QUESTIONS. 1038 | With reference to a memorial addressed to his predecessor, pointing out the great inconvenience caused to the inhabitants EDUCATION DEPARTMENT - LONDON of the Mullaghroe (county Sligo) Petty BOARD SCHOODS-ANNUAL COST PER SCHOLAR. LORD ALGERNON PERCY asked the Vice President of the Committee of Council, What has been the cost per scholar in the London Board Schools during the past three years, and what is the estimated cost per scholar for the coming financial year? THE VICE PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL (Mr. E. STANHOPE): Sir, the Clerk of the London School Board sends me the following figures in reply to my noble Friend's Question :-The expenditure per scholar in average attendance in the London Board Schools was, for the year ending August 13, 1882, £2 16s. 5d.; for 1883, £2 158. 33 d. for 1884, £2 14s. 6d. But the estimated expenditure for the year ending March 25, 1885, is £2 178. 1d., and for that ending March 25, 1886, £3 1s. 1d.; showing an increase in the three years of 48. 72d. per scholar. These figures corroborate the statement made by my noble Friend in the recent debate on the Education Estimates. LAW AND JUSTICE (IRELAND)—PETTY SESSIONS CLERK, MULLAGHROE PETTY SESSIONS DISTRICT, CO. SLIGO. Sessions District by the fact that the petty sessions clerk lives sixteen miles away from some parts of the district, at Boyle, in another county, whether the in question holds the clerkships of five petty sessions districts; and, whether, in compliance with the desire conveyed in the memorial, they will cause to be appointed to the clerkship of Mullaghroe a person resident in the district? WILLIAM HART DYKE): The subject THE CHIEF SECRETARY (Sir of this Memorial has been very carefully considered, and the Government are satisfied that no sufficient cause has been shown for making any change at present in the existing arrangement. Government are aware that the official ROYAL IRISH CONSTABULARY-PROTECTION POST AT BUNDuff, CO. LEITRIM. MR. SEXTON asked the Chief Secre tary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether the police protection post at Bunduff, county Sligo, is in the house of an evicted tenant, and what rent is paid by the Government for the house to the landlord, Captain Barton; whether there are five constabulary barracks within a radius of three miles from this protection post; and, whether the district is quite orderly and entirely free from crime; and, if so, whether the post will be discontinued? THE CHIEF SECRETARY (Sir WILLIAM HART DYKE): Hitherto for some time past there has been a temporary protection post at Bunduffwhich is in the county of Leitrim, and not Sligo-in a house belonging to Captain Barton, for which no rent has been paid. It has now, however, been decided to re-arrange the police districts of the locality, and to make Bunduff an ordinary permanent station. There are only two other stations within a radius of three miles, and one of these is in the next county. The force at the protection post has not been charged to the locality. THE IRISH ADMINISTRATION-MR. E. G. JENKINSON. MR. SEXTON asked the Chief SecreMR. SEXTON asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, tary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether there is any intention on the part of the Government to appoint Mr. E. G. Jenkinson to the post of Assistant Under Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant, or in any way to continue, or renew, the connection of that official with the administration of Ireland? THE CHIEF SECRETARY (Sir WILLIAM HART DYKE): Mr. Jenkinson still holds the post to which the hon. Member asks if it is the intention of the Government to appoint him. I am not in a position to say what his tenure of the office will be; but it is distinctly temporary. LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD (IRE- the existing law the personal attendance of the Registrar makes the registration sufficient evidence of the contract of marriage, assuming the requirements of the Acts have been observed. It is most important that proper evidence of marriages should be preserved in as simple a form as possible; but, although I cannot pledge myself to bring in a Bill, I am quite willing to consult the proper authorities as to whether, assuming a valid registration can be secured without the presence of the Registrar, his attendance might be dispensed with. EGYPT (THE SOUDAN) - THE LATE INTERPRETER. MR. BIGGAR asked the Chief Secre--CASE OF THE LATE E. B. EVANS, tary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Did the Local Government Board write to the Bangor Town Commissioners, about the beginning of June last, to take into consideration the advisability of removing the town clerk; did the Commissioners, in consequence, reply that the clerk