§ Miss LAWRENCEasked the Minister of Health whether he will give the rates in the pound for the relief of the poor required in the county boroughs of East and West Ham and in Walthamstow and Leyton under present conditions and as they would be under the scheme proposed by him of making one union of East and West Ham and merging the other districts in Essex?
Mr. CHAMBERLAINThe rates levied in 1928–1929 in East Ham county borough, West Ham county borough, Leyton municipal borough and Walthamstow urban district, for the purposes of the guardians of the West Ham Union were 6s. 7d., 6s. 6d., 0s. 6d., and 6s. 3d. respectively It is estimated that if the county boroughs of East Ham and West Ham had comprised one union, and if the municipal borough of Leyton and the urban district of Walthamstow had together with other areas in the administra- 1319W tive county of Essex formed a county area of charge for Poor Law purposes, these rates would have been about 7s. 8d. in East Ham and West Ham and 2s. 10d. in Leyton and Walthamstow. In considering conditions in these areas under the proposed scheme, however, account must be taken of the relief given by the Local Government Bill under the guarantee to county boroughs and the provisions for mitigating loan liability which would reduce the total rate charges in East and West Ham. The reduction is estimated on the basis of the latest available particulars at the equivalent of a rate of about 1s. 6d. in the £.