§ MR. BROADHURSTI beg to ask the Vice President of the Committee of Council on Education whether he is aware that the national schools at Baston, Lincolnshire, were closed on Friday afternoon the 14th inst. to allow of preparations being made for a Primrose League entertainment in the school-room that evening; and, if so, whether it is within the right of managers of national schools to close such institutions to facilitate the holding of political meetings?
§ SIR W. HART DYKEI know nothing of the circumstances to which the hon. Member refers. Every public elementary school must be open 400 times in the course of the year in order to obtain a grant; but if that requirement is observed, there is nothing, so far as I am aware, to limit the discretion of the managers in granting an occasional holiday.