§ VISCOUNT EMLYNasked the Vice President of the Council, Whether he can lay upon the Table of the House a Return giving the particulars of any steps that have been taken by School Boards for the inspection in religious subjects of those Board Schools in which any religious instruction is given?
§ LORD GEORGE HAMILTONA very voluminous Return, moved for by the hon. Member for Plymouth, gives full information as to the system of religious instruction in board districts; but it is not yet in the hands of Members. Perhaps my noble Friend will wait until he has had time to peruse it. I may, however, add, that the total number of school boards having schools in England and Wales is 1,500, of which 35 provide no religious instruction—8 being in England, 27 in Wales; while there are 11 concerning which there is doubt, giving a percentage in England of about 1 per cent, and in Wales 10 per cent, of districts unprovided with religious instruction.