§ CAPTAIN SINCLAIR (Forfar)said he wished to press for a little more information on the question of Scotch Education. The right honourable Gentleman in charge of Scotch business in the House was well 1041 aware that there was a considerable interest taken in the question, and they had endeavoured from time to time to elicit from him some information on the point brought forward by the honourable Member for Caithness, and they had not been able to get that information. It had already been brought to the attention of the House what occurred in June 1897, as to the money which was allotted to Scotland, and the complaint was that there had been a departure from the system of equivalent grants for Scotland. In June 1897, the Lord Advocate, in a series of calculations, said that the money which Scotland would receive under the grant which was then arranged between the Treasury and the Scottish Education Department would be £66,000, made up in different ways, but in the last resort by a special grant of 12s. per head which he estimated would come to £26,000. The complaint he made now was that, having accepted that estimate of £26,000 as due to Scotland for this purpose, they had not got that money.
§ * MR. SPEAKERI think the honourable Member will be out of order in pursuing that line of argument. I understand his argument to be that in 1897 statements were made which induced the House to pass certain measures, and he is now complaining that those statements turned out to be incorrect. That is a point which cannot now be discussed. Rightly or wrongly, the House acted upon those statements and the Bill became law, and the honourable Gentleman cannot discuss on a motion for adjournment whether those statements were correct or not, though it is open to him to contend that the Government have acted improperly or illegally.
§ CAPTAIN SINCLAIRsaid the exact complaint of the Scotch Members was that whereas the estimate which the Government made was set down at £26,000, that estimate had not been fulfilled, and they had received in Scotland both this year and last year a sum which was very largely short of what was promised.
§ * MR. SPEAKERThe honourable Member hardly follows what I said. I repeat that it is out of order to go back on the arguments which induced the House to pass certain measures.
§ CAPTAIN SINCLAIRpointed out that what he wished to put before the House was the fact that a particular bargain had not been fulfilled, and he contested the conduct of the Government in dealing with Scotch education in this particular respect. They had given no explanation, and he again asked the Lord Advocate if he could tell the House how it was that Scotland had not received the amount of the estimate which had been accepted.