§ SIR CHARLES DILKETo ask the Vice-President of the Committee of Council on Education whether he will state what steps have been taken by the Education Department, under the discretion claimed for it on the 17th March, 1897, with a view to make the audit of the accounts of voluntary schools effective; and whether the Department would be prepared to consider an Amendment to the Education Bill to introduce public audit by the district auditors.
(Answer.) On 15th June, 1897, the Education Department issued a Minute requiring an audit of the accounts of every school receiving a share of the Aid Grant. This was superseded by a Minute, applicable to all voluntary schools, issued on 6th June, 1898; and now by an Article of the Code, which is as follows:—
85 (d) The accounts of the receipts and expenditure of every school not provided by a School Board must be annually audited by a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, or of the Society of Accountants and Auditors, or by a banker or bank manager, or, on special application to the Board, by some other person, not being a manager or treasurer of the school, whose competency is proved to the satisfaction of the Board."—(Board of Education.)