§ DR. CLARK (Caithness)I beg to ask the Secretary for Scotland whether he is aware that the School Board of Dunnet, Caithness-shire, has been paying a feu duty of £5 annually for the site of the school buildings and schoolmaster's garden of the old parochial school handed over to them by the heritors; that this feu duty was imposed by the heritors on themselves some time before the passing of the Education (Scotland) Act, 1872, and is greatly in excess of the value of the land; whether he is aware that the heritors, three in number at the time, sold to one of themselves the former site of the parochial school building, and, after parting the proceeds of the sale amongst themselves, entered into the above arrangement, whereby they have obtained relief from a burden which they are legally entitled to bear, and have thrown 1559 that burden on the general ratepayers; whether he is further aware that the factor for the largest heritor of the parish was chiefly instrumental in carrying out this transaction, and has been Chairman of the School Board for many years, and has resisted all inquiries in regard to the transaction complained of; whether he will cause full inquiry to be made into this matter; and whether there are any other parishes in Scotland that have had a similar burden cast on them?
§ THE SECRETARY FOR SCOTLAND (Sir G. TREVELYAN,) Glasgow, BridgetonThe Department has no knowledge of the facts alleged, and has no means of inquiring into questions of a legal character, nor into the transactions of the heritors in the past. It is the duty of the School Board—the chairman of which is the Free Church minister—to maintain the interests of the ratepayers, and to inform the Department if those interests have in any way been set aside or disregarded. But if any complaint, accompanied by specific details, is sent to the Department I shall ask the School Board for an explanation.