§ MR. WEIRI beg to ask the Secretary for Scotland, having regard to the fact that on the mainland of Ross-shire there are sixteen, and in the Island of Lewis eighteen schools in which the water supply is reported to be defective, will he state in how many cases action is being taken with a view to secure a suitable water supply.
§ MR. SINCLAIRI may explain that in classing schools as defective as regards their water supply, it was not meant to be implied that no supply at all of drinking water was available for the school children. In all of the cases, as a matter of fact, good drinking water is available, but at too remote a distance in the opinion of the medical officer for the use of the school children. Of the sixteen schools on the mainland of Ross-shire, improvements on the water supplies are in hand with regard to five of them. There is no information available in the meantime with regard to the Lewis schools.