§ SIR J. WHITEHEADOn behalf of my hon. Colleague, I beg to ask the Vice President of the Committee of Council on Education whether his attention has been 310 called to the report in The. Birkenhead News of 3rd March of a statement made by the Rev. 0. T. L. Crossley at a public meeting held as Liscard, Cheshire, on the 2nd March, from which it appears that Mr. Crossley offered a site for a school in the churchyard at Liscard, which site was approved by the Department; whether Mr. Crossley's statement as to the approval of the site is correct; and, if so, whether the site in question satisfied the Rules of the Department as to playground, &c.; and whether the Department have power to sanction the alienation of land dedicated to another public purpose?
§ MR. ACLANDI have not seen the report to which the hon. Member refers. Mr. Crossley, last year, submitted a site for a new school at Liscard behind his church. His proposal was sanctioned by the Chancellor of the Diocese. No interments had ever taken place in the portion of the site proposed for the school, and none in any part of the churchyard for several years. The architect of the Department reported that the site was sufficient for a school of about 400 children, and Her Majesty's Inspector did not see any objection to it. Mr. Crossley was therefore informed that the site could be accepted. The question as to alienation does not concern the Department.