§ MR. THORNE (West Ham, S.)I beg to ask the President of the Local Government Board, if his attention has been called to the overcrowding at the Poplar workhouse, and to the fact that in consequence a number of the inmates are sleeping on the floor; and if he intends to take any action in the matter.
§ MR. JOHN BURNSMy attention has been called to the overcrowding at the Poplar Workhouse, and in consequence I assented in December last to the proposal that the buildings at Forest Gate which belong to the guardians and which were formerly used as a school should be opened as an additional workhouse. The necessary arrangements for the use of the buildings for this purpose have been pressed on with all practicable 1574 speed, and I understand that by the 8th instant seventy-eight able-boded men had been accommodated there, that the number had been increased to 132 on Sunday last, and that fifty more were to go there yesterday. I hope that the pressure will be removed at an early date.