§ MR. BOLAND (Kerry, S.)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Board of Education whether he is aware that, in the months of May and June, 1904, notices were given for the provision of two new public elementary schools in the village of Nymphsfield, under Section 8 of the Act of 1902; that the county education authority issued the notice in May to take a transfer of an existing Church of England school with twenty-two scholars, and that the managers of St. Joseph's Catholic School, with fifty scholars, issued the notice in June; that St. Joseph's School had been certified efficient for more than three years, and had been conducted in accordance with the provisions of Section 7 of the Elementary Education Act of 1870; that appeals, were lodged against both proposals; and can he state why the Board of Education decided that the school with twenty-two children was necessary, and that the school with fifty children was not necessary.
§ SIR WILLIAM ANSONI may point out to the hon. Member that of the fifty children attending the St. Joseph's School, twenty are Roman Catholic children from other parts of England who are temporarily boarded out in Nymphsfield, seventeen are Protestants, while only thirteen are indigenous Roman Catholics. The Board considered that, in view of the fact that the large majority of the children living in Nymphsfield are Protestants, a Catholic school would not best meet the requirements of the place. It is clear that only one school is required.