asked the names of the counties in which guardians have made application to the Local Government Beard for Orders for the formation of joint committees of boards of guardians for the purpose of provision and special accommodation for, or special treatment of, the feeble-minded or epileptic poor?

An Order has been issued for a joint committee of guardians in the county of Wiltshire. Orders are in preparation for the counties of Cornwall, Essex, Glamorgan, Salop, Staffordshire, and Warwickshire, and applications are before me from the counties of Kent, Suffolk, and Surrey. I understand that schemes of combination are also under consideration in several other counties.