Vol. 3 No. 20
I beg to move:
"That a sum, not exceeding £12,740, be granted to complete the sum necessary to defray the Charge which will come in the course of the payment for Salaries and Expenses of the General Register Office for the year ending on the 31st March, 1924." £8,000 had been already voted on account.
The Estimate does not appear to call for any special comment. It is substantially the same as last year's, the total increment in the salaries being roughly equal to the decrease in bonus.
On these Esti mates for the General Register Office, I want to raise a question of the position of the Clerks of Unions who were hitherto in the main Clerks of the Rural District Councils as well. They were, I understand, under the previous regulations, and I think under the Statute, the Registrars for their districts; but whether it be through the amalgamation of the Unions or otherwise, it appears that the Registrar-General has transferred the duties of Registrar to the Secretaries of the County Boards of Health. The duties of the Registrar had no relation to the duties as Poor Law Officers, although the same persons were very often, perhaps generally, doing the two duties. The Clerks of Unions were the Registrars. Now, where the Clerks of Unions have been superseded, but where those same persons still act as Clerks of the Rural District Councils, they should continue to do the work of the Registrar. Whether the legal position is correct, as stated, I do not know, but in practice it is clearly unfortunate that people requiring birth, marriage, or death certificates must apply to the Secretary of the County Board of Health, whose office usually would be established in the county town. There ought to be much greater convenience for the issue of copies of the Register than that provides. It is not satisfactory that a citizen from one part of the county should have to travel 20, 30, 60, or 70 miles, as the case may be, for the purpose of getting a copy of the Register, if he wanted it in a hurry. It seems to be a fault in the re-arrangement that the duties of this office should be transferred to the Secretary of the County Home, away from the Clerk of the Rural District Council, who is continuing to do his work as Clerk of the Rural Council, and who should remain in charge of the Register. On this Vote also, we might be given some information as to the intentions of the Government regarding the Census. We would like to know if they have anything in mind as to when that Census will be taken. I have no doubt that it will depend upon the state of the country, but, assuming practicability we would like to know how soon it is intended that the Census shall be taken?
I would wish to add a few words in support of what Deputy Johnson has said. It is with regard to the great hardship that people will have to undergo in obtaining birth certificates in future. If you take a county such as Longford, we have three rural districts there. We have one County Home. The Clerks of the different Rural District Councils had charge of the Register in the county heretofore. Now, that has been transferred, and brought into the county town, and given over to the Secretary of the County Home. That is a great hardship on the public. It ought to be remedied. It should be regarded in my opinion as very injudicious for any official to transfer those duties without first acquainting the public boards, and first looking to the convenience of the general public. Another point is, that as a rule the Secretaries of these County Homes are paid a much higher salary than Clerks of the Rural District Councils are paid, and this is a sort of emolument that helps for the deficiency in salaries, and it has been transferred now to officials who are paid at least twice as much as a Clerk of a Rural District Council. I think it is not fair, on these two points, that this should have been done without the public being consulted.
With reference to this matter of the Superintendent Registrars, I think that what was done was the correct thing in the circumstances. The Registrars are the Dispensary Doctors and the Secretary of the County Board of Health will stand in the same relation to them in future as the Secretary of the Union stood in the past. There is a general consensus of opinion that the Rural District Councils served no good purpose, that they are practically an unnecessary cog or wheel in the machine, and that they ought to be abolished, and that is our opinion. That was the second reason for making the Secretary of the County Board of Health the Superintendent Registrar, in succession to the Clerk of the Union. I think that there would be no difficulty at all in making satisfactory arrangements whereby people could get birth or other certificates without having to travel either 20 or 30 miles. The Post Office will work, and I take it that there is little or no substance at all in that point. Whatever there may be of substance can easily be attended to and rectified. With regard to the census, there certainly would seem to be the possibility, as things stand at present, of having a census at no very distant date, and I think that it is a matter that will have to be given consideration to now because, in view of the provisions of the Constitution, it will be desirable to have a census pretty soon, so as to establish exactly the population of each constituency, apart from any other purpose. The matter was not, considered owing to the state of the country. Provision had been made in the Estimates of the year before last but it was clearly impossible to have contemplated anything in the way of carrying out a census in the spring that has passed, and owing to the state of affairs which prevailed, definite consideration was not given to the question of holding a census next spring. I think that the situation is now such that it demands consideration.
I wish to say that I think there is something wrong in the administration of Local Government. I feel, at least from my acquaintance of it, that there is a terrible amount of extravagance in the administration of Local Government——
This Estimate does not deal with the administration of Local Government generally.
Will the Minister say what the legal authority was under which these duties were tranferred from the Clerks of the Unions to the Secretaries of the County Boards of Health?
There certainly is ample authority under the Temporary Provisions Act.
But is it not a fact that that Temporary Provisions Act only dealt with Poor Law and that this is quite independent of Poor Law?
There was power to make the necessary adaptation when Clerks of Unions disappeared. There was power in the Act to make provisions for incidental matters, arising on the disappearance of the Clerks.
But the Clerks of Unions have not disappeared at all.
As Clerks of Unions.
