§ MR. PARKER SMITH (Lanark, Partick)I beg to ask the Secretary for Scotland whether he is aware that the hall at Bowling, built as a school and hall in 1860 by private subscribers, held by trustees for the subscribers till 1874, and then handed over by them to the School Board of the parish for educational purposes, subject to the condition that it should be available on week-day evenings for public meetings and other suitable purposes, has been for some years disused as a school and is no longer required for that purpose; whether he is aware that in 1891 a meeting of the subscribers asked the School Board to re-convey the hall to the original trustees for purposes of public meetings, and that shortly afterwards a self-convened meeting, professing to be a meeting of the inhabitants, asked the Board to convey the hall to certain other persons nominated by the meeting; will he explain why, after it had been ordered by the Education Department, as the result of an inquiry held on the spot and at which all parties were heard, that the School Board should put up the school for sale, subject to covenants to preserve its use for public meetings, within two or three days of the date fixed for the sale that order was countermanded, with the intention that the hall should be handed over to persons representing the meeting of inhabitants; and on what grounds it is proposed to pass over the trustees of the original subscribers in favour of the nominees of an irresponsible meeting?
§ *SIR G. TREVELYANI am aware of the fact stated in the first paragraph of the hon. Member's question. I am also aware of the different claims put forward with reference to the re-conveyance of the hall. The Department endeavoured to bring about a compromise between the different bodies who claimed that the hall should be re-conveyed to them, but without success. As it appeared that a small sum might be realised by the sale of the school, the Department at first sanctioned the sale of the school according to the ordinary course. But it was represented to me that the circum- 778 stances of the case were special; that the hall might be more effectively secured for public uses by being conveyed to a public body specially elected by the community for the purpose; and, further, that this was the view adopted by the School Board. I have, therefore, thought it right to withdraw the sanction to the sale, and, in view of the special trusts attaching to these premises, to sanction their re-conveyance to representatives whom the Board may hold to be duly elected by a public meeting, adequate security being taken for the maintenance of the public rights. I cannot admit that the original trustees (who, 20 years ago, divested themselves entirely of the trust), or a certain number of them, have any claim now to be considered the representatives of the community.