§ MR. E. F. V. KNOX (Cavan, W.)I beg to ask the Vice President of the Committee of Council on Education in how many cases during the last two years School Boards have objected to the opening of new Catholic Schools within their areas; and in how many cases he had been able to overcome their opposition?
§ THE VICE PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL (Mr. ACLAND, York, W.R., Rotherham)There have been three cases in which a School Board has objected to a Catholic School within their district being placed in receipt of Government grant. In two of the three cases the School was already opened, and one of the two was not a new School; in the other plans had been submitted for a School not yet built. In two other cases the Board, while pronouncing the Catholic School to be, in their opinion, unnecessary, declined to make any formal objection to its receiving a grant, and, on a review of the circumstances, the School was placed on the Annual Grant List in both cases. It is not the duty of the Department to overcome opposition in such cases, though letters from the promoters of the new Schools in relation to this matter are always forwarded to the Board for their consideration and remarks.