MR. ACLAND, referring to a recent speech of the right hon. Member for Birmingham (Mr. Chamberlain), said, it was with no disrespect to his right hon. Friend that he put the following Question; but as he thought it desirable that some official contradiction should be given to the statement contained in the speech by the official head of the Charity Commission in the House, he begged to ask the Vice President of the Committee of Council, Whether it is the case that there is a great endowment left for the poor of a parish in Wiltshire 1574 (which might now be used to promote their happiness and welfare), but the greater part of which is to be diverted under a scheme of the Charity Commissioners, in order to create a school of secondary education for the middle class in a neighbouring town; and. if so, whether the Government intend to take any steps in the matter?
§ MR. JESSE COLLINGSasked the Vice President of the Committee of Council, Whether it is the case that Alderman Dauntsey left certain properties situated in the City of London to the poor of West Laving-ton and the adjacent parishes for their benefit for ever; whether this property now realises about £15,000 per annum, and is in the hands of the Mercers' Company; whether about £700 only have hitherto been spent on the poor of West Lavington in the form of Free Schools and Almshouses, and that the Mercers' Company have now agreed to pay to the Charity Commissioners £30,000 on account of the property named; and, whether, under the new scheme of the Charity Commissioners, the existing Free Schools are to be taken away from the poor of West Lavington, and the £30,000 to be given to the town of Marlborough or Devizes for the purpose of establishing a school for the middle and wealthier classes?
§ THE VICE PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL (Mr. E. STANHOPE)It is understood that the endowment referred to in the Question of the hon. Member for East Cornwall is that of Alderman Dauntsey in the parish of West Lavington. The foundation is for a grammar school and an almshouse, for the joint maintenance of which there is an annual endowment of £60 a-year. The almshouse is for poor men and women, primarily of the parish of West Lavington. The grammar school endowment was not left for the poor of West Lavington, or for the poor at all, but is entirely free from restrictive trusts, except only that the school was to be placed in West Lavington. Under the scheme of the Charity Commissioners the endowment will, by the bounty of the Mercers' Company, be largely augmented. The almshouses for the poor of West Lavington will be retained, with a sufficient annual income for their support. The school in West Lavington will bore-modelled and greatly im- 1575 proved, and a large sum remaining over out of the moneys provided by the Mercers' Company will be applicable elsewhere for the purpose of secondary education, which appears to have been the kind of education contemplated by the founder. The statement, therefore, which is quoted in the Question is quite inaccurate.
§ MR. CHAMBERLAINI should like to ask whether it is not the fact that the original endowment, so far as the grammar school was concerned, was not for a free school, and therefore primarily a school for the poor?
§ MR. JESSE COLLINGSasked, whether the right hon. Gentleman the Vice President of the Council had read the will of Alderman Dauntsey? He should like to ask whether it was not the fact that the property, which was now supposed to be worth £150,000, had been offered by the Charity Commissioners to the Mercers' Company on condition that they should pay £30,000; and, whether it was not the fact that two-thirds of this money were to be applied to schools in a large town in Wiltshire to the detriment of the village of West La-vington?
THE VICE PRESIDENTsaid, he had not had an opportunity of examining Alderman Dauntsey's will; but he derived his information from those who, no doubt, had referred to it. The hon. Member was entirely in error with regard to the position of the Mercers' Company as to this fund. The Court of Chancery had decided that this was not charity property at all; but as an act of grace the Mercers' Company had offered to give up large sums to be used for the purposes of this will. He had no doubt the hon. Member was right in saying that £18,000 was to be devoted to secondary education apart from West Lavington.
§ MR. CHAMBERLAINThe right hon. Gentleman the Vice President of the Council has not answered my Question whether a grammar school was not a free school?
THE VICE PRESIDENTsaid, that this was not expressly declared to be a free school, and judging from the terms of the Trust it did not appear that it was exclusively' intended for the poor. The intention was to found a school somewhat above that, and to give a higher education.