for a term of years, unless such arrangement provides that the board shall retain possession of the premises at the end of the term, until the then value of any works executed with the aid of a loan shall

have been repaid to the school board:

"(3) the amount to be repaid in each such case shall be ascertained, and certified, by a surveyor selected jointly by the school board and the managers, to whom the school will revert when it ceases to be a school provided by the board. In the event of their disagreement, the surveyor shall be appointed by the Education Department, and his expenses defrayed by the school board and managers, in such proportions as the Department shall direct."

In a case in which, having regard to this minute, the National Society urged, with respect to a transfer of a school to which the society had contributed, that a clause should be introduced into the deed of transfer providing that the school board should not execute any works in connection with the school with the aid of a loan without the written consent of the trustees under the trust deed of the school, the Education Department made the introduction of the clause suggested a condition of their consent being given to the transfer of the school to the school board.

With regard to the transfer of educational endowments to school boards, see the 36 & 37 Vict., c. 86, sec. 13, post.

(5) The Education Department, in a letter addressed to Her Majesty's inspectors of schools, and dated the 13th of January 1874, state with reference to this provision:-"During the time in which a school board have the control over any premises, the school which they carry on in such premises is a school provided by the school board. 'No religious catechism or religious formulary which is distinctive of any particular denomination' can, therefore, be taught in that time, and no time-table should be approved under which the instruction given in the school so provided extends to catechisms or formularies forbidden by the Act. If, under the transfer, the trustees, or former managers, retain for any time the control of the premises, the purposes to which these premises are to be put, during such time, are not allowed to be stated in the arrangement for the transfer, as the Education Department have no jurisdiction in the matter. You will therefore, in the case of a school transferred to a school board, take care that the time-table is limited to the hours during which the board have control over the school premises, and that it does not refer either to any time during which the school premises are not under the control of the board, or to any instruction given during such time." See also pp. 414, 415.

Re-transfer of School by School Board to Managers.

24. Where any school, or any interest therein, has been transferred by the managers thereof to the school board of any school district in pursuance of this Act, the school board of such district may, by a resolution passed as hereinafter mentioned, and with the consent of the Education Department, re-transfer such school or such interest therein to a body of managers qualified to hold the same under the trusts of the school as they existed before such transfer to the

school board, and upon such re-transfer may convey all the interest in the schoolhouse and in any endowment belonging to the school vested in the school board.

A resolution for the purpose of this section may be passed by a majority of not less than two-thirds of those members of the school board who are present at a meeting duly convened for the purpose, and vote on the question.

The Education Department shall not give their consent to any such re-transfer unless they are satisfied that any money expended upon such school out of a loan raised by the school board of such district has been or will on the completion of the re-transfer be repaid to the school board. (1)

Every school so re-transferred shall cease to be a school provided by a school board, and shall be held upon the same trusts on which it was held before it was transferred to the school board.

(1) With reference to loans to school boards on account of schools transferred to them for a term of years, see minute of Education Department of 13th August, 1875 (p. 97).

MISCELLANEOUS POWERS OF SCHOOL BOARD.

Payment of School Fees.

25. The school board may, if they think fit, from time to time, for a renewable period not exceeding six months, pay the whole or any part of the school fees payable at any public elementary school by any child resident in their district whose parent is in their opinion unable from poverty to pay the same; but no such payment shall be made or refused on condition of the child attending any public elementary school other than such as may be selected by the parent; and such payment shall not be deemed to be parochial relief given to such parent.

This section is repealed from the 1st of January, 1877, by sec. 10 of 39 & 40 Vict., c. 79, post. Under that enactment the guardians are alone empowered to pay the school fees of children of poor parents who are not paupers, and the case of pauper children is provided for by sec. 40 of that Act.

As to the remission of fees in schools provided by school boards, see sec. 17; and as to the establishment of schools in which no fees are to be paid by the scholars, see sec. 26.

