§ MR. MCLAREN (Leicester, Bosworth)I beg to ask the Vice-President of the Committee of Council on Education whether his attention has been called to the recent applications by county councils to become local authorities for Secondary Education; whether these applications are looked upon with favour by the Education Department, having regard to the opposition of existing education authorities, and to the fact that the country has not yet had an opportunity of making itself acquainted with the Government proposals as to Secondary Education; and under what statutory powers does the Science and Art Department appoint local authorities?
§ THE VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE COMMITTEE OF COUNCIL ON EDUCATION (SIR JOHN GORST,) Oxford UniversityNo, my attention has not been called to any application of the kind; but several county councils have, under Clause VII. of the Directory, notified their willingness to be responsible to the Department for the Science and Art Instruction within their area, and such notifications are looked upon with favour by the Committee of Council. The Science and Art Department has no statutory power, and has never attempted, to appoint local authorities. The County Council is, by the Fourth Section of the Technical Instruction Act, 1889, constituted a local authority for technical instruction, which, by Section 8 of the same Act, includes Science and Art instruction.