§ SIR RICHARD PAGET (Somerset, Wells)asked the hon. Member for Penrith, as a Charity Commissioner, If the Commissioners will be good enough to cause a skeleton map of England and Wales to be prepared, showing the position of the various Endowed Schools and their respective grades; and, in presenting it to the House, if he will furnish at the same time a Return, arranged by Counties, showing the accommodation for and present numbers of Boarders and Day Boys or Girls at each School, and the total charge for Boarders and Day Pupils at each School; if he will add to the Return the present estimated Population of each County; and, if he will supplement the above, so far as he is able, by a similar Return, by Counties, showing the provision which has been made by private adventure for Intermediate or Middle Class Schools?
§ MR. J. W. LOWTHER (Cumberland, Penrith)The Charity Commissioners fully recognize that a map showing the position of the various Endowed Schools would be of considerable advantage to the public, as it would show the present state and further requirements of secondary education in England and Wales so far as endowments are con- 1295 cerned; but they are quite unable, with their present staff and resources, to undertake such a work without stopping the current work of the Endowed Schools Department of the Office; and, for the same reason, they are unable to furnish a Return in the form desired by the hon. Baronet. The Charity Commissioners have no general knowledge of, and no means of obtaining, any accurate information about the provisions made by private adventure for Intermediate or Middle Class Schools. We can, however, give the hon. Baronet a Return, by Counties, of the Endowments hitherto ascertained to be subject to the Endowed Schools Acts, showing whether those Endowments are or are not regulated by schemes established under those Acts, and, if so regulated, whether they are for boys or for girls, and the grades of the schools so established. Perhaps the hon. Baronet will move for the Return in continuation of Endowed Schools Acts Return No. 29, House of Lords, 1888, and there will be no objection to granting it, so far as the Charity Commission is concerned.