§ MR. SAMUEL SMITH (Flintshire)I beg to ask the Vice-President of the Committee of Council on Education whether his attention has been drawn to the inadequacy of the elementary school accommodation in the districts of Liscard, Wallasey, and Poulton-cum-Seacombe, Cheshire, and particularly in the Liscard district, in which, with a present population reported as over 28,000, there were at the last report of the Birkenhead Union officer only 3,020 public elementary school places; whether he is aware that, as a result of this inadequacy, the School Board for Poulton-cum-Seacombe are continually receiving applications for admission to their schools of children not resident within the area controlled by the board; whether, in any inquiry on the subject ordered by the Board of Education, the existence of a large number of objectionable private dwelling-house schools in the Liscard district would come within the scope of the inquiry; and whether, seeing that the small cottage-dwelling population of Wallasey and Liscard has increased enormously in recent years, and is likely to increase still further in future, the Board of Education will consider the advisability of ordering a united school board for the Urban District of Wallasey, which would include the districts of Liscard, Wallasey, and Poulton-cum-Seacombe, in time for the school board election in September next.
§ THE SECRETARY TO THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD (Mr. GRANT LAWSON, Yorkshire, N.R., Thirsk)My right hon. friend wishes me to say that communications have been received alleging a deficiency, but according to the information possessed by the Board of Education there is none. The answer to the second paragraph is in the negative. The Board of Education would inquire into the existence of private schools. The suggestion in the fourth paragraph shall be considered.