HC Deb 03 March 1890 vol 341 cc1640-1
MR. MARJORIBANKS (Berwickshire)

I beg to ask the Vice President of the Committee of Council on Education whether he is aware that the Regulation of 1889, requiring before a grant is made a certificate in all cases from the Committee having management of a Science and Art Class, in which the principles of agriculture are taught— That the students are, or are going to be, employed in a trade or industry to which that subject applies, or are going to be teachers of that subject, has had a very detrimental effect on many of these classes; and whether he will consider the withdrawal of this Order in respect of classes in agriculture?

SIR W. HART DYKE

In some cases the Regulation in question has diminished the classes in which instruction in the principles of agriculture is given, but only in localities where the subject is an unsuitable one. The general effect of the Regulation has not been detrimental to the classes in localities where that subject of science can be properly taught; for, as the principles of agriculture are an applied rather than a pure science, it would be a waste of public money to pay grants on students who were neither likely to be employed in agricultural industry nor to become teachers of the subject.