§ MR. JAMES O'CONNOR (Wicklow, W.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether he has received from the School Attendance Committee of Wicklow a resolution, in which it is stated that the present method of fining the parents or guardians is ineffective, and in many cases unjust; and whether he is aware that some dispensary medical officers refuse to give certificates without fee of a child's inability to attend school on account of illness, and whether such demand for fees is legal; and, if so, whether he would propose sonic measure whereby the attendance of children at school would be secured without expense to the parents.
§ MR. G. W. BALFOURThe reply to the first paragraph of the question is in the affirmative. I understand certain dispensary doctors have, in some instances, refused to give certificates without 483 receiving fees. I am advised that their action in this respect is not illegal, but the parents are entitled to prove the fact of the illness of the child by any other evidence they can produce. I am not prepared to give an answer to the concluding portion of the second paragraph without further consideration.