§ MR. WEDGWOODI beg to ask the President of the Board of Education whether his attention has been drawn to the observations on the subject of corporal punishment in the Revised Instructions for 1902, in which it is urged that no punishment which excites the emotion of terror should ever be employed; that in infant schools no punishment should be inflicted which causes bodily pain; that in schools for older children corpora punishment should be discouraged as an ordinary expedient in a boys' school and altogether in a girls' school; if he will say whether steps have been taken by the Board of Education to give effect to these observations; and what number of cases of the corporal punishment of boys, girls, and infants occurred during 1907 in the public elementary schools in London, Liverpool, Birmingham and Leeds.
§ THE PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF EDUCATION (Mr. MCKENNA,) Monmouthshire, N.The Revised Instructions have been superseded by a volume entitled "Suggestions for the Consideration of Teachers and Others Concerned in the Work of Public Elementary Schools," on page 11 of which the subject of corporal punishment is dealt with. The attitude of the Board is substantially the same as that indicated by my hon. friend's quotation. The discipline of the school and the means taken for enforcing it are primarily matters for the local education authority, and the Board do not intervene unless specific cases of alleged excessive punishment are brought to their notice. I have no information as to the last paragraph.