§ MR. VESEY KNOX (Londonderry)I beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury whether his attention has been called to the Returns showing that nearly 50,000 children were in the year 1896 in average attendance at Roman Catholic day schools in Scotland, as against 510,000 in the public schools; that nearly 10,000 scholars were in average attendance at Roman Catholic evening continuation schools as against less than 40,000 in the public schools; and that £21,543 was received by these schools from voluntary contributions, being more than double the total amount of the voluntary contributions of all other sections of the people of Scotland to educational purposes; whether he is aware that the parents of the children in the Roman Catholic schools have further to contribute as ratepayers to the support of the public schools in which Presbyterian catechetical teaching is given, but receive no aid from the rates; and whether the Government will, under the circumstances, give to the Scotch Voluntary Schools an equivalent measure of redress to that which has been given to the Voluntary Schools of England?
§ THE FIRST LORD OF THE TREASURY (Mr. A. J. BALFOUR, Manchester, E.)The condition of Voluntary Schools in Scotland is under the consideration of the Government, and will not be lost sight of in any proposal which the Government may bring forward on the subject.