§ COLONEL HOWARD VINCENT (Sheffield, Central)I beg to ask the Vice President of the Committee of Council on Education whether, having regard to the fact that the maximum grant awarded by the Education Department to evening schools for successful students in French or German is 3s. per head, while the subsidy paid through the Science and Art Department to evening classes for successful students in science, such as geology or biology, is at the rate of £2 for a pass in the elementary stage, he is prepared to recom- 484 mend such grants from Imperial sources as will encourage teachers and students to give equal prominence to the study of foreign languages as to the various subjects of the science and art syllabus, and thus, at the same time, afford an example to the organisers of classes under the Technical Instruction and Local Taxation Act?
§ THE VICE PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL (Mr. ACLAND,) York, W.R., RotherhamThe grants paid from Imperial sources to evening schools under the Education Department are on a quite different scale and footing from those paid to science schools under the Science and Art Department. I am not prepared to recommend an addition to Imperial taxation by an increase in the scale of grants from the Education Department. The Vote for the Science and Art Department is restricted to certain definite purposes, among which instruction in modern languages is not included. The hon. Member is, of course, aware that the funds under control of Local Authorities under the Local Taxation (Customs and Excise) Act may be applied to such instruction, and I am glad to say that many Local Authorities are applying them. It may be hoped that where there are considerable grants for science from the Central Authority the Local Authority will specially consider the case of modern languages.