§ DR. CLARK (Caithness)asked the Lord Advocate, Whether it is the case that the estimated cost of Clydebank School, under Old Kilpatrick School Board, together with contingencies, amounted to £13,091; whether the Education Department was asked to pass the plans and estimates, and grant a loan of £13,000, which request was complied with; whether the expenditure on the school up to date now amounts to £20,000; and, whether he is prepared to introduce a Bill abolishing the cumulative vote at school board elections, and providing that a certain number of members retire annually, in order that ratepayers may be able to pronounce an opinion on any policy which a school board may be pursuing?
§ THE LORD ADVOCATE (Mr. J. H.A. MACDONALD) (Edinburgh and St. Andrew's Universities)The sanction to the original loan asked for the Clydebank School was given in the circumstances stated by the hon. Member. The School Board of Old Kilpatrick have now applied for a supplementary loan, which would raise the cost of the school to nearly £20,000. Their Lordships are now in communication with the Board on the subject of this expenditure, which ought not to have been incurred without previous sanction; and, pending the inquiry, sanction has not yet been given to the loan. The Government is not prepared to introduce a Bill of the character suggested by the hon. Member.