A person who fraudulently obtains, or enables or procures any other person to obtain, from a school board remission of payment or an order for remission of payment of any school fees, is liable, on summary conviction, to imprisonment for a period not exceeding fourteen days (39 & 40 Vict., c. 79, sec. 37).

Establishment of Free School in Special Cases.

26. If a school board satisfy the Education Department that, on the ground of the poverty of the inhabitants of any place in their district, it is expedient for the interests of education to provide a school at which no fees shall be required from the scholars, the board may, subject to such rules and conditions as the Education Department may prescribe, provide such school, and may admit scholars to such school without requiring any fee.

Having regard to the provisions in sec. 17 with reference to the remission by the school board of school fees in respect of children whose parents are unable on the ground of poverty to pay the fees, the cases in which it will be requisite to establish free schools will be very exceptional.

Mr. Forster, with reference to this clause, said: "We give the school boards power to establish special free schools under special circumstances, which chiefly apply to large towns, when from the exceeding poverty of the district, or for other very special reasons, they prove to the satisfaction of the Government that such a school is needed and ought to be established. We require the approval of the Government to be obtained, upon the ground that it would not be fair to the existing schools to allow a free school to be set up unless on very special grounds."-Hansard's Debates, vol. 199, p. 455.

Contribution to Industrial Schools.
29 & 30 Vict., c. 118.

27. A school board shall have the same powers of contributing money in the case of an industrial school as is given to a prison authority by sec. 12 of the Industrial Schools Act, 1866; and upon the election of a school board in a borough the council of that borough shall cease to have power to contribute under that section.

By the Industrial Schools Act, 1866 (29 & 30 Vict., c. 118), an industrial school is defined as 66 a school in which children are lodged, clothed, and fed, as well as taught." It is requisite that the Secretary of State for the Home Department should certify that the school is fit for the reception of children under the Act referred to, in order to constitute it a "certified industrial school."

As to the classes of children who may be sent to a certified industrial school, see sec. 28, note.

Sec. 12 of the Industrial Schools Act, 1866, provides as follows: "In England a prison authority may from time to time contribute such sums of money, and on such conditions as they think fit, towards the alteration, enlargement, or rebuilding of a certified industrial school; or towards the support of the inmates of such a school; or towards the management of such

a school; or towards the establishment or building of a school intended to be a certified industrial school; or towards the purchase of land required either for the use of an existing certified industrial school, or for the site of a school intended to be a certified industrial school; provided,―

“First.—That not less than two months' previous notice of the intention of the prison authority to take into consideration the making of such contribution, at a time and place to be mentioned in such notice, be given by advertisement in some one or more public newspaper or newspapers circulated within the district of the county or borough, and also in the manner in which notices relating to business to be transacted by the prison authority are usually given.

"Secondly. That where the prison authority is the council of a borough, the order for the contribution be made at a special meeting of the council.

"Thirdly.-That where the contribution is for alteration, enlargement, rebuilding, establishment, or building of a school or intended school, or for purchase of land, the approval of the Secretary of State be previously given for that alteration, enlargement, rebuilding, establishment, building or purchase."

As regards the first proviso in the section above quoted, it is to be observed that the 36 & 37 Vict., c. 86, sec. 14, post, provides that where a school board exercise the power of a prison authority, not less than fourteen days', instead of not less than two months', previous notice shall be given of the intention of the school board to take into consideration the making of the contribution.

