§ Mr. BOOTHasked the President of the Local Government Board if Mr. Douglas Roberts is an official auditor, and whether, if so, Mr. Roberts has authority to give orders as to the methods of paying wages to weekly workers; whether he is aware that Mr. Roberts insisted upon the surveyor of the Pontefract Rural District Council paying every roadman by cheque, although this method is unknown among the farmers employing labourers; and whether he can see his way to support the unanimous desire of the district councillors to pay as heretofore in cash and so avoid inconvenience and hardship in the remote rural parishes of the union?
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§ Mr. BURNSMr. H. D. Roberts is the auditor of the South Yorkshire Audit District, and I am informed by him that he has at audits of the accounts of the Pontefract Rural District Council urged that the wages of the workmen employed by the Council should be paid by cheques. He states that this system has been adopted by other district councils in his district, and he has ascertained that the workmen experience no difficulty in cashing the cheques, and the system is popular with both the officials and the men. If any communication is addressed to me on the subject by the district council it will receive my careful attention.