§ SIR EDWARD STRACHEY (Somersetshire, S.)To ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer what proportion of the total cost of public elementary education in Ireland is borne by the Imperial Exchequer; whether this proportion is greater than in the case of England and Wales; and, if so, whether he proposes to make any equivalent grant to England and Wales.
(Answered by Mr. Ritchie.) There is no education rate in Ireland, and nearly the whole cost of public elementary education is borne on the Votes. It must not, however, be assumed that the grants for elementary education in Ireland, as compared with population, are appreciably (if at all) higher than in England, though the systems are so different that comparison is not easy. The answer to the last clause of the Question is in the negative.