§ MR. H. S. FOSTERI beg to ask the Vice President of the Committee of Council on Education, will he explain how it was that whereas, in accordance with the Report of Her Majesty's Inspector upon St. Edmund's Voluntary School, Southwold, Suffolk, for the year 1893, which suggested that the school buildings were not worth repairing, the Department urged upon the Managers to provide new premises altogether, at a cost of at least £1,500, the Department subsequently approved of plans for the alteration of the present premises at a cost of only £450; and, if he can explain why this course was not recommended by the Department in the first instance?
§ MR. ACLANDI do not think that there has been any inconsistency in the action of the Department in this case. To make the school efficient large alterations were necessary, and the Department suggested to the Managers that they should consider whether it would not be better to build a new school, the existing building being old, cramped, and ill designed. The Managers, however, preferred to carry out the required alterations, and their plans for doing so were approved last September. As to the figures mentioned, the Department has no information, but I do not wish to throw any doubt upon them.