MR. ABRAHAM (Cork County, N. E.)I beg to ask the President of the Local Government Board, in view of the fact that a Departmental Committee appointed to inquire into the management of Metropolitan poor law schools reported that the average expense per head per annum of the cost of maintenance, clothing, and education of Protestant children averages £24 2s. 1d. per head, and that the sum allowed for Roman Catholic children under this head was £15 12s. per head, whether the Local Government Board will sanction I an increase being paid by the Metropolitan Board of Guardians for the support and education of Roman Catholic children.
§ MR. FLYNN (Cork County, N.)At the same time, may I ask the President of the Local Government Board, having regard to the fact that several applications have been made by Roman Catholic school authorities of London to allow the guardians to pay an increased sum, exceeding the present allowance of 6s. per week, for the maintenance, clothing, and education of Roman Catholic pauper children in Roman Catholic schools, and that nineteen Metropolitan boards of guardians have expressed themselves in favour of an increased payment, whether he will explain on what grounds the Local Government Board has refused to sanction an increase deemed necessary by the responsible local bodies.
§ THE PRESIDENT OF THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD (Mr. WALTER LONG,) Bristol, S.A Board of Guardians are only legally empowered to pay, in respect of a child sent by them to a certified school, the reasonable expenses incurred in the maintenance, clothing, and education of the child whilst in the 1358 school, to an amount not exceeding the rate of payment sanctioned by the Local Government Board for pauper children sent to the school. The Board received applications for an increase of the rate of payment in respect of certain Roman. Catholic certified schools, but as it appeared that the expenditure of the managers on the maintenance, clothing, and education of the children was less than 6s. a week, the guardians could not be authorised to pay more than that amount. Some cases have, however, since come before me in which it is represented that the average cost of the children under these heads exceeds 6s. a week, and these cases are receiving my consideration.