§ Captain GANZONIasked the President of the Board of Education whether, under the Education Act, 1891, a parent may claim a free place for his child within a reasonable distance of his home but not at any particular school; and whether this has been modified by any subsequent Acts?
§ Mr. FISHERThe Elementary Education Act. 1891, required public elementary school accommodation without payment of fees to be provided for all children who required it. This necessarily meant accommodation at a school within reasonable distance of the child's home, but not at any particular school. The Education Act, 1918, abolished fees in public elementary schools, and repealed the Elementary Education Act, 1891, since that Act was only concerned with the question of fees. All places in public elementary schools are now free places, and inability to pay fees is consequently not a possible ground for exclusion from any particular public elementary school.