§ MR. BIGGARasked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether the statement in paragraph 20 of the last Report of the Commissioners of National Education in Ireland, namely, "The Results Examinations show that the Model Schools continue to maintain their high character," is to be understood as implying that the Model Schools show results superior to those of the best ordinary National Schools, say those examined for the Carlisle and Blake Premiums; whether he is able to give any statistics in support of the Commissioners' assertion; and, whether he can give the House any assurance that the Model Schools realise the "chief objects" for which, according to the Commissioners' Rules and Regulations, paragraph 37, they were founded, namely,
To promote united education, to exhibit to the surrounding schools the most improved methods of literary and scientific instruction, and to prepare young persons for the office of teacher,732 having regard to the present state of the attendance, and also to the fact that, during the year 1880, only eighty-five teachers were prepared by ninety-four Model School Departments?
§ MR. W. E. FORSTER, in reply, said, that the words quoted from paragraph 20 did not imply any comparison, nor was any intended. The statement was one of opinion, and did not require any statistics to support it. The Commissioners of National Education did their best to make the Model Schools realize the chief objects they were founded to promote.