§ Mr. RHYS DAVIESasked the President of the Board of Education, approximately, the percentage of elementary school children in Wales receiving instruc- 399W tion in the Welsh language at any convenient date in 1910, 1920, and 1930, respectively, and similar figures covering students attending the secondary schools in the Principality?
§ Sir D. MACLEANWithout instituting elaborate special inquiries, I am not in a position to give any statistical information as to the number of children receiving instruction in the Welsh language; but as regards secondary schools, I may refer the hon. Member to the report of the Departmental Committee on the Welsh Language issued in 1927, which shows that at that date 46 per cent. of the total number of pupils in the 135400W secondary schools in Wales and Monmouthshire were receiving instruction in Welsh, and that such instruction was being given in all the 135 schools with the exception of only 17 schools in purely English-speaking districts. The committee considered the position not unsatisfactory as compared with that of 40 years previously. As regards elementary schools, from the general information available to the Board, I am able to state that a progressive amount of attention has been paid to this instruction during the past 20 years in almost all parts of the Principality, and that this is noticeably the case at the present time.