HC Deb 02 December 1908 vol 197 cc1463-4
MR. G. GOOCH (Bath)

I beg to ask the President of the Board of Education whether the term religious instruction in Section 1, subsection (2) (b), of the Elementary Education Bill includes systematic moral instruct on, whether derived wholly from Biblical sources or not.

MR. TREVELYAN

The point raised in the hon. Member's Question seems to suggest too fine a distinction for ordinary persons who are not theologians to grasp; but so far as I understand what the hon. Member desires in the way of moral instruction, I do not see why any difficulty need arise in regard to it under the Bill.

MR. W. THORNE (West Ham, S.)

Does the hon. Gentleman think that Section 1 of the Bill can be carried out without instituting a credal register?

MR. TREVELYAN

I do not think that that arises out of the Question.

MR. W. THORNE

Surely it does.