§ MR. MACFARLANEasked the President of the Local Government Board, If his attention has been called to the refusal of the Nottingham Board of Guardians to send the Roman Catholic children in the workhouse to the certified school of that denomination, although they admit that the school is within a reasonable distance; whether such refusal meets with his approval; and, whether, since it is in direct contravention of the spirit and intention of the Legislature, if not actually of the letter of the Law, and that the action of the Nottingham Board of Guardians which may be taken as a precedent in other places, he proposes to take any steps to compel them to comply with the admitted intention of the Law and with the demands of justice?
MR. GEORGE RUSSELLSir, the Board are aware that the Roman Catholic children in the workhouse of the Nottingham Union are sent to a school of the Nottingham School Board, as the attendance of these children at the Board school has been the subject of a long correspondence between the Board and the Guardians. There is a Roman Catholic public elementary school within a distance of a mile from the workhouse; and the Board have urged the Guardians to arrange for the attendance of the, children at this school. The Guardians, however, have declined to do so, one of their reasons being that the Board school is nearer to the workhouse. It is a matter of regret to the Board that the Guardians have so decided; but it appears to the Board that the Guardians are within their legal powers in sending the children to the Board school. The children only receive secular instruction in the school, being altogether withdrawn from religious instruction. It may, at the same time, be stated, with regard to the religious instruction of the children, that the Guardians, in one of their letters, inform the Board that the Roman Catholic clergy are allowed to visit the children on each Saturday at any time between the hours of 9 A.M. and 5 P.M.; that the children go to the Roman Catholic church every Sunday morning; that the Board Room is set apart for a Catholic Service each 946 Sunday afternoon, the children never failing to attend the Service; and that the elder children attend the celebration of Mass.
§ MR. HEALYasked the hon. Gentleman whether his attention had been drawn to the circumstance that in Ireland, if the action of a Board of Guardians was disapproved by the Local Government Board, the Local Government Board instantly dissolve the Board of Guardians?