THE BOARD OF WORKS.

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within the province of other departments. exercises jurisdiction concerning all matters of equity relating to lands held of the Crown in right of the Duchy of Lancaster.

In 1832 the public works and buildings of Great Britain were for the first time placed under the control of a responsible Minister of the Crown, and were assigned to the charge of the Commissioners of Woods and Forests. In 1851, however, the department of Public Works was separated from the Woods and Forests, and erected into a Board, under the name of the Office of Her Majesty's Works and Public Buildings. The Board consists of a First Commissioner, and of the Principal Secretaries of State and the President of the Board of Trade as ex-officio members. The Board has the custody and supervision of the royal palaces and parks, and of all public buildings not specially assigned to the care of other departments; and also the administration of sums voted by Parliament for the maintenance and erection of all such works. Besides various other duties I need not trouble you with, the Office of Works is intrusted with the task of providing free walks and parks for the recreation of the public, as well as access to the national buildings and collections. This Board is subject to the

Treasury. It has been often urged in Parliament, and with very good reason, that the Chief Commissioner, being merely the principal surveyor of the State, and his office a department for carrying out such public works as have been sanctioned by Parliament, his appointment should be permanent-in other words, independent of all changes of ministry. The condition of the Board of Works is far from satisfactory, and the manner in which it performs its duties has given rise to numerous stories. One of them is, that a castor came off a clerk's chair in a Government office, and as the Board of Works has to provide the furniture of all the Government offices and other public buildings, it was immediately communicated with to repair the defect. After a hundred and fifty letters and forms had been written and filled up, a van and ten men were sent by the Board for the offending chair. It was kept three weeks, and the day after it was returned the castor came off again. Since 1823 the Chief Commissioner has frequently had a seat in the Cabinet.

Before 1847 the administration of poor relief in England and Wales was intrusted to commissioners acting under the control of the Home Secretary, but owing to the amount of labour which devolved upon the Home Office, the Poor-Law Commissioners were

THE POOR-LAW BOARD.

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erected into a Board in 1847. This Board consists of a President, to be appointed by the Queen, and of four Cabinet Ministers, who are members exofficio,-viz., the Lord President of the Council, the Lord Privy Seal, the Home Secretary, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer. In 1867 the Poor-Law Board, from being a temporary commission, subject to renewal from time to time by Acts of Parliament, was made permanent, with a considerable enlargement of its powers. The President of the Board is responsible for all that is done, and his duties are exceedingly onerous. "There is not," said Mr Villiers, when President of the Poor-Law Board, "a question which may arise upon anything which affects the moral, physical, or economical condition of the poor, that must not be examined and decided by him; and in order that he may give a decision, he must read all the papers that bear upon the subject. . . . Besides all this, additional permanent business has been thrown upon the office by the transfer, within the last two years, from the Privy Council to the Poor-Law Board, of the management of the education of the poor, so far as it depends upon State grants." The President of the Poor-Law Board has also to determine all matters of complaint against medical men, and other officers

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charged with misconduct or neglect of paupers. He is assisted in his labours by two secretaries, one of whom is entitled to sit in the House of Commons, and is a political appointment, two assistant-secretaries, and a staff of poor-law inspectors and clerks. The President of the Poor-Law Board was first admitted into the Cabinet in 1859, and the first time the office was represented in the Lords was in 1867. The Irish and Scotch Poor-Law Boards are represented in Parliament respectively by the Chief Secretary for Ireland and the Lord Advocate.

It

The Postmaster-General, who is usually, but not invariably, a Cabinet Minister, is the last Minister, I shall have to say anything to you about. is only since 1831, when the offices of PostmasterGeneral of Great Britain and of Ireland were consolidated, that the appointment has been considered a political office. Until the accession of George IV. it was held by two joint-commissioners, expressly disqualified from sitting in the House of Commons on account of the office having been created in 1711, subsequent to the statute of Queen Anne, which declared that all new offices should render their possessors ineligible for a seat in the Commons. In 1866, however, an Act was passed rendering the Postmaster-General eligible for the

DUTIES OF THE POSTMASTER-GENERAL.

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House of Commons. When he is a member of the Lords it is the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury to represent the department in the Lower House. The Postmaster-General has to negotiate postal treaties with foreign powers, to determine questions connected with the establishment of increased postal facilities at home and in the colonies (subject to the approval of the Treasury in pecuniary matters, for, as a revenue department, the PostOffice is subordinate to the Treasury), and to distribute the patronage of his department, which is very great. He has to report annually to the Lords of the Treasury upon the condition of his department, and these reports are invariably laid before Parliament. In addition to his former duties, the Postmaster-General has now the management of the Electric Telegraph also within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. To assist him in his labours the Postmaster-General has a secretary, two assistant-secretaries, and a large staff of clerks.

I now come to the last portion of my lectureviz., those members who belong to the Administration, but are not Cabinet or Privy Councillors, and here I shall be very brief. These officials are, the Junior Lords of the Treasury, who are chosen