QUESTION. OBSERVATIONS. (Hansard, 4 August 1876)

§ LORD ABERDARE

asked the Lord President of the Council, Whether he has the means of making a Return to this House of the number of Schools in England and Wales in which instruction is given to children above thirteen years 514 of age; and, if he has not such means, whether he will take any measure to supply such deficiency? The noble Lord said, there had been exhaustive inquiry into the Universities, public schools, and elementary schools, followed by legislative action, but there had been no inquiry into the state of the schools—except the endowed schools throughout the country—which occupied a position between the elementary and higher class schools, and he believed that on inquiry it would be found that large districts were insufficiently supplied with the means of obtaining such education. He knew it would be impossible for the noble Duke, however well disposed, to furnish the same amount of information on this subject which would be supplied through the medium of a Royal Commission. At the same time, valuable information might be obtained through the large body of Inspectors and Sub-Inspectors who were employed by the Department, and the country might in this way get to know the number of these schools, the number of children attending them, and the class of education given there.

THE DUKE OF RICHMOND AND GORDON

said, that if the noble Lord confined his Question to the number of elementary schools under inspection, there would be no difficulty in furnishing the information. Indeed, he could give it at once. The number of elementary schools under inspection was 15,921, and there were in them 92,251 children who were above 13 years of age, making 3.36 per cent of the scholars on the register of the aided schools. If, however, the reference was not merely to schools under inspection, but to schools of all classes, he had not the means of obtaining the information sought for, and doubted whether the expenditure of time, labour, and money necessary to procure such information would justify the Government in attempting to procure it. If, too, an inquiry were instituted, it was doubtful whether the Return would be even approximately accurate, for the Inspectors were not likely to be able to obtain these particulars. Even now it was difficult to get the work done in the Department, for this work increased day by day with the increase in the number of elementary schools and of the scholars attending there; and the work was likely to become greater if the 515 Bill now before the other House were passed. Moreover, the information asked for would be necessarily imperfect, because there must be a number of schools into the condition of which no one would have a right to inquire, and as to which the persons conducting them might be unwilling to give information. Under all the circumstances, he must answer the second part of the noble Lord's Question in the negative.