had been called upon to resign; has the same person been reinstated as clerk; and, can he be retained in face of the recent disclosures concerning him made by several of the Commissioners before Mr. Justice O'Brien at the Belfast Assizes? MR. CALLAN (for Mr. MARUM) asked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether his attention has been called to the case of the late Edward Baldwin Evans, Interpreter to the Expedition under Hicks Pasha, and who was killed therein together with that General officer; whether, having lived for many years in Alexandria, Cairo, and Hedjaz, and carried Despatches from the Consul there to Suez, he (E. B. Evans) found the Indian Contingent on its way to the front, and was engaged THE CHIEF SECRETARY (Sir in the Intelligence Department with the WILLIAM HART DYKE): It appears honorary rank of Captain and pay at the that, at the instance of the Local Go-rate of £400 per annum; that he was at vernment Board, the Bangor Town Commissioners recently called on their clerk to resign, and that subsequently they declined to accept his resignation. I am informed that they took this course in consequence of the receipt of a Memorial signed by the principal ratepayers asking them to retain the clerk. The Local Government Board have no power to appoint or remove a Town Clerk. MARRIAGE LAW--ATTENDANCE OF REGISTRARS. MR. ATKINSON asked Mr. Attorney General, If he will bring in a Bill to dispense with the personal attendance of Registrars at marriages celebrated in places of public worship licensed for the due solemnization of such marriages, care being taken to provide, under penalties, for their proper registration? THE ATTORNEY GENERAL (Sir RICHARD WEBSTER): Sir, according to Mr. Sexton Tel-el-Kebir, and afterwards was employed as Interpreter for Mr. Broadly in the Egyptian State Trials; that he received his Commission from the Khedive; that, after the Battle of Marabia, his rank was raised to that of Major with pay of £500; that for his valuable services he was promised by the Egyptian Government a gratuity of six months' pay; whether, notwithstanding no such gratuity has been paid to his sisters, who were dependent on him for support, and who are now in straitened circumstances, there is still outstanding an arrear of two months' pay that accrued due before the fate of the Expedition; and, whether the Government will use its influence to see right done? THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE (Mr. BOURKE): There is no information in the Foreign Office regarding this case; but inquiry will be made as to what are the facts. ARMY SMALL ARM AMMUNITION- MR. LABOUCHERE asked the Secretary of State for War, Whether it is a fact that the ammunition for the Martini-Henry rifle was not adopted until upwards of a year after General Boxer had retired from the Service, and that he is in no way responsible or to blame for any defects in the construction of the cartridge which may have been the cause of failure with respect to strength-resistance to wet and damp, and easy extraction under severe service conditions; and, whether it is a fact that the cartridge for the Snider rifle, for the construction of which General Boxer is wholly responsible, has successfully stood the unerring test of nearly twenty years' experience, in peace and in war, and that, too, under conditions as unfavourable to its proper action as those under which failures are reported to have occurred with the Martini-Henry ammunition? THE SECRETARY OF STATE (Mr. W. H. SMITH): The facts as to the introduction of the Martini-Henry rifle cartridge are, substantially, as stated by the hon. Member. As regards comparison between the Martini-Henry and the Snider cartridge, I must decline to be led into any discussion as to their respective merits. POST OFFICE (IRELAND)—TAMPERING WITH LETTERS. by the hon. Member. Very careful in- ENDOWED SCHOOLS-THE CHARITY SCHOOL. MR. JESSE COLLINGS asked the Vice President of the Committee of Council, Whether the Charity Commissioners, in their draft scheme for Tonbridge School, proposed that a second or middle school should be established in or near the town of Tonbridge; whether the Skinners' Company provided an endowment fund of £20,000 for the purpose of establishing such school; whether the Charity Commissioners, after obtaining possession of this money, insisted that the promised new school should be placed at Tunbridge Wells, a town five miles distant from Tonbridge; whether this proceeding on the part of the Charity Commissioners is in violation of their statutory powers; and, whether, pending the inquiry to be made by the Select Committee into the working of the Endowed Schools Act, the Charity Commissioners will postpone the expenditure of the said endowment fund, in order that the grave charges brought by the