§ SIR HENRY CRAIK (Glasgow and Aberdeen Universities)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Education 491 whether he is prepared, in respect to the special grant of £100,000 for building elementary schools, which was expressly forbidden by the Education Act of 1870, to apply the rule imposed by Parliament upon the only grant possible under that Act, and embody the conditions under which the special grant may be earned in a Minute which shall not have force until it has lain for not less than one month upon the Table of both Houses of Parliament.
§ MR. McKENNANo, Sir.
§ MR. A. J. BALFOUR (City of London)So far as I understand the Answer, perhaps the right hon. Gentleman would allow me to ask a supplementary Question, as the matter is important. He proposes to give a grant contrary to the Act of 1870. He proposes, in giving that grant, which even if it was legal would have to be granted under conditions laid down in the Minute, to absolve himself both from the general provisions of the Act and from the provisions requiring a Minute. Is that not so?
§ MR. McKENNANo, Sir; the right hon. Gentleman is mistaken on every point.
§ SIR HENRY CRAIKMight I ask if it is not the case that such limited building grants as are permitted under the Act of 1870 were not to be embodied in Code or Minute, solely for the reasons that the Act itself laid down precisely the conditions under which these grants were to be paid, and that where the Act did not lay down such conditions they were, as in the case of annual Parliamentary grants, imposed by the Code? Having now—
§ MR. SPEAKERThe hon. Member is exceeding the limits of a Question.
§ SIR HENRY CRAIKI ask whether it is not the case that the conditions of a building grant were not to be laid down in a Minute solely for the reason that the Act itself lays down the conditions.
§ MR. McKENNAThat is a historical inquiry into the circumstances under which the Act of 1870 was passed. I must have notice of such a Question.