The Industrial Schools Act, 1872 (35 & 36 Vict., c. 21), extends the powers of a prison authority under sec. 12 of the Act of 1866. Its provisions are as follows:

"Whereas by sec. 12 of the Industrial Schools Act, 1866, it is provided that a prison authority in England may from time to time contribute such sums of money, and on such conditions, as they think fit, towards the alteration, enlargement or rebuilding of a certified industrial school, or towards the support of the inmates of such school, or towards the management of such a school, or towards the establishment or building of a school intended to be a certified industrial school, or towards the purchase of land required either for the use of an existing certified industrial school, or for the site of a school intended to be a certified industrial school,' subject to the provisoes therein contained: Be it enacted that the said section shall extend to authorise the prison authority themselves to undertake anything towards which they are authorised by that section to contribute; and the Industrial Schools Act, 1866, shall be construed as if in the said section, so far as it relates to England, the expressions contribute towards' and 'contribution' included respectively undertake' and 'undertaking'; and the expenses of a prison authority in England incurred in pursuance of this section shall be defrayed accordingly" (sec. 7).

Whereas by sec. 27 of the Elementary Education Act, 1870, it is enacted that, upon the election of a school board in a borough, the council of that borough shall cease to have power to contribute under sec, 12 of the Industrial Schools Act, 1866: Be it enacted that the said enactment shall extend to all powers conferred on a prison authority by this part of this Act, and the date at which the power of a prison authority of a borough, who have during not less than six months before the election of a school board in such borough contributed to or maintained any industrial school, ceases in pursuance of the said enactment, shall be and be deemed always to have been the date at which

the school board in the borough resolve, in the manner and with the approval (if any) provided by sec. 12 of the Industrial Schools Act, 1866, to contribute, in pursuance of that section, to the industrial school to which the prison authority have so contributed, or as the case may be, resolve, under the provisions of and with the consent required by the Elementary Education Act, 1870, to maintain such industrial school; provided that any such industrial school which was so maintained by the prison authority may, notwithstanding any such resolution, continue to be maintained by the prison authority, unless they agree to transfer such school to the school board" (sec. 8).

"A prison authority in England may contribute towards the ultimate disposal of any inmate of a certified industrial school established by such authority in pursuance of this part of this Act, and the expenses incurred by a prison authority in England in pursuance of this section shall be deemed to be expenses incurred by such authority in carrying into effect the provisions of the Industrial Schools Act, 1866" (sec. 9).

The "Prison Authorities Act, 1874" (37 & 38 Vict., c. 47), further provides, by section 2, that," subject to the provisions of the Elementary Education Act, 1870, any prison authority may, with the approval of one of Her Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, borrow money for the purpose of defraying or contributing towards the expense of altering, enlarging, rebuilding, establishing, building, or purchasing the site of any industrial school under the Industrial Schools Acts." 66 Any moneys borrowed by a prison authority under that Act may be charged by that authority on any county rate, borough rate, or other rate applicable to the maintenance of a prison, and leviable by that authority, or on any other property belonging to that authority and applicable to the same purpose as the said rates, and shall be repaid, together with the interest due thereon, out of such rates or other property." The clauses of the Commissioners Clauses Act, with the exception of clause 84, are incorporated, and the moneys borrowed are to be repaid within thirty

years.

By the Education Act, 1876 (39 & 40 Vict., c. 79, sec. 16), post, it is also provided that a prison authority within the meaning of the Industrial Schools Act, 1866, and a school board, shall respectively have the same powers in relation to a certified day industrial school as they have in relation to a certified industrial school.

The London School Board have undertaken to pay to the managers of certain certified industrial schools in respect of each child sent to the school at the instance of the board "during the period of his detention therein, or until the withdrawal or resignation of the certificate of the school, or until the contribution out of money provided by Parliament towards the custody and maintenance of children detained in the school is discontinued (whichever shall first happen), such a sum of money as will with the sum of money from time to time contributed per week by the Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury in respect of the same child, make up the total sum of seven shillings per week."

By an arrangement with the Treasury, one of the officers of the London School Board acts as the agent of the Government Inspector of Reformatories and Industrial Schools for recovering the weekly contributions of parents towards the maintenance of their children in industrial schools, and the Treasury, in consideration of the labour involved, pay the school board 10 per cent. upon the amount received and transmitted to the Home Office.

As to the powers of a school board to establish, build, and maintain