§ MR. PELLsaid, he wished to ask the Vice President of the Committee of Council on Education, Whether the funds from Betten's Charity, at present devoted to the aid of 1,200 schools, will, under the provisions of the Endowed Schools Bill, now before Parliament, be diverted to other uses?
§ MR. W. E. FORSTER, in reply, said, that Betten's Charity was certainly an educational endowment, and, therefore, came within the scope of the Endowed Schools Bill, which had just passed through that House. The impression that prevailed in the minds of some interested in the Charity was entirely unfounded. He was told their impression was that the object of the Bill was to at once appropriate the funds of the Charity and apply them to some other educational purpose. The real fact was, that this Charity was at present the means of assisting a large number of National Schools with small sums not less than £5, and not more than £20 per annum. That being its object, there was no doubt it was an educational endowment; but no alteration could be made in it without the Commissioners first giving full notice to the Governors, and receiving from them any representation which they might think fit to make, and without any alteration being approved of by the Government of the day, and assented to by both Houses of Parliament; consequently, those interested would have the fullest opportunity of making themselves heard before anything could be done. If the Commissioners thought anything ought to be done, though he was not prepared to say they would, as the endowment was more than £1,000 per annum, six months' notice must be given to the Governors to propose their own alterations, if they thought fit to do so, before the Commissioners could have anything to say to it.