§ Mr. GRANTasked the President of the Board of Education how many candidates will sit in each of the following examinations this year: Drawing, modelling, painting, and pictorial design; what is likely to be the cost per head to the Board in each of the following examinations: Drawing, painting, modelling, pictorial design, and industrial design; how many manufacturing industries are represented by members of the standing committee of advice for art; how many headmasters of small schools of art are members of the standing committee of advice for art; and how many masters of schools in localities having manufacturing industries are members of the standing committee of advice for art?
Mr. PEASEThe number of candidates for the drawing examination for this year is 249, for the painting examination 19, for the modelling examination 4, for the pictorial design examination 9. I may remind the hon. Member that this is the first year of the new system of examinations, and that these numbers cannot be taken as representing the normal number of candidates who will enter for the examinations when the system is in full working order. The examiners receive an inclusive payment which covers not only the work of these examinations but also a considerable amount of work in connection with the national competition. Further, any figures which could be given as to the amount of the Board's contributions towards local expenses and other examination material would at this stage be necessarily hypothetical. It is, therefore, not possible at present to state the approximate cost per head of these examinations. There are eight members of the Standing Committee of Advice for Education in Art who have special knowledge of certain manufacturing industries. No headmasters of small schools of art are members of the Standing Committee, but the four headmasters who are members of the committee were selected on account of their wide experience and their representative character; I have no reason to suppose that they do not represent adequately the interests of all schools of art, large and small alike. The schools to which these headmasters belong are situated in London, Bradford, and Newcastle-on-Tyne.