§ THE EARL OF MALMESBURY, in presenting five petitions from parishes in London, praying for the equalization of the poor rates in the metropolis, took 1869 occasion to remind their Lordships that five or six years ago he was in the habit of bringing the question under their consideration, and he succeeded in obtaining the appointment of a Select Committee to entertain certain propositions that had been advocated by parties interested in the settlement of the subject. He felt at the time that the burden of the poor rates on the poorer parishes would go on increasing annually to such an extent, that at last it would become intolerable. The Committee considered some proposals which he ventured to submit to them for remedying the evil, and their Report contained expressions which he could not but deem highly flattering to himself. The present petitioners desired that the poor rates in the metropolitan parishes should be equalized, so that the richer parishes, which contained no poor, should contribute their quota as well as the others. No doubt the Government were desirous of proposing some plan for the settlement of this question, and he would therefore warn them that there were certain dangers to be apprehended from such an equalization, which care should be taken to avoid. There was danger, if the rates were equalized, and they were assured of being assisted pro ratâ by the richer parishes, that the poorer districts would become much more careless in the management of their affairs than now, and that extravagance would be the consequence. He thought, therefore, that a system of equalization ought to be accompanied with some guards that would prevent this. The proper mode, in his opinion, if they equalized the rates within a certain circle, would be to do so for a certain number of, years, and to grant to the poorer parishes a sum annually not exceeding the average of what they had expended for a period of seven or ten years. If they exceeded that amount, let them raise the difference at their own expense, but if some such control was not provided, their Lordships might depend upon it that the affairs of the poorer parishes would be neglected.