§ MR. TALBOT (Oxford University)I beg to ask the Vice President of the Committee of Council on Education whether he is aware that in the Blue Coat School of Walsall the fees charged are 3d., 4d., and 6d., and the subjects taught of an advanced character, and that a large proportion of the scholarships at Queen Mary's Grammar School in Walsall are gained by boys educated at the Blue Coat School, so that the school may be fitly described as a higher grade school; whether the schools have invariably earned a very high grant, of part of which they have been deprived under the 17s. 6d. limit; and whether, if this be so, he still adheres to his determination to prevent the school managers from charging the fees authorised by Section 4 (1) of "The Elementary Education Act, 1891"?
§ THE VICE PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL (Mr. ACLAND,) York, W.R., RotherhamThe facts mentioned by the hon. Member are substantially correct. What the managers of the school now claim is that they shall be allowed to retain the high fees which they have hitherto charged, and at the same time receive some £300 a year in addition from Imperial sources. In view of the fact that the school has hitherto found no financial difficulty in giving this high class education, I do not consider that it would be for the educational benefit of the district that fees should be exceptionally sanctioned. It would be better if the school were free. I may add that the voluntary contributions to the school have been steadily diminishing for the last four years; were they kept up to a higher level the school would not suffer from the 17s. 6d. limit.