§ MR. JOHN REDMOND (Waterford)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether his attention has been called to a statement 1429 recently made by the President of the Board of Education to the effect that the Education Department were prepared to recommend to the Treasury that provision should be made in the coming financial year for the medical inspection of children attending schools, and that this provision should be made in the form of a special grant; and whether he intends to take steps to have a similar procedure followed and a similar grant made in connection with medical inspection of schools in Ireland, and more especially with regard to the medical inspection of the eyesight of children.
§ MR. BIRRELLMy right hon. friend the President of the Board of Education informs me that the newspaper report to which the hon. Gentleman evidently refers contains a very material mistake. My right hon. friend did not say that he was prepared to make the recommendation in question to the Treasury. What he said was that he was asked to make that recommendation; and the sense of his reply is shown in a subsequent passage of his speech in which he asked the deputation not to press him to go to the Chancellor of the Exchequer for the ensuing year, for in the first place he thought it would be a mistake to introduce any special grant at a moment when they were anxious to get rid of special grants, and secondly he feared that the Chancellor of the Exchequer would not be able to meet their demands at present, having regard to the existing claims that were made upon him.
§ MR. JOHN REDMONDasked whether the National Board had taken any steps in regard to the medical inspection of children, especially with reference to their eyesight. Could not the right hon. Gentleman induce them to take some steps in that direction?
§ MR. BIRRELLI believe they are very anxious on this subject, but I will take care that their attention is specially called to it.