§ MR. H. HOBHOUSEI beg to ask the Vice President of the Committee of Council on Education if he can give the House any information as to the average cost of a School Board election in a rural parish, distinguishing the remuneration of the returning and presiding officers and other expenditure?
§ MR. ACLANDThe Annual Report of the Committee of Council gives an abstract of School Board expenditure, in which the election expenses of each Board will be found set forth separately. The figures of this Return for the last three years show that the election expenses of School Boards are slightly over ¼ per cent.—[the exact figures are between 5s. 8½d. and 5s. 8¾d. per £100]—of their total expenditure. I cannot, however, give exact figures for rural as distinct from urban districts. As regards the remuneration of Returning Officers and other special items of expense, a scale of charges was drawn up by the Department in 1886, of which I can give the hon. Member a copy. I am considering whether, in some of the particulars, this scale may not need some revision.