*LORD STANLEY OF ALDERLEYsaid that some noble Lords had said that agricultural rates should not be relieved because urban rates were high. Urban rates were high because of School Boards' imitation of the London County Council, and because of misspending ratepayers' money, and he asked Her Majesty's Government if the attention of the Local Government Board had been called to the fact that municipal corporations subscribed moneys at the ratepayers' expense to an association describing itself as the Association of Municipal Corporations, and that the expenses of deputations of mayors, town councillors, and town clerks who attended the meetings of the association were charged to the borough fund, and if these payments were illegal; and whether, in the interests of ratepayers, the Local Government Board would give instructions to the borough auditors to disallow all such payments.
LORD HARRISThe Local Government Board have no reason to doubt that municipal corporations subscribe at the cost of the ratepayers to the Municipal Corporations' Association, and it is not improbable that the expenses of representatives of corporations in attending meetings of the association are charged to the borough fund; but the Board have no definite information on the subject. The Board in the case of a municipal borough have no jurisdiction with regard to such matters, and they are not empowered to give any directions to the borough auditors with respect to charges of the character referred to. The question as to the legality of the charges can only be determined by the High Court.