Captain S. WILSONasked the Minister of Health whether, in view of the fact that the registration officer for the East Riding of Yorkshire, whose duty it is to prepare the burgess roll for the borough of Beverley, on the 12th April, 1918, called the attention of the Local Government Board to certain difficulties which would arise and additional expense which would have to be incurred unless an order were made altering the boundaries of certain electoral units in the borough Beverley, and that the Local Government Board then declined to make the order suggested, but that in a letter, dated the 30th May, 1919, 447W addressed to the registration officer, the Board stated that they had given further consideration to the matter, and were then prepared to entertain an application for the issue of the order suggested by the registration officer in his letter of 12th April, 1918; whether he is aware that the extra cost, except the cost of printing, which had necessarily been incurred as regards the burgess roll for the borough of Beverley in connection with the preparation of the first and second registers, in consequence of the refusal of the Local Government Board to make the order suggested in April, 1918, has been disallowed by the Treasury; and whether, in the circumstances, he will cause representation to be made to the Treasury that such disallowance should be quashed and that the county council should be paid the amount claimed by them?
§ Dr. ADDISONI am aware of the correspondence which is referred to in the question, and I understand that the Treasury have disallowed certain items in the claim for repayment of expenses in connection with the first register in respect of additional cost incurred by reason of a separate register of local government electors for the borough having been prepared. I am not at present aware of any necessity for the preparation of this separate register, and upon the information before me I see no ground on which I could take such action as is suggested.