§ MR. DODD (Essex, Maldon)I beg to ask the Vice President of the Committee of Council on Education whether he has had his attention called to a new scheme for Jarvis's Charity, in the parishes of Stanton-upon-Wye, Letton, and Bredwardine, in Herefordshire, which proposes to divide that Charity, and to assign £49,000, or thereabouts, to a new foundation, to be called "The Herefordshire Endowment," for a county or middle-class school, leaving about £31,000 to be administered as a parochial charity in the places named; if so, whether this plan will oust the Parish Councils or meetings of those parishes from getting any, or the same, right of management under the new Local Government Act which they would have had of the £49,000 if there had been no new scheme; and if he is aware that the original Charity was, by the will of he founder Jarvis, who died in 1793, to be administered for the benefit of the 11 poor of the above parishes; and, if so, whether he will lay the Scheme on the Table of this House to enable its opinion to be expressed on the proposed application of the funds, and delay the operation of the Scheme until after the coming into operation of the new Local Government Act, so that the new Local Bodies may, at any rate, express their views on the new Scheme, dealing with the Charity in a way at variance with the founder's will?
§ THE VICE PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL (Mr. ACLAND, York, W.R., Rotherham)I have recently approved a Scheme for the above Charity, under the Endowed Schools Acts, by which, after making due provision for all the charitable and educational objects to which the income of the endowment has been hitherto applied, a sum of £14,000 (not £49,000) is formed into a separate foundation, under the name of "The Herefordshire Educational Endowment," to be dealt with by a future Scheme for higher education in Herefordshire, and in the meantime to be administered by a Joint Committee on the lines of the Joint Committees appointed under the Welsh Intermediate Education Act, which will prepare and submit the proposed Scheme for the consideration of the Charity Commissioners. With regard to the residue, Schemes framed under the Endowed Schools Acts are not affected by the Local Government Act of 1894, but the Scheme makes due provision for the election of representative Governors by the Parish Councils of the three parishes affected. I am aware that George Jarvis left the property to trustees, for certain charitable objects in connection with the poor of the three parishes. The Scheme can only be laid before Parliament in the manner provided by Section 13 of the Endowed Schools Act of 1873.