§ MR. CHARLES CRAIGOn behalf of the hon. Member for East Down, I 870 beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that the average annual cost per head of maintaining an inmate in St. Conleth's Industrial School is £23 1s. 9d., St. Kelvin's, £22 16s. 2d., High Park, Dublin, £22 19s. 9d., St. Joseph's, Limerick, £22 9s. 2d., and Malone, Belfast, £16 8s. 7d.; whether he can explain how it costs £7 per annum more to maintain an inmate in King's County than in Belfast; and can he state which, if any, of the industrial schools named have their accounts audited prior to receiving-public grants for their maintenance.
§ MR. BIRRELLThe schools referred to are reformatory, not industrial, schools. I am informed by the inspector that the cost of maintenance at the various schools is correctly stated in the Question. The Government grant is at the fixed rate of 6s. a week for each juvenile offender detained in a reformatory school, and the Government, therefore, are not concerned with the actual cost to the management.