§ A local authority for the purposes of education (in this Act called the "education authority") shall be elected in and for each of the following areas (in this Act called "education areas"), that is to say, in and for—
- (a) each of the burghs mentioned in the First Schedule to this Act (in this Act called the "schedule burghs"); and
- (b) every county, including every burgh situated therein not being one of the scheduled burghs.
§ Mr. WATTI beg to move, to leave out Sub-sections (a) and (b), and to insert instead thereof the words "Every county and every county of a city."
The effect of this would be that the cities having educational Boards themselves would be limited to four in Scotland—namely, to the four which are counties of cities. The further effect 148 which I desire to arrive at by my Amendment is to exclude Leith from the privileges which are given by this provision. How the right hon. Gentleman in charge of the Bill included Leith amongst the towns with separate authorities nobody understands or knows. Leith has no-claim whatever to be put on a higher pedestal than other towns in Scotland which I could name, such as Greenock and Paisley, which have greater populations and whose school boards have already provided an education even more efficient than that which Leith can claim. This Amendment was proposed in Committee upstairs, and the reply of the right hon. Gentleman was that the exclusion of Leith from this provision would lead to difficulties of administration, because Leith is so interlocked with Edinburgh, and because it is so situated that it is cut off from the county of Midlothian into which it would otherwise fall. That argument will not hold water, because there are districts in Lanarkshire which are already in the same way cut off by Glasgow from the shires into which they would fall, and those districts are not treated as Leith is treated under this Bill. I desire to have some reasonable explanation as to why Leith should be favoured in this way. Has it been the case that the hon. Member for Leith has got the favourable consideration of the Secretary for Scotland, or that that hon. Member has moved the Lord Advocate and that the Lord Advocate has moved the right hon. Gentleman? Will the right hon. Gentleman explain how it is that Leith has received this favoured treatment?
§ Mr. PRINGLEI beg to second the Amendment, which I think makes for the symmetry of the whole scheme of the Bill. The underlying principle of the Bill is that we should have larger areas for educational purposes, and that for the greater part of the country the county should be taken as the educational unit. Certain exceptions are made in the first Schedule of the Bill, and in every case but one those exceptions are made in respect of cities of large populations, so large indeed that they have been in each case dignified as a county of a city. That is a fair test. 149 But Leith, with a smaller population than a number of other Scottish towns, has received differential treatment from those other towns It seems to me that that exceptional treatment is an excrescence and an anomaly on the Bill, and I hope that in the interests of uniformity, so dear to the heart of the right hon. Gentleman, that he will accept this proposal.
§ Mr. MUNROI regret very much that I cannot possibly accept the Amendment which has been moved in such persuasive terms. Leith occupies quite a unique position, which bears no resemblance whatever to the cases of Greenock or Paisley, to which allusion has been made. There were two possibilities which I had to consider. May I say parenthetically that none of those influences, malign or otherwise, to which reference has been made by my hon. and learned Friend the Member for the College Division (Mr. Watt) were brought to bear on me at any time or in any way. When I had to consider this problem I had to consider the propriety cither of uniting Leith with the county of Midlothian or with the city of Edinburgh. Those were the two alternatives. With regard to the proposal to unite Leith to the county of Midlothian, it would seem to be conclusive against that proposal that Leith is cut off geographically almost entirely from the county of Midlothian by Edinburgh.
§ Mr. CURRIEEntirely.
§ Mr. MUNROCut off entirely from the rest of Midlothian. I know of no analogous case in Lanarkshire or elsewhere. That seemed to me to rule out the possibility of making Leith part of Midlothian. The other alternative was that Leith should be united to the city of Edinburgh. But union with the city of Edinburgh was, I thought, inappropriate in an Education Bill for educational purposes solely, so long as these two cities were separated for other purposes. It seemed to me, if that were to be done for educational purposes it should be done voluntarily, and I saw no possibility of that being brought about. It appeared to me to be improper therefore to combine Leith as an unwilling partner with the city of Edinburgh. Those two alternatives being out of the way the only remaining question was whether Leith should be included in the schedule. That I thought was quite a reasonable proposition and really almost 150 an inevitable result under the circumstances. An attempt was made in Committee upstairs to exclude Leith, but speaking from recollection I do not think the matter was pressed very hard. I would ask my hon. and learned Friend to refrain from pressing it on this occasion and to be satisfied with the explanation which I have given.
§ Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.