§ MR. HUGH ELLIOT (Ayrshire, N.)asked the Lord Advocate, Whether his attention has been drawn to the circumstance that it is an occasional practice for parents who have children at public elementary schools in Scotland to forbid their attendance at school on the day of examinution by Her Majesty's Inspector for the purpose of injuring the teacher by lowering the Government grant; and, whether such action on the part of the parents is legal; and, if so, whether he can suggest any remedy for the abuse?
§ THE LORD ADVOCATE (Mr. J. H. A. MACDONALD) (Edinburgh and St. Andrew's Universities)Instances of the action to which the hon. Member refers have occasionally been reported to the Scotch Education Department; but as the Education Acts do not prescribe attendance at school on every day when the school is open, except for children in whose case an attendance order has been issued, the action does not appear to be illegal; and the only remedy which can be suggested must come from the condemnation which such action should meet with from the community which suffers from the loss of grant. The grant is payable to the managers of the school, and the loss can only fall upon the teacher when the school is farmed to him—a system which their Lordships have uniformly condemned.