§ MR. ARTHUR HENDERSONI beg to ask the Prime Minister whether, in view 793 of the fact that the grant of money to be voted by Parliament for the relief of the exceptional distress arising from unemployment is to be administered through distress committees, he can say what steps the Government propose to take for ensuring assistance from the grant for local authorities in whose areas there are no distress committees and where distress arising from unemployment is really acute.
§ THE PRIME MINISTER AND FIRST LORD OF THE TREASURY (Mr. ASQUITH,) Fifeshire, E.The grant is voted for "contributions in aid of expenses under the Unemployed Workmen Act, 1905." Consequently payments from it can only be made in areas in which there are distress committees under the Act. It is, however, usually in places in which the population is considerable that distress from want of employment is found to be acute, and in any urban district with a population of 10,000 or upwards which does not possess a distress committee the Local Government Board are empowered to constitute one. It is, of course, undesirable to set up a distress committee in a district unless the distress arising from the want of employment is really serious, and cannot be met in other ways, but where this is the case application may properly be made to the Board to exercise the power to which I have referred.
§ MR. CROOKSasked the right hon. Gentleman whether it was not the duty of the Government to prevent a crisis rather than to wait for one to arise.
§ MR. ASQUITHSo far as they can, undoubtedly.
§ MR. KEIR HARDIEasked whether there was any law that compelled the Government to restrict this grant to areas in which distress committees had been set up.
§ MR. ASQUITHThat is so. That is the Act of 1905.
§ MR. KEIR HARDIEIs not the Government free to dispose of this grant as it thinks proper, apart from the Act?
§ MR. ASQUITHNo, Sir. The grant was asked for for the purposes of the administration of the Act.
§ MR. ARTHUR HENDERSONAre we to understand that, in the event of exceptional distress existing where there is no distress committee, it is beyond the power of the Government to make any arrangement whereby that distress can be relieved?
§ MR. ASQUITHI do not say that; but I say it would be opposed to the provisions of the Unemployed Workmen Act.
§ MR. ARTHUR HENDERSONI think the question asked was what steps the Government propose to take to meet these exceptional cases where there are no distress committees.
§ MR. ASQUITHWhat I have suggested is that, in such cases, application should be made for the formation of distress committees. They will be considered most sympathetically.