§ MR. MACDONALD (Tower Hamlets, Bow)I beg to ask the Vice President of the Committee of Council on Education if he is aware that 1150 the statement, apparently on authority, that "habitual attendance" meant average attendance, is being interpreted to mean that in the Minute of the Committee of Council, dated 17th April, 1894, the words "habitually present at any one time" stand for average attendance; is he aware that most of the instances of overcrowding class rooms and congested classes in London Board schools, which have of late been made known, would be legalised, and to that extent justified, by the operation of Article 73, in its modified form, if the words "habitually present at any one time" may be taken to mean average attendance; and if he will state the exact meaning which the Department attach to the words in question, and will define what is to be the practice of the Education Department in deciding whether due effect is given by school managers to this portion of Article 73 of the Day School Code, 1894?
§ THE VICE PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL (Mr. ACLAND,) York, W.R., RotherhamI presume the hon. Member has in his mind words incidentally used by Lord Playfair, in another place, on the 19th of April last, that "the expression 'habitual' probably meant average attendance." These words were not meant as giving any exact definition of the words "habitually present," and I am not aware that the phrase is being interpreted as equivalent to "in average attendance." The intention of the words is to enable Her Majesty's Inspectors to take cognisance of periods of congested attendance, though the average attendance for the year may be within the limit allowed. The expression is, therefore, stronger than that of average attendance. The general object of the Article is to discourage the continuance of overcrowded rooms and congested classes, which have been reported to the Department as existing in various localities.