§ MR. ARTHUR O'CONNOR (Donegal, E.)asked the Vice President of the Committee of Council, Whether his attention, or that of his predecessor, has been called to the Correspondence relating to the Catholic school at Chislehurst; whether it is a fact that Her Majesty's inspector has reported that during the last school-year there was an average attendance of more than thirty, and that all the other conditions for gaining the grant had been fulfilled; whether it is true that the Department has refused the grant for that year, although the school has been under inspection, and the managers have been claiming the grant for the past nine years; upon what section of what Act of Parliament such refusal of the grant is founded; whether the Code (Section 19) explains "the annual grant list" as "the list of schools 1487 claiming annual grants;" whether the managers of Chislehurst school have been claiming the grant for several years; whether this refusal of the grant for the first year in which it has been earned is ever extended to Board schools, or to schools within a School Board district; and, whether he will examine into the circumstances of this case, and consider whether the grant should be conceded; and, in case of an adverse decision, lay the Correspondence upon the Table?
§ THE VICE PRESIDENT (Sir LYON PLAYFAIR) (Leeds, S.)On the 1st November, 1885, the Chislehurst Roman Catholic School established that it had had for 12 months an average attendance of more than 30, and, according to Article 91 of the Code, it was at once put on the annual grant list. For several years before it had claimed a grant without fulfilling this condition of the Code; refusal was then based on the 97th section of the Act of 1870, which makes compliance with the Code essential. The 19th Article of the Code is ambiguous in language, but it has always been held to mean that "schools claiming grants," are schools establishing their claims to grants. There has been no refusal to give the grant when the condition of 12 months' precedent average attendance was established. Article 91 does not apply to School Board districts, and the case could not arise with Board Schools, as they could make no claim under it. I am not prepared to lay the Correspondence on the Table, as it is voluminous and refers to more details of administration.