EDUCATION AUTHORITY, EDINBURGH. (Hansard, 16 February 1921)

§ Captain W. BENN

I should like to draw the attention of the Secretary for Scotland to a small local matter. The House will remember that last year a Bill was passed by which the two areas of Edinburgh and Leith were amalgamated. That involved the merging of the two municipalities and also the union of the two educational authorities. Under the Act power was vested in the Secretary for Scotland to apportion to the old burgh of Leith its proper number of representatives 231 on the new authority for the greater area. My complaint is that in doing that he has shown less than just appreciation of the number to which the old burgh of Leith is entitled. The Act says that he shall have regard to population, to area, and to other circumstances. The other circumstances were not defined in the Act, but it is not unreasonable to say that they may be held to include school population. That certainly is one fact which one would expect the Secretary for Scotland to take into account. The primary object of an education authority is to attend to the interests of the school children, and whatever the respective areas or populations of the districts may be, one would expect that where one district has a much larger school population than another that would be a circumstance which the Secretary for Scotland would take into account in deciding how many members that area should have upon the education authority.

There are other circumstances of a special kind relating and germane to the large school population in this area which I would press on the notice of the right hon. Gentleman. The character of this area called Leith differs from the character of the City of Edinburgh. There is there a large engineering industry and a seafaring population, and the old authority has provided educational establishments which have stamped upon the educational work of the burgh a mark rather different from that of Edinburgh. In these circumstances, I contend that the Secretary for Scotland, in apportioning how many members of the new authority should come from the old burgh of Leith, should have taken into account all the special circumstances, and should have treated with special consideration an area which has been compelled to lose its independence, and in which the educational work was done extremely well, by the admission of all parties. Instead of this, we find that the area has been treated rather less generously than nearly all the areas of the City of Edinburgh. Of the 32 members of the new authority only six are to be selected by the old Burgh of Leith. If you take population, the proportion is 25 per cent., which would give Leith eight members; if you take the number of electors the proportion is from 232 26 to 27 per cent, which would give rather more than eight members; and, if you take school population, the proportion is 33 per cent., which would give something like 10 members. Instead of that, the Order says that Leith is to have only six members. That is not a very important point or one which I feel justified in taking up much time in discussing, but from the point of view of the whole history of the burgh, and from the point of view of the considerations which were held out when amalgamation took place, we are entitled to plead with the right hon. Gentleman to reconsider his Order, and if he cannot give us eight to give us seven members on the new authority.

§ The SECRETARY for SCOTLAND (Mr. Munro)

My hon. and gallant Friend has always shown a vigilance with regard to matters which concern his own constituency, which is not only praiseworthy but proverbial in this House. On this occasion I can assure him that his intervention is really unnecessary. While I was in Edinburgh about ten days ago I had the honour of receiving from Leith a very influential deputation, representative not only of the Leith Education Authority, but also of the Leith Branch of the Scottish Educational Institute. I had put before me, with great detail and much force, all the considerations which my hon. and gallant Friend has urged upon me to-night. These considerations, of course, it will be my duty to bear in mind before making the proposed Order a final Order. I may assure the hon. and gallant Member that the terms of the Section to which he has referred, which directs me to bear in mind certain relevant facts, were fully borne in mind before the proposed Order was issued. The two points made by that deputation were, first of all, that the representation of Leith should be more numerous than it is under the proposed Order, and, secondly, that Leith should be divided into two districts instead of one. Those two points were argued with great force. As to the view that there should be two districts, there is a difficulty In Edinburgh, since the Education Act-became law the Parliamentary division has been the division for educational purposes. That arrangement has operated without any inconvenience. In Glasgow not only has one Parliamentary division been selected for educational purposes, 233 but in many of the cases with which we have been concerned two Parliamentary divisions have been amalgamated in one educational division without any appreciable inconvenience so far as I have heard. It is therefore a little difficult for my hon. and gallant Friend to press for a different arrangement in Leith. So far as the other question is concerned, a more numerous representation for Leith, that depends on other considerations. In issuing the proposed Order I bore in mind what the electorate per Member according to distribution should be. In the Central Division of Edinburgh the number of electors for each Member is 5,265; in the North Division, 6,359; in the West Division, 5,944; in the East Division, 5,711; in the South Division, 5,872. In Leith it is 6,238, that is to say a little less than the Northern Division of Edinburgh, and a little more than the other Divisions of Edinburgh. If I were to increase the number of electors in Leith, I think Edinburgh would have a good deal to say about the matter. I do not think it could very well be arranged without further consultation with the Edinburgh Education Authority In fact, the Edinburgh Education Authority, having observed that I had an interview with the Leith Education Authority, has asked me most pointedly that they should have an opportunity of being heard before any alteration is made in the proposed Order, with which they are entirely satisfied. So far as the number is concerned, I want to put this to my hon. and gallant Friend, that the whole arrangement is a carefully poised 234 and balanced arrangement, which is designed to do justice as between Edinburgh and Leith, and that if the arrangement were disturbed, so far as Leith was concerned, then I am afraid the whole structure would be imperilled, and one would have to begin again and endeavour to reach some other arrangement which would be fair both to Edinburgh and to Leith. I put it to the deputation whether they preferred six Members to 32 for Edinburgh, or eight to 36, and they informed me they preferred the latter arrangement; but they also made a further suggestion to me, that Leith should have a representation of seven Members instead of six, and that the Edinburgh authority should be increased by one more Member. That is a proposal which at the present moment I am very carefully considering, and I can assure my hon. and gallant Friend that before the Order is made final I shall very carefully bear in mind what he has said to-night and what the deputation very fairly and very reasonably said to me when I met them in Edinburgh. If it is possible for me, without undue delay, without reconstructing the whole arrangement which has been carefully designed, if I can meet the wishes of Leith in this matter I shall be most happy to do so. My hon. and gallant Friend will not expect me to give him an answer "Yes" or "No" to-night, but I can assure him that the claims of Leith will be most carefully borne in mind before a final decision is reached.