§ MR. PIKE PEASE (Darlington)To ask the President of the Local Government Board if he can state the total annual expenditure by local bodies in England and Wales during the year ending 1906–7, and also the total of the municipal debt down to that year.
(Answered by Mr. John Burns.) The latest available figures relate to the year 1905–6. The total expenditure of the local authorities in England and Wales, 1227 other than that defrayed out of loans, amounted in that year approximately to £114,450,000. The gross amount of their outstanding loans at the end of the year was approximately £483,000,000. The expenditure and loans of the Metropolitan Water Board are included in the above figures.