§ MR. W. E. FORSTERsaid, he wished to ask the Vice President of the Committee of Council on Education, Whether any instructions have been issued by the Committee demanding sixty attendances from night scholars before examination for Capitation Grant, instead of twenty-four attendances, the number fixed in Article 40 of the Revised Code?
MR. H. A. BRUCEsaid, in reply, that no such instructions had been issued. The state of the case was this:—Under the Code of 1860 no Grant was payable to a night school unless it had been held on sixty occasions during the year, nor was any Grant payable in respect of the children unless they had attended fifty times. By the Revised Code two payments were made —2s. 6d. on attendance, and 5s. on examination—provided the scholars had attended twenty-four times. The 5s. was now paid for the examination of every scholar who attended twenty-four times, but the payment on attendance was not made unless the school had been open at least forty days—an arrangement the reasonableness of which he was sure his hon. Friend would be the first to admit.
§ LORD ROBERT CECILsaid, he wished to know at what date the alteration was made?
MR. H. A. BRUCEsaid, that no Minute on the subject had been laid on the table, but it was necessary that some amount of discretion should be left to the heads of the Department. It surely never could have been intended that a school should be open for twenty-four nights only. That would obviously be most improper, and a recurrence in this respect to the practice under the original Code was thought to be justifiable without placing a Minute upon so trifling a subject on the table.