§ SIR HENRY KIMBER (Wandsworth)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Education, whether he will consent to a Return of the number of single-school areas, as defined in the Education Bill, in the United Kingdom, with their localities, approximate extent, distance of the school from the nearest school in adjoining area, and the number of children attending the school.
§ THE PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF EDUCATION (Mr. MCKENNA,) Monmouthshire, N.As I stated on Thursday last, a Return is being prepared giving the names and other information as to non-provided schools in single-school parishes, as defined by the Education Bill. The number of children in attendance and the acreage of the parishes concerned will be included, but to give the distances from each school to the nearest schools in different directions would involve local investigations in some 5,000 parishes, and it would be impossible to supply the information in time to be of any service in the discussions on the Bill. Moreover, in the definition of a single-school parish in the Bill the proximity or otherwise of neighbouring schools is not taken into account.
§ MR. CARLILE (Hertfordshire, St. Albans)Are we to understand that the right hon. Gentleman proposes legislation 341 on the subject of these particular schools without having taken the trouble to ascertain their number?
§ MR. MCKENNANo, Sir. The hon. Gentleman has entirely misunderstood the purport of the Question on the Paper.