§ MR. SUMMERBELLTo ask the President of the Local Government Board whether the Local Government Board had urged the Ipswich Board of Guardians to close their outdoor labour yard; and, if so, whether the Local Government Board had suggested, or would suggest, to the Ipswich guardians any other method of providing work for the unemployed who wore destitute of means to maintain themselves and their families; and whether the men working in the labour yard had any children, the number and ages of the children, and whether He had advised, or would advise, the guardians to make any provision for such children.
§ (Answered by Mr. John Burns.) The object of opening a labour yard is not to provide work for the unemployed, but to enable the guardians to set able-bodied men to work as a condition of their receiving outdoor relief. A labour yard should not be relied upon as affording a constant means of subsistence. After 1048 the winter was over the Local Government Board asked the Ipswich guardians to close the labour yard which they had opened in December last, and this the guardians have done. I have not before me informationas to the number and ages of any children of the persons who worked in the labour yard. If any destitute able-bodied male person now applies to the guardians for relief he must be relieved in the workhouse, with such of his family as may be resident withhim, unless in a special case the guardians depart from the requirements of the regulations on the subject and the Board assent to their doing so.