MR. HERBERT ROBERTS (Denbighshire, W.)I beg to ask the Vice President of the Committee of Council on Education (1) whether his attention has been drawn to the action of the Llangollen School Board in reference to the acquisition of land for a playground; (2) whether he is aware that in consequence of frequent complaints from Her Majesty's Inspector the school board in question presented a petition in 1895 to the Education Department praying for a provisional order to enable them to acquire certain land under the Land Clauses Consolidation Acts, and whether after a local inquiry the Education Department issued a Provisional Order and that it was confirmed by Parliament; (3) whether he is aware, that the school board delayed carrying out the Provisional Order, and that they received in July 1896 imperative instructions from the Educational Department to acquire the land in respect to which they had obtained the Provisional Order; and the school board then asked for the sanction of the Education Department to buy a smaller quantity of land than what was specifically mentioned in the schedule of the Provisional Order, and that the Department replied inSeptember 1890 that they must require the purchase of the whole of the land referred to; (4) will he explain why in March last the Education Department took another view of the situation and sanctioned the purchase of the lesser quantity of land; and (5) whether such an alteration in the terms of a Provisional Order, confirmed by Parliament, can be sanctioned without an amending Order?
§ SIR J. GORSTThe facts are as stated. The consent referred to in the fourth paragraph was subject to the Board's being able legally to effect the purchase of a portion only of the land scheduled in the Provisional Order. The last paragraph is a, question of law, which the Committee of Council have no authority to determine.