§ MR. WINGFIELD-DIGBY (Dorset, N.)I beg to ask the Vice President of the Committee of Council on Education whether the Education Department have ever refused to recognise any association of Voluntary Schools which comprises less than 200 different schools; and, whether the Education Department have any intention of refusing to recognise associations of schools comprised in a civil area, so as to force them into an ecclesiastical area against the wishes of the managers and supporters of those schools?
§ THE VICE PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL (Sir JOHN GORST,) Cambridge UniversityThe Department has laid down no hard-and-fast rule as to the number of schools which should comprise an association. The Department have in no case refused to recognise a civil area, if sufficiently large and generally desired by the managers of schools within such area.