§ 78 and 79. Sir P. Hannonasked the Minister of Education (1) whether in view of the importance of knowledge of the Dutch language in the expansion of British export trade in Holland and in the 190W Netherlands colonial empire, he will give encouragement to the teaching of Dutch and Afrikaans in the secondary schools in this country;
(2) if he will present a report of the extent to which the Afrikaans language is being taught in the secondary schools in Great Britain in view of the importance of knowledge of this language in our industrial and commercial relations with the Union of South Africa.
§ Mr. TomlinsonI have no precise information about the extent to which these languages are studied in secondary schools but it is certainly not significant. In view of the many other demands on the schools I am not disposed to take special action. The needs can most appropriately be met within the field of Further Education. The latest available statistics in this field show two classes with 72 students studying Afrikaans and 31 classes with 724 students studying Dutch.