§ SIR EDWARD COLEBROOKEsaid, he wished to ask the Vice President of the Committee of Council on Education, Whether the Government will take steps, during the Parliamentary Recess, to procure full information regarding the amount and quality of the education furnished in the existing schools of Scotland, in anticipation of legislation on the parochial and other schools in Scotland during the next Session of Parliament?
§ MR. W. E. FORSTERsaid, in reply, that the Government would, during the Recess, consider whether it would be advisable to obtain further information on the subject than that which they already possessed, in anticipation of the Scotch Education Bill to be introduced next year. They had considered whether it would be desirable to ask Parliament to assent to a short Bill giving power to obtain Returns similar to those which they had obtained relative to the English Bill. But, looking to the fact that they already possessed a good deal of information with regard to Scotland, and also that it would be difficult to frame a Bill that would not prejudge the Scotch Education Bill, they had decided not to apply for any legislative power during the present Session.