HC Deb 09 August 1883 vol 282 cc2083-5
MR. P. MARTIN

asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether the charter of the Swords Borough School, Dublin, which is under the management of the Protestant Rector, provides that the annual endowment of some £800 a year, derived from the compensation awarded by Parliament to the ancient borough, should be applied for the daily education of the children of the borough in reading, writing, and arithmetic, and any surplus should be expended in apprenticing the children to useful trades and occupations, and in premiums for the encouragement of agriculture and manufac- tures; have the Royal Commissioners on Endowed Schools in Ireland called attention to the facts that, though the benefits of the charity were intended to be conferred on the children of the poorer classes in the borough without religious distinction, the objects of the charter had been neglected, and misapplications of the fund made in many instances, and that to the extent of only some £80 a-year at the utmost is any portion of this endowment made available for Roman Catholics, and that all the witnesses, Protestants and Catholics, examined united in saying the present state of affairs was most unsatisfactory; is the number of the children now attending the Borough School only some forty, and one-half, at least, of them the children of "comfortable farmers and shopkeepers," and fourteen of them the children of non-residents within the borough; whether Catholic children on the rolls of the National School number in or about 400; and, since the Lord Chancellor is a trustee under the charter, will the Government now communicate with him, so that the endowment may be distributed in accordance with the suggestions of the Royal Commissioners, and with a due regard to the feelings and interests of the entire of the poorest inhabitants of Swords; and, will he have any objection to lay the result of such communication on the Table of the House?

MR. TREVELYAN

Sir, the statements embodied in this Question appear, so far as I can ascertain, to be correct. There is no objection to communicating with the Lord Chancellor on the subject; yet, as he is a Trustee acting under the Charter pursuant to which the school was established, and which Charter regulates the application of the fund, it is apprehended that neither he nor the other Trustees can of themselves alter the present distribution, and that any such alteration must be the subject of legislation. It is my intention to consider the whole subject of endowed schools during the Recess; but I can make no positive promise on the subject.

MR. SEXTON

With regard to this matter, I heg to give Notice that I will call attention to the whole subject on the Vote for Primary Education in Ireland; and I will then ask if there is any reason why trustees should defeat the object of their trust by making it pos- sible for only 40 children to avail themselves of it, while 800 children who are equally entitled to it are deprived of its benefits?

MR. P. MARTIN

also asked the right hon. Gentleman, If he is aware that, though the children in the National School gain higher places than those in the Borough School, yet the children in the Borough School receive higher prizes?

MR. TREVELYAN

I would ask the hon. Gentleman to give Notice of his Question, and I will be very glad to answer it.