§ MR. LAMBERT (Devonshire, S. Molton)I beg to ask the Vice President of the Committee of Council on Education whether he can state what is the approximate annual expenditure for elementary education which the local authorities will require to incur, in addition to the present expenditure, for efficiently working the new Education Bill.
§ SIR J. GORSTNo, I am afraid it is impossible at present to make any estimate that could be relied on.
§ MR. HUMPHREYS-OWEN (Montgomeryshire)I beg to ask Mr. Attorney-General whether he will lay upon the Table lists of the non-county municipal boroughs in England and Wales having a population of over 10,000, and of urban districts having a population of over 20,000; and whether he will also lay upon the Table copies of the Acts set forth in the Fourth Schedule to the Education Bill (except those proposed to be wholly repealed) showing the 154 effect of the proposed legislation: and whether section 13 (1) (d) of the Education Bill will compel the local authority to charge on the area which formed the school district any liabilities by them in respect of that area after the transfer.
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURAs regards the first part of the Question, I shall be able to lay the statistics referred to on the Table of the House, though they may be easily extracted from the preliminary Report of the census of 1901. I do not think we can carry out the request of the hon. Gentleman with regard to the schedule of the Bill in the form in which he makes it, but I will consider how far it is possible to furnish a memorandum explanatory of the repeals effected by the schedule. With regard to the last paragraph of the Question, the effect of the Bill as presented is to leave existing liabilaties upon the areas which are at the present moment bearing the charge, and to charge any future liability of the kind in the counties upon the parish or parishes served by the schools.