§ MR. BARROW (Southwark, Bermoudsey)I beg to ask the Vice President of the Committee of Council on 469 Education whether he is aware that Herold's School, Drummond Road, Ber-mondsey, with a capacity for 420 children, has been closed since 1st May in consequence of its insanitary condition, and the children deprived of all means of a free education; whether he is aware that all the other Board schools in the neighbourhood are more than full, and yet the School Board refuses to open temporary premises, although good accommodation can be had in Crispin's Hall and Jamaica Road Hall, each in the immediate vicinity of Herold's School; also that all the teachers have been granted a prolonged holiday and their full pay; and whether, as it is in dispute between the School Board and Herold's Trustees as to which authority is liable for the cost of complying with the sanitary improvements demanded by the local Vestry, he will state how it is proposed to settle such dispute, and how soon the school may be expected to be reopened?
§ THE VICE PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL (Mr. ACLAND, York, W.R., Rotherham)The boys' and girls' departments of this school were closed on the 5th May for repairs, in consequence of a sanitary notice served by the Vrestry of Bermoudsey. Some delay occurred owing to a question arising as to who were legally responsible for carrying out the requirements of the Vestry; and the School Board for London inform me that their Works Committee had under consideration the question of hiring temporary premises either in one of the two buildings named, or in Banyard Road. But as an agreement has now been come to between the Board and the Trustees of the School as to how the cost of the improvements shall be defrayed, and as the school holidays are now beginning, they have decided not to proceed any further in the matter. As the works are being carried out by the Trustees, the School Board cannot inform me without further inquiry as to the precise date when the school will be reopened. In the meantime, it appears from the figures supplied to me that there is, as was to be expected, a considerable excess of children in most of the neighbouring Board schools. If any parents in the district are unable to obtain free school places for their children after the Herold's School has been reopened, they 470 ought to make a representation to the Department accordingly, in order that the free places may be provided.