§ SIR JAMES RANKIN (Herefordshire, Leominster)I beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury whether, in view of the fact that under the Education Bill, if passed into law, the term "school district" will mean the whole area under the local education authority, that is, in the case of County Councils, the whole county, any provision will be made in the Bill or in the Code to give some equivalent grant to the local authorities of those districts where there are at present many schools receiving the small population grant (Article 104, Code) so that the new. local education authority shall not lose the sum which is now distributed throughout these districts, as now existing, under the head of small population grants, and which sum is often in rural counties a considerable figure.
§ THE FIRST LORD OF THE TREASURY (Mr. A. J. BALFOUR,) Manchester, E.If my hon. friend will look at the first paragraph of the third schedule of the Bill he will find the point he refers to already provided for, and that the areas referred to will still be eligible for the grant.
§ MR. LAMBERT (Devonshire, South Molton)I beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury if, in interpreting his Amendment that the total Parliamentary grants to any local education authority shall not exceed three-fourths of the total expenses, the grants under the Agricultural Rates Act will be reckoned as contributions from Imperial or local sources.
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURThe answer to the hon. Gentleman is in the negative.
§ MR. LAMBERTI asked Question No. 27, Sir.
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURThat is the Question I answered, and I say the answer is in the negative.
§ MR. LAMBERTMy Question is whether these grants will be reckoned as contributions from Imperial or local sources. Which is it?
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURMy answer is that they will not be reckoned.
§ MR. LAMBERTBut are they to be reckoned as Imperial or local?
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURThey will not be reckoned in calculating the amount of the Imperial contribution.
§ SIR HENRY FOWLER (Wolverhampton, E.)I wish to put a Question with reference to the printing of the Education Bill. This morning we have, following a good precedent set in connection with other long-contested Bills, a reprint of the clause as amended in Committee. But we have no reprint of Clause 1, which, after all, is about the most important clause of the Bill. I would ask that all the clauses be reprinted, whether amended or not, so that we may know exactly where we are. The second point I 1205 wish to raise is whether it is necessary—and it was not considered so in the case of the Home Rule and Local Government Bills—to reprint and circulate every morning some fifty pages of Amendments which can by no possibility be reached the same day. Why not confine the reprinting to those which may be reasonably expected to come on?
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURThe suggestion of the right hon. Gentleman is, I think, a good one. I will consult the authorities of the House to see how far it can be met. I have no doubt it can.