§ MR. LLOYD WHARTON (Yorkshire, W.R., Ripon)I beg to ask the Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Education whether it is a fact that town and county councils, by postponing the taking up of their duties under the Education Act, 1902, are forfeiting considerable sums of money which are now lying at their disposal in the Exchequer; and, if so, whether he will state the amount thus lost to the County of Durham by the proposal of the County Council to defer the operation of the Act until April, 1904.
THE PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY TO THE BOARD OF EDUCATION SIR WILLIAM ANSON, (Oxford University)In reply to my right hon. friend I have to say that the matter stands as he has stated; and that in the case of the County of Durham, the County Council, had they adopted the Act on the day named therein, would have been entitled to draw the sum of some £3,800 a month. Of this sum, some £1,500 per month is now going to the voluntary schools in the County and to a few of the School Boards under the Acts of 1897. Consequently the county ratepayers are suffering a nett loss of nearly £2,300 a month from the Exchequer for every month that the operation of Part III. of the Act is delayed.