, during the period from 1889 to 1907.