MR. LAWSONI beg to ask the hon. Member for Penrith (Mr. J. W. Lowther) whether the Charity Commissioners are aware that the governing body of St. Paul's Schools have not yet carried out Clause 35 (1) of the Scheme under which they are appointed, by having a modern department for about 500 boys; and whether they are aware that the present building and grounds cost nearly £150,000 for 1,000 boys, and were provided to give effect to the provisions of the scheme of this trust and charity—a classical department for about 500 boys, and a modern department for about 500 boys; whether the Charity Commissioners have sanctioned the action of the governing body in acquiring a site of about 4a. 2r. 20p. in West Kensington, Fulham, for erecting a school for 400 girls under the said scheme, before they have provided a modern department, for which the present expensive building was erected; and whether the cost of such site, having no frontage, is £15,250, or nearly £3,300 an acre, whereas building land in Fulham, with frontages, and ripe for building purposes, can be easily obtained for about £1,500 an acre; and whether the Charity Commissioners will intervene to prevent this expenditure of charity money?
MR. J. W. LOWTHER (Cumberland, Penrith)The Charity Commissioners have received complaints that Clause 35 (1) of the Scheme for St. Paul's Schools has not been carried out, and are in communication with the governors on the subject, whose final explanation they have not yet received. The order of priority in which the various schools and departments to be maintained under the scheme are to be established is, by the scheme itself, directed to be such as the governors may deem most expedient. The Commissioners have before them an application from the governors to purchase the site in question, but before sanctioning the purchase they have required to be furnished with satisfactory evidence of the value of the site.