§ Mr. HAWORTHasked the President of the Board of Education whether considerable amounts of grants payable to the city of Manchester in respect of evening schools for the session 1909–10 are still unpaid; whether he is aware that financial inconvenience is being caused at Manchester by the delay in the payment of such grants; whether, in order to avoid overdrafts at the bank, such grants will be paid to the city of Manchester at once; and what action he proposes taking to prevent a recurrence of this in the future?
§ Mr. RUNCIMANThe grants in question are being paid with as much expedition as possible, and it is probable that the bulk of them will have been paid before the end of the week. Many of the claim forms were received very late, some of them only a few weeks ago. It is necessary that all claim forms should be carefully scrutinised before grants are paid on them. Delay on the part of the authority in the return of the-forms therefore involves delay in the payment of grants.