The Sun.
London, England, 1865-04-06 00:00:00

METROPOLITAN HOUSELESS POOR BILL.

The house went into committee on this bill.
Clause 1 was postponed, but the remaining clauses were
agreed to without a division.

Mr. VILLIERS moved the following additional clause

to the bill, to enable the police to provide temporary relief :
—" Any constable of the metropolitan police or of the po-
lice of the City of London may personally conduct any
destitute wayfarer, wanderer, or foundling, not having
committed or being charged with any offence punishable
by law within the knowledge of ,such constable, to any
wards or other places of reception approved of by the Poor
Law Board under the said act or this act ; and every such
wayfarer, wanderer, or foundling shall, if there be room
in such wards or other places of reception, bo temporarily
relieved therein."

Mr. Bromley had no objection to the proposed clause,
providing the following additional words were added :
" That, from the passing of this act, every police station
within the metropolitan district shall be constituted an
office for the issuing of orders of admission, for destitute
persons requiring the same, into the casual ward of the
workhouse of the district in which the said police station
is situated."
Mr. VILLIERS said the police acted under instructions
which rendered the proposed words quite unnecessary.
Mr. HENLEY moved that after the word "foundling"
the words " or other destitute person" be inserted. The
right hon. gentleman then referred to the parishes of
Rotherhithe and St. George's, Southwark, and said theac-
commodation provided for the casual poor was most unsa-
tisfactory in the latter. He believed some
f the poor
the
people had been compelled to sleep in spaces° about
height, length, and width of coffins.
Mr. VILLIERS said the matter had not escaped the
attention of the Poor-law Board.
Tho amendment of the hon. member for Oxfordshire was
agreed to, but the proposed addition was rejected.
The following additional clause was also agreed to :
T he guardians
union or parish referred to in the
said act shall of every
admitewithout delay, either to the work-
house
or to the wards or places of reception provided under
the said act, every poor person who shall apply to be ad-
mitted during the hours between six o'clock in the even-
ing and eight in the morning in the months between
October and March inclusive, and during the hours be-
' tween eight o'clock in the evening and eight o'clock in the
morning in the months between April and September in-
clusive, and who shall not have applied in the same parish
during 30 days previously ; and the guardians shall cause
to be furnished to every poor person so admitted such re-
lief under such conditions as the Poor-law Board, under
general order, shall direct.
On the motion that clause 1 stand part of the bill,
Mr. AYRTON said as the bill stood it was merely a
temporary measure, being only for the term of one year.
An hon. memberlopposite had given notice of his intention
of moving that the term of the act should be three years,
but his proposal was that it be made a permanent measure.
He hoped the hon. gentleman the President of the Poor-
law Board would not object to his amendment, which was
to leave out all the words after " relief," and to insert the
following—" of destitute wayfarers, wanderers, and found-

lings in the several unions and parishes referred to in the
said act, received and to be received from and after Lady
Day, 1865." •
Mr. VILLIERS said he had no objection to the proposal
of the hon. member for the Tower Hamlets.
The amendment was agreed to, and the bill passed
through committee.