§ MR. JOHN WILSON (Durham, Mid)I beg to ask the Vice President of the Committee of Council on Education whether he is aware that the Government grant for St. Mark's Church of England Schools, South Shields, for the year 1890, is not paid yet, and, in consequence, the teachers have not received their stipends; whether he can give any information as to whom and when it will be paid, as there are no school managers; and whether he is aware that these schools are carried on with unqualified teachers, namely, that in the "infants' department," with over 150 children, the mistress is a pupil teacher in the "third year" of her apprenticeship; that in the "mixed department," with over 250 children, there is one certificated master and one ex-pupil teacher?
THE VICE PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL (Sir W. HART DIKE,) Kent, DartfordThe circumstances under which the grant has not yet been paid are well known to me, and have recently 147 been the subject of a local inquiry by two officers of the Department. In the result arrangements are now in progress which, it is believed, will shortly enable the grant to be paid to a responsible body of acting managers. The hon. Member appears to have been misinformed as to the constitution of the school staff, which, so far as I am aware, is not inadequate.