§ THE MARQUESS OF SALISBURYMy Lords, I have been asked to present a Petition from the Mayor, Aldermen, and Burgesses of the County Borough of West Ham. I need not wait for a larger House because it is not a matter which concerns your Lordships, but it relates to an Inquiry which is proceeding in the other House. The burden of the Petition is that the Corporation complain that they are called upon by the Local Government Board to provide relief works for the unemployed. They say that the duty cast upon them by the Local Government Board is not one which they have any facilities or means of properly performing, and that a duty of so extensive a character ought to be undertaken by the State:—
Your Petitioners are, therefore, of opinion that the time has now arrived when Parliament should deal with the matter, and that the duty of finding employment for persons out of work should be undertaken by the State, which alone possesses the means of dealing with a matter of such vast magnitude.
§ House adjourned at Thirty minutes past Four o'clock.