MR. O'CONNOR POWERasked the Vice President of the Council, Whether he is aware of a communication having been addressed to the Education Department by the managers of St. Mary's Roman Catholic Schools, Oldham, setting forth objections to the erection of a School Board in close proximity to their schools; whether he is aware that the Department promised that these objections would be considered when the Oldham School Board applied for permission to erect such school; and, whether he is aware that the Department have since authorised the Board to purchase the site; and, if so, what are the reasons that induced the Department to give such authority in the face of the objections lodged by the managers of St. Mary's Schools?
§ MR. MUNDELLASir, I am acquainted with the correspondence which has passed between the Education Department and the managers of St. Mary's Roman Catholic Schools at Oldham, and I can assure the hon. and learned Gentleman the Member for Mayo (Mr. O'Connor Power) that the remonstrances of the managers have had my careful consideration. The St. Mary's Roman Catholic School supplies the requirements, not only of its immediate neighbourhood, but of numbers of Roman Catholic children resident elsewhere. Of two schools quoted in the manager's letter, one provides no infant accommodation whatever, and the premises of the other are not such as can be recognized as efficient. Without reckoning these schools, there is an undoubted deficiency, and both Her Majesty's Inspector and the Board consider that a school is urgently required in this district.