§ MR. CROMBIE (Kincardineshire)I beg to ask the Secretary for Scotland whether it is the case in Scotland (as the Vice President of the Committee of Council on Education has explained to a correspondent it is in England) that School Boards are bound to provide a proper supply of books and other school apparatus, and cannot compel a parent to provide books, either by periodical payment or by purchase?
§ SIR GEORGE TREVELYANThe Education (Scotland) Act, 1872, which lays on School Boards the obligation to "maintain and keep efficient every school under their management," has not, so far as I am aware, been interpreted to mean that a School Board are bound to provide school books free of charge for the use of scholars. Neither does the Scotch Code make the provision of school books by the managers a condition for receiving the annual Parliamentary Grant. But many School Boards do provide books free of charge, and the Department recognise such expenditure as legitimate.