Purely on Tresmeer. The rural district council wrote either on the day before or on the day of the election. The purpose was that the new Minister, whoever he might be, should realise the disquiet felt by the council and the fact that it desired a public inquiry into the facts because it thought that there had been grave mismanagement and that there were disquieting features, I ask the hon. Gentleman to give his views and whether he will accede to the request of the council, and also say why the Ministry has not sent a reply.

I ask for an assurance that during the time he holds office the principles behind the 1944 Education Act about consultation with parent-teacher associations and the wishes of parents will be adhered to even if by doing so some saving of money is not effected—even if it might cost more. Will the hon. Gentleman review the question of the distances which children have to travel and bear in mind the point about the dangers on country roads particularly where there are many tourists, and look into the point about time taken in travel?

I should like an assurance that there will be no imposition by himself or his right hon. Friend of any doctrinaire pattern of education on the primary school structure, particularly in rural areas. It is vital that the interests and views of the local people and of local education authorities who know the difficulties in these cases better than the Ministry should be taken into account.

I am concerned about the question of deaf children and the education they get, especially in the South-West. All deaf children are at the moment educated in secondary schools there—there is no special school catering for them. I should like an assurance that the hon. Gentleman will look into this question and do what he can to get some facilities for totally deaf children not only at the primary but at the secondary school stage. Great strides have been made in facilities for educationally subnormal children in Cornwall, but there are not similar facilities for the deaf. I plead that there should be a special school in the South-West to cater for them.

I know that the hon. Gentleman has the interests of children at heart. It is particularly important that primary school children should have the best possible treatment. But I beg the hon. Gentleman to remember that there are special problems in rural areas. It is no good doing paper planning and saying that one school here and one school there is the correct answer. The hon. Gentleman must look at the actual problems of the districts. He must bear in mind that he has a responsibility for keeping the rural community going. It may be that educationally it is best to have two primary schools 20 miles apart in a large rural area but frequently this causes great hardship, not only to the children, but to the community in general. I hope that during his tenure of office the hon. Gentleman will take particular notice of the points which I have raised and will give the assurances for which I have asked.