§ MR. JOHN WARD (Stoke-on-Trent)To ask the President of the Local Government Board whether he is aware that the Stoke-on-Trent Poor Law Guardians have recently declared their workhouse to be overcrowded, their stoneyard to be occupied to its full capacity by the unemployed, and that the guardians are now considering a proposal to turn the inmates of the casual ward out every morning without performing any labour test, so as to be able to use their cells for stone breaking by the unemployed; and whether, under these circumstances,, orders will be issued at once for the establishment of a distress committee under the Unemployed Workmen's Act, 1905, in accordance with the repeated request of the Stoke-on-Trent Town Council.
2059 (Answered by Mr. John Burns.) I am aware that there is pressure on the guardians, and that they are taking steps to meet it. As regards the setting up of a distress committee, I am still awaiting a reply to the letter to the town council to which I referred in my Answer to the Question put to me by my hon. friend on the 9th instant. When I receive that reply I will give the matter immediate attention.