§ Lord ROBERT CECILasked the President of the Board of Education whether he is aware that the managers of the Oxford Street school at Swansea have incurred very large expenses at the special inquiry ordered by the Education Department, and afterwards before the High Court, the Court of Appeal, and the House of Lords; whether the managers were successful on each of those occasions; and whether, under these circumstances, the Government, will repay to the managers the costs to which they have been put?
Mr. PEASEAn appeal has been received from the correspondent of the school referred to for payment to the managers of the costs of the public inquiry and of the differences between the taxed costs and the solicitor and client costs of 387 the legal proceedings to which the Noble Lord refers. The Government, however, did not consider that any case had been made for imposing a further charge upon the public, and the correspondent was informed on 2nd February last that the appeal could not be entertained.
§ Lord ROBERT CECILIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that these managers have been put to the expense of some £24,000 in order to comply with the demands of the Department and the local authority, and does he think it fair, in these circumstances, that they should be fined heavily in addition for litigation in which they were successful and which was forced upon them unjustly?
Mr. PEASEI was not aware that the sum was so large as the Noble Lord asserts. At the same time, we have given consideration to it, and, although we admit that the case may be a somewhat hard one, we do not think we should be justified in making the payment.