§ SIR J. LENGI beg to ask the Secretary for Scotland whether he can state to what extent the navigation schools in the seaports of Scotland share in the grants for technical education; whether he has any power to direct that such schools shall participate in the advantages of such grants; and whether, in view of the importance of the shipmasters, officers, and seamen in the Merchant Service being well instructed in navigation, he will call the attention of the Education Boards and Committees in Scottish seaports to the claims of properly-constituted navigation schools or classes?
§ THE SECRETARY FOR SCOTLAND (Sir G. TREVELYAN,) Glasgow, BridgetonI am not aware of any case in which aid has been given to navigation schools from the grants which Town or County Councils may give to technical education, except in Dundee, where a grant of £20 has been given to the Navigation School, and in Lewis, where the fees of certain teachers attending courses at these schools are to be paid. I understand also that it is proposed to make a grant of £100 to the Navigation School in Aberdeen. Grants have in other cases been made for navigation classes in ordinary schools. Two of these schools—those at Dundee and Leith—obtain grants from the Science and Art Department. It is difficult for the Department to bring specially before Local Authorities the claims of any particular subject; but Her Majesty's Inspectors have from time to time drawn attention to the expediency of teaching navigation in certain districts, and will continue to do so as occasion offers.