§ MR. F. S. STEVENSON (Suffolk, Eye)asked the President of the Local Government Board whether his attention had been called to the fact that, at a vestry meeting held at Haughley, in Suffolk, on Friday morning last, for the purpose of electing parish officers for the year, a motion was made, and duly seconded, that the meeting should adjourn until the evening, in order to enable the majority of the parishioners to attend; whether he was aware that the Chairman refused to put the motion, and insisted on the meeting adjourning forthwith to the schoolroom, and on the proceedings being continued there, with the result that the children had to be turned out of school, in spite of the fact that the room would have been available for a vestry meeting in the evening; whether the Chairman, in declining to put the motion, was exceeding his powers; and whether any steps would be taken by the Local Government Board in regard to the matter?
§ MR. H. GARDNER (Essex, Saffron Walden)Before the right hon. Gentleman replies to the question, may I ask whether the school in question is in the receipt of a Parliamentary Grant, and if so, by what authority the schoolhouse 1561 was used for a meeting and the discipline of the school interfered with?
§ *MR. RITCHIEI must ask the hon. Member for Saffron Walden to put the question upon the Paper. With regard to the question of the hon. Member for the Eye Division of Suffolk, I am informed by the Chairman of the Vestry meeting referred to that there were present at the meeting some 50 parishioners representing the farmers, trades people, and labourers of the parish, and the Vestry-room being too small to conveniently hold the meeting, he adjourned it to a room situate in the school-house close by, with the concurrence of one of the trustees of the school who was present, and arranged that the teaching should be carried on in a room in the same building. He informs me that he did not put the motion for adjournment to the meeting, as he considered that there was not a full representative meeting to conduct the business for which the Vestry was called. The matter is not one in which I have any power to interfere; but I am advised that any motion for adjournment until a later hour, which was duly proposed and seconded, should have been put to the meeting.
§ MR. F. S. STEVENSONI beg to ask the Vice President of the Committee of Council on Education whether he is aware that on Friday last the children had to be turned out of Haughley schoolroom in consequence of a vestry meeting having adjourned from the vestry to the schoolroom in the morning, although the room would have been at the disposal of the meeting in the evening; and, whether the attendances of the children on that day were cancelled owing to their being sent home?
§ THE VICE PRESIDENT OF THE COMMITTEE OF COUNCIL ON EDUCATION (Sir W. HART DYKE,) Kent, DartfordI must ask the hon. Gentleman to postpone the question until Monday. I have called for information but have not yet received it.