§ Baron de FORESTasked the President of the Local Government Board whether his attention has been called to the statement made at the last meeting of the London County Council that the cost of central and local municipal administration in London amounts to £2 10s. per head of the population, as contrasted with £1 15s. in Manchester and £1 11s. in Birmingham; whether this is due to the multiplicity of local authorities in London; and whether the Board has under consideration the desirability of simplifying the system of government, and so reducing the burden, of the rates?
§ Mr. BURNSThe statement referred to appears to be substantially correct, but a final judgment cannot be based upon this one set of statistics. For instance, if the rate in the pound had been taken instead of the rate per head of population, it would have been found that the figure for London was lower than those of the cities mentioned.