§ MR. HALLEY STEWARTI beg to ask the Vice President of the Committee of Council on Education whether the fees have been raised from 2d. to 4d. per week to scholars attending the St. Matthew's Denominational School, Pode Hole, Pinchbeck West, near Spalding, a school in receipt of a Government Grant, and that, in consequence, several of the children have ceased to attend school, some not having attended for a period of 12 months, owing to the 1744 inability of the parents to pay the increased fee, the next nearest school being fully three miles distant; and whether he will endeavour so to arrange matters that the children shall not be deprived of the advantages of elementary education?
§ * SIR W. HART DYKEThe attendance at the school in question is in excess of the accommodation, and as the school was said to be sufficient for its own district, the fees were, I believe, raised in respect of children living outside the district in order to reduce the numbers. There is nothing in this action of the managers to call for adverse comment; but the Department is in correspondence with them on the subject with a view to arranging the difficulty that has arisen in the most satisfactory way possible.