asked the President of the Board of Education whether he has investigated the proposal of the education committee of the Kent County Council to purchase a motor-car for the delivery of stores to various districts within its area; how many motor-cars are to be employed in this service at the public expense; and whether it is his intention to take steps to prevent this extension of county council trading, which is carried on to a very large extent at the cost of the ratepayers and to the serious disadvantage of individual enterprise within the area of the county council?

I am informed that the Kent County Council have authorised their education committee as an experiment to purchase a motor lorry for the distribution of school materials to schools in their area. The arrangement, which presumably has been devised in the interests of the ratepayers, will, I understand, be subject to review in the light of its convenience and economy. I see no grounds for intervening in the matter.