inhabitants of Tonbridge against the action of the Commissioners in respect to this school might be inquired into? THE VICE PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL (Mr. E. STANHOPE): In the year 1875 the Charity Commissioners published a draft scheme for Sir Andrew Judd's School at Tonbridge, providing, among other things, for the investment of the residuary income of that endowment as a fund for the ultimate establishment of a middle school MR. CALLAN (for Mr. MARUM) asked the Postmaster General, Whether his attention has been directed to an alleged irregularity in the transit, through the postal officials, of two letters posted in Dublin on the 10th of June last, and addressed to John Lowry, Esq., Post Office, Ballybrophy, in the Queen's County, Ireland, wherein those letters have been tampered with, and that the writer of the letters in question has proposed to the postal authorities in Dublin to prove on oath the alleged tamper-"in or near the town of Tonbridge." ing with the documents furnished to them; and, whether he will cause an inquiry to be instituted under which the writer may be enabled to make good the above charge? In the year 1878 a fresh draft scheme was published for Sir Andrew Judd's School, from which the former provision for the establishment of a middle school in or near the town of TonTHE POSTMASTER GENERAL bridge was omitted. At the same (Lord JOHN MANNERS): My attention time another draft scheme was pubhas been called to the case alluded to lished for the application of a sum of £20,000, to be provided from sources independent of Sir Andrew Judd's School by the Skinner's Company, and wholly unconnected with Tonbridge, for a middle school to be maintained "in or near the parish of Tonbridge," leaving open the position of the school, at the express desire of the Skinners' Company. The scheme for the middle school in the form agreed to by the Skinners' Company having, in due course, been approved by Her Majesty, the Charity Commissioners received representations both from Tonbridge and from Tunbridge Wells, in both of which towns sites for the new school were offered. After inquiry and full consideration of the circumstances, the Charity Commissioners arrived at the conclusion that, however desirable it might be that a second or lower school should be established in the town of Tonbridge, the reasons in favour of placing the middle school at Tunbridge Wells preponderated. The approval of the site for the school was expressly reserved to the Charity Commissioners in the scheme as approved by Her Majesty, and a suitable site for the school at Tunbridge Wells has now been secured by voluntary gift from the inhabitants. PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS-USE OF NATIONAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL ROOMS. MR. JESSE COLLINGS asked the Vice President of the Committee of Council, If, in view of the coming elections, he will address a Memorandum to the managers of National Elementary Schools, especially to those in rural districts, pointing out that, in all cases where the use of the public school rooms is granted for political and other public purposes, there should be no preference given to any one political section of the inhabitants of the district? THE VICE PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL (Mr. E. STANHOPE): Although, personally, I am of opinion that, as a rule, it is desirable in these cases that both political Parties should be treated on an equality, it is impossible to say that it is of universal application, and I cannot undertake to interfere with the discretion of the school managers in the manner suggested by the hon. Member. ALLOTMENTS EXTENSION ACT, 1882— LADY ISABELLA DODD'S CHARITY, ELLESBOROUGH, BUCKS. MR. JESSE COLLINGS asked the Vice President of the Committee of INLAND NAVIGATION AND DRAINAGE Council, Whether the Charity Commis (IRELAND)-THE KILKEE DRAINAGE. THE O'GORMAN MAHON asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury, Whether the Irish Government are aware that great damage has been and is being caused by the overflow of swamps, and the consequent flooding of agricultural and pastoral lands in the district of Kilkee, County Clare; and, whether the Government will immediately cause the Board of Works to institute a competent inquiry, with a view to ascertain the nature and extent of the damage, and to decide whether the State can aid the occupiers of the district in executing drainage operations? THE SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY (Sir HENRY HOLLAND) said, he must ask that the Question should be postponed until Thursday. He had not yet received a communication in reference to it in answer to his inquiries. Mr. E. Stanhope sioners prepared and circulated, in August 1884, a draft scheme