§ LORD EDMOND FITZMAURICEasked the Vice President of the Council, If he will explain the reasons which have prevented the Education Department issuing an order for the formation of a School Board for the town of Swindon, in Wiltshire, notwithstanding the expiration, on the 27th September, 1876, of the time mentioned in the final notice of the 27th March, 1876; if it is the case that the Auction Mart, said to have been recently purchased for the purposes of a Church School, was still being used for sales on April 28th, 1877, and can in any case only provide accommodation 362 for 350 children out of the 580 specified in the final notice of the Department; and, if he is aware that the population of Swindon, being now 18,400, and school accommodation existing for only 1,952 children, fresh educational accommodation is required for 1,114 children and not for 580 only?
§ VISCOUNT SANDONSir, the usual procedure of the Department has been followed in the case of the formation of the Swindon School Board. The time limited by the final notice expired on the 8th of October, 1876, and, in conformity with our invariable practice, the matter was referred to the Inspector to report whether the requirements of the Department had been or were in course of being fulfilled. His Report informed us that the accommodation required was in course of being supplied, and that arrangements were being made for acquiring possession of the Auction Mart, which would supply accommodation for 223 children, and that the National School would be enlarged so as to provide for 370 children, thus providing extra accommodation for 593, being in excess of the number required by the final notice. I do not know whether the Auction Mart at Swindon was used for sales in April of this year, but it was certainly bought for the school in 1876. As to the increase in the population of Swindon, we are only able to complete the supply of the country upon the basis of the population when our notices were originally published. As soon as we have completed the general supply of the country upon this basis, which I hope will be shortly the case, we shall then have to make another inquiry, which will, of course, entail the usual notice to the locality demanded by the Act of 1870, and we shall lose no time in seeing that the accommodation for the increased population is provided. I need hardly remind my noble Friend, that if any locality desires to have a a school board, and if a majority of the ratepayers vote for it in legal form, a school board is at once ordered by the Department.