§ MR. SEXTONasked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether he has observed the fact disclosed in the published accounts of the Intermediate Education Board for Ireland for the period from October 1878 to December 1879, that it has cost £11,227 in expense of administration to distribute £11,987 in exhibitions, prizes, and fees, and that a balance of £9,987 of the income for the period has been left unused by the Board; and, whether steps will be taken to secure a better administration than that which applies but one-third of the income for the purposes contemplated by this Statute, whilst another third is absorbed in the cost of administration, and the remaining third is not employed at all?
§ Mr. W. E. FORSTERI have seen the accounts to which the hon. Member refers. I would remind him that the Intermediate Education Act has two objects—namely, the carrying out of the system of public examinations and the 63 distribution of the rewards. One half the expense of administration is connected with the cost of examinations, an essential duty of the Board. Much of the other half of the expense of administration arises from expenses necessary in first starting the Act. As regards the fact that one-third of the income has not been employed within the time with which the Report deals, that also arises from the Act having only so recently come into operation; but so great is the increase in the number of candidates that I fear this year the difficulty will be to bring the expenses within the income of the fund allocated.