relating to Lady Isabella Dodd's Charity, in Ellesborough, Bucks., which omitted provisions for allotments, and whether the Charity Commissioners have since inserted provisions for allotments therein in accordance with section fourteen of "The Allotments Extension Act, 1882;" whether the Charity Commissioners have inserted provisions for allotments, as required by section fourteen of "The Allotments Extension Act, 1882," in all schemes made by them after the passing of that Act in relation to any Charity, part of the endowment of which consisted of land (other than buildings and the appurtenances of buildings); whether, if they have omitted to insert such provisions in any such schemes, they will repair the omission by issuing amended schemes which will contain provisions for allotments according to the intention of the Act; and, whether the Charity Commissioners will publish a list of the schemes made by them since the passing of the said Act in which such provisions are inserted, and a list of those which contain no such provisions? THE VICE PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL (Mr. E. STANHOPE): To the first part of the Question of the hon. Member I have to say that the facts are correctly stated. To the second, the Charity Commissioners inform me that these provisions have in some cases been omitted, partly from inadvertence (chiefly in the case of schemes drafted previously to and established shortly after the passing of the Allotments Act, 1882), and partly because it was for some time doubted whether these provisions should not be inserted only in schemes in which provision is made for the management of the lands of the charity. They are now always inserted To the third part, the answer is that schemes can be made only on application to the Commissioners, who have no power to act on their own motion. They authorize me to say that if application is made in any of these cases they will be quite ready to insert these provisions. For this reason, and because the Return would be costly and practically useless, I have to answer the hon. Member's fourth paragraph in the negative. in such cases. POST OFFICE (CONTRACTS) —THE for sending the Thursday's mails to America by the steamers of the North German Lloyd from Southampton. WESTERN PACIFIC-NEW GUINEAFORM OF GOVERNMENT FOR THE ENGLISH PORTION. VISCOUNT LYMINGTON asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies, Whether Her Majesty's Government have decided upon the form of Government under which the English portion of New Guinea is to be administered; upon the proportion of the expense of government to be borne by the Imperial Exchequer ; and upon efficient means of tributions of the Colonial Parliaments? permanently securing the yearly con STANLEY), in reply, said, he was not in a position to make any definite statement. The proceedings which had taken place between Her Majesty's Government and the Colonial authorities in respect of New Guinea had been somewhat interrupted by the change of Government. The various arrangements were not yet concluded. THE SECRETARY OF STATE (Colonel MR. BRYCE: Will the right hon. and gallant Gentleman be able to do so within the next few days? THE SECRETARY OF STATE: I am afraid not. TRAMWAY COMPANIES (METROPOLIS) -EMPLOYES HOURS OF LABOUR. MR. SAMUEL SMITH asked the General, In what direction the exten-Secretary of State for the Home Departsion of the American Mail Service will take place, seeing that an increase of £25,775 has been made in the Estimates; and, whether any provision has been made for despatching a Thursday's mail to America by the express steamers of the North German Lloyd from Southampton? THE POSTMASTER GENERAL ment, If the attention of the Government has been called to the condition of labour imposed on the London tram men; if he is aware that they are compelled to work sixteen hours a-day, including Sundays; and, whether he will grant an inquiry into the subject? THE SECRETARY OF STATE (Sir R. ASSHETON CROSS): Yes, Sir; I have made inquiries, and I believe these men very often have to work 16 hours a-day. It seems to me enormous labour, as the House can understand, for we are ourWe selves working 16 hours a-day. were so yesterday. (Lord JOHN MANNERS): The increase referred to by my hon. Friend is due mainly to the normal growth annually of the correspondence sent from this country to the United States. An increase of the correspondence does not necessarily call for an extension of the American mail service; and I may state that, THE CORRUPT PRACTICES ACT—THE until the whole question has been fully considered, it is not intended to make any provision, beyond that which now exists in the shape of ship letter mails, SUFFOLK CONSERVATIVE ASSOCIATION. MR. JESSE COLLINGS asked Mr. Attorney General, Whether his attention |