§ MR. SIDEBOTHAM (Cheshire, Hyde)I beg to ask the Vice President of the Committee of Council on Education whether any inquiry is made by the Education Department into the origin of and method of obtaining signatures to the Petitions for free education sent to the Department under the provisions of Clause 5 of "The Elementary Education, Act, 1891"; whether the Department would recognise any distinction between a Petition voluntarily signed by the inhabitants of a district and a Petition obtained by means of a house-to-house canvas, which could be shown to include the names of persons who were unaware of the real object and ultimate result, of the Petition, and who on becoming aware withdrew their names; and whether, after the Department has demanded that the number of free places specified in the Petition shall be provided in the district, there is any fixed period during which a further demand upon that district will not be made?
§ MR. ACLANDWhatever may be the manner in which the signatures to a Petition for free education are obtained, it is the duty of the Department to take action upon it under Section 5 of the Act of 1891; and consequently it is not the practice of the Department to make an inquiry into the origin of, and method of obtaining signatures to, a representation under that section. The Department, however, inquire whether the signatures are genuine; and if any parents subsequently withdraw their signatures the Department do not, of course, require free places to be provided for the children of such parents. The Department have no power under the Act to say that further claims will not be met for some fixed time after a specified number of free places have been required to be provided.