§ MR. STANLEY LEIGHTONI beg to ask the Vice President of the Council on Education whether he has received many complaints from agricultural districts as to the difficulty of finding bead teachers for small village schools, even though increased salaries have been offered; if he has any information to show whether the difficulty is largely owing to the fact that pupil teachers who have passed the Queen's Scholarship and have obtained a second class are no longer permitted to take charge of schools where the average attendance does not exceed 60; and whether he proposes to take any steps to meet the difficulty?
§ MR. ACLANDI am not aware that many complaints have been received in the Department of the kind stated. But I will make inquiries, and if I find that the difficulty is really serious I will endeavour to take steps to meet it.