§ EARL FORTESCUE, in rising to ask Her Majesty's Government, What was the estimated cost of the purchase and fitting up of the ship bought by the London School Board; and the number and salaries of the staff employed in it; and what arrangements are proposed to be made about the meals of the boys to be trained on board? said, that with respect to the last portion of the Question, it was unnecessary to put it, because he had received the information he required since he had been in the House by a note which had been sent to him, and which stated that the arrangement made with respect to meals were satisfactory, and that proper precautions had been taken for the prevention of any contagious diseases spreading among the 1632 inmates of the ship. Of course, it would be a very serious thing if any such disease did break out, and it was obvious that measures should be taken to prevent it spreading, and to have the proper remedies immediately available in such case. His Question, therefore, would be confined to the cost of the vessel and the fittings.
THE DUKE OF RICHMOND AND GORDON, in reply, said, that the first part of the Question, of which Notice had been given, was to ask the Government whether such a ship had been purchased, and what was the estimated cost? The Minutes of the London School Board, which had been forwarded to him that morning for the information of the Education Department of the Privy Council, stated that the Industrial School Ship Shaftesbury, formerly the ship Nubia, had been purchased by them. The first Vote was £12,000, and there was an additional Vote of £5,000 for the purchase and equipment of the vessel, and a further sum of £1,000 for the cost of dredging a place for the ship, and £569 to the Thames Conservancy Board for the expenses attending the mooring. The cost had been larger than was at first anticipated, because it was believed that the Admiralty would have been able to have given one of Her Majesty's ships for this purpose; but, unfortunately, they were not in a position to do so. The next Question was as to the number of staff employed on board the vessel, and those particulars were not known to the Home Office. It was a matter of discretion with the London School Board as to the number of boys which were to be placed on board a vessel and trained. If he recollected rightly, it was intended that the ship should provide accommodation, in the first instance, for 500 boys; but he believed that that number had been reduced.
§ LORD TRUROthought that £1,000 was a very large sum of money to be given for dredging a hole for mooring purposes. He thought that the ship might have been provided with convenient moorings at much less cost than that.
THE DUKE OF RICHMOND AND GORDONsaid, that the payment had been agreed on between the two Boards; but of course he was not able to state the details or the reasons on which that Estimate was framed.
§ VISCOUNT SIDMOUTH, while admitting that the cost was very large, could not help expressing his opinion that if any one thing was more valuable than another in reference to the work of the School Board, it was the establishment of school ships, by means of which boys could be trained up in a manner which would be useful both to themselves and to the country. He should, therefore, be extremely sorry to hear any attack made upon them on the part of his noble Friend, or any doubt thrown upon the proceedings of the Board, because any reflection made upon experiments of this kind could not but be detrimental to the success of the experiment. For his own part, he thought that the employment of training ships would be most valuable.