§ MR. TALBOT (Oxford University)I beg to ask the Vice President of the Committee of Council on Education whether, under Article 85 of the Code, the Department have the right to call upon Managers of schools to furnish a census at their own cost; and, if so, what powers the Managers have of obtaining such census?
§ THE VICE PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL (Mr. ACLAND,) York, W.R., RotherhamUnder Article 87 of the Code Managers are bound to supply all Returns called for by the Department. Grants under Articles 104 and 105 can only be made where the population is below a certain number; it is, therefore, the duty of the Department not to pay these grants without sufficient evidence that this is the case, especially since the Public Accounts Committee has called their attention to cases whore grants had been paid on figures which had been incorrectly given, and had not been sufficiently verified. Managers have no statutory powers in this matter. But the word "census" only means an enumeration of the people living within a certain very thinly-populated area; no difficulty has, so far as I am aware, ever been found by Managers in complying with the demand for a census of this kind; and if they know their district well, there cannot be any expenses involved.