§ CAPTAIN BAGOTI beg to ask the Vice President of the Committee of Council on Education whether he can state on what grounds a notice was sent on the 25th of July, 1893, by the Education Department to the managers of Sedgwick Elementary School, Westmoreland, which was passed in 1883 as sufficient to accommodate 63 pupils, and which had an average school attendance last school year of 463, stating that the class-room could not be recognised beyond the current year owing to its being below the minimum size, and desiring the managers to consider at once the practicability of enlargement: whether he is aware that the class-room in question exceeds the requirements of the Code of Regulations of the Education Department (1893) as regards both internal space and internal area for each unit of average attendance; that the school in question is situated in an agricultural district, and that any enlargement would cost at least £50; and whether, under the circumstances, the Department will insist on the enlargement?
§ THE VICE PEESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL (Mr. ACLAND,) York, W.R., RotherbamNotice was given to this school in July, 1893, as stated in the first paragraph of the hon. Member's question. The class-room, while it provides sufficient space for each unit of the infants in attendance, is much below the size which would be considered indispensable in a new class-room. It is difficult in a room of this size to secure proper ventilation and freedom from draughts, and infants also require a reasonable space for drill and marching. I do not, of course, know what the cost of an enlargement would be; but I will communicate with Her Majesty's Inspector, and ascertain how far the arrangement of the room and the provision for the instruction of the infants will enable me to meet the views of the hon. Member. In any case, the grant shall not be withdrawn for the year now current.