HC Deb 21 March 1901 vol 91 c714
LORD EDMUND TALBOT (Sussex, Chichester)

I beg to ask the Vice-President of the Committee of Council on Education if the school authority of any district supplies a public elementary school suitable for the elementary education of blind or deaf children for such district under Section 2 of the Elementary Education (Blind and Deaf Children) 'Act, 1893; has the Roman Catholic parent of such a child the right under that Act to refuse to have his child educated at such a school, and to require the school authority to send it to a certified Roman Catholic institution, and contribute to its maintenance while there.

*SIR J. GORST

I am reluctant to express any opinion on a general question; but I have been advised that the fact that a school authority has itself snpplied a school for the education of deaf and blind children does not of itself entitle the school authority to insist on the child being sent to that school if the parent of the child selects some other place of instruction. But the selection must be a reasonable one (see Section 10 (2) of the Act); and the question whether the selection was or was not reasonable would have to be decided on the merits of each particular case.