152 LOCAL TAXATION 



of this relief the Treasury ought to be recouped in some form 

 or other see, for instance, the Chancellor of the Exchequer's 

 (Mr. Asquith) speech in introducing his Budget on 7th May, 

 1908. 



In his Budget speech on 30th June, 1910, the Chancellor 

 of the Exchequer (Mr. George) announced that Boards of 

 Guardians would be expected to hand over to the Treasury 

 the amount saved to the rates by this Act ; this was estimated 

 to amount to nearly 1,500,000. The Chamber presented a 

 statement to the Government showing why, in their opinion, 

 any saving which might accrue to local rates ought not to be 

 taken away by the Treasury, for the following reasons : 



(a) Because, during the debates prior to the passing of the 

 above Act, it was repeatedly insisted on by those in charge of 

 the Bill that the granting to the individual by the State of an 

 old age pension was a recognition of a national obligation, and 

 the whole cost thereof should therefore be borne out of the National 

 Exchequer and not out of local rates. 



(6) Because at present, in the case of recipients of relief in 

 any form, relatives within a certain degree are required to 

 contribute according to their means. It does not appear how far 

 Guardians will be expected to collect this contribution as hereto- 

 fore, or, alternatively, to provide it out of the rates, when paying 

 in the proposed subventions to the Treasury. 



(c) Because at present, in the event of the financial circum- 

 stances of any pauper improving, permanently or temporarily, 

 relief must legally cease automatically, while a claim on the part 

 of the Guardians for a refund of the whole or part of the cost 

 incurred by them on the pauper's behalf lies. It is not as yet 

 clear what the position of Guardians under any contemplated 

 Bill of the kind would be in this respect, either as regards the 

 continuance of the subvention to the Treasury, or their powers 

 of recovery against the pauper. 



(d) Because the cost of poor relief was considered by the Royal 

 Commission on Local Taxation to be a national service, and the 

 contribution from Imperial sources under this head amounts now 

 to only about one -twelfth of the total expenditure. 



After negotiations the Government agreed to abide by the 

 strict terms of Sec. 1 of their Old Age Pensions Act, and to 

 defray the whole cost out of Treasury funds. 



At their April meeting the Chamber reiterated their 

 opinion 



" That owing to the enormous increase of mechanical traffic 

 the whole cost of the maintenance of such roads as are in general 



