§ MR. MUNRO FERGUSON (Leith)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he is aware that, owing to the Leith Industrial School having become too small, a new school was erected for 60 girls at a cost of £5,000, the plans being approved by 994 the Government; whether there has been a recommendation to reduce the certificate of the old school from 150 to 120, thus rendering nugatory the expenditure of £5,000, and impeding the magistrates in the administration of the Industrial Schools Act, 1866; and whether the certificate of the old school for 150 will be renewed?
§ MR. MATTHEWSIt is not correct to say that the school was ever certificated for 150 inmates, for which number there is no accommodation. The certificate was for 80 boys and 40 girls, though of late years this limit has not always been strictly observed. The new girls' school was built mainly to put an end to the system of having boys and girls in the same building, and partly to increase the total accommodation. The certificate for this new school is for 60 girls, and that for the old school, henceforth to be exclusively used for boys, authorises the reception of 120 boys. The existing accommodation is not sufficient to admit of a larger number with due regard to the health of the inmates.