§ MR. GRAYasked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, with regard to the Return of last Session relative to the Royal University of Ireland (180 H. 7. 6. 83), Whether there were in each of the three Queen's Colleges, at the date of the Return, two classes of Arts Students, ranking as 1496 "Matriculated Students" of the Royal University, some who had become so by passing the Matriculation Examination of the University, others who had become so merely by the provisions of the University Act (42 and 43 Vic. c. 65), which conferred this status on those who were Matriculated Students of a Queen's College at the date of the dissolution of the Queen's University; whether the Return moved for explicitly set forth that what was to be stated was the number of Students of the former class, those who had "passed the Matriculation Examination of the Royal University;" whether the number of Students returned by the responsible official of Galway College, in answer to this query, was 3, the number who really had passed the University Examination; whether the number returned by the responsible official of the Belfast College was 77; whether this Return, in the case of Belfast, was accompanied by a footnote stating that the Return made did not really give the number of the class of Students ordered to be returned, but to a totally different class, those, namely, who had become University Students, not by passing the University Examination, but merely by the operation of the Act of Parliament; whether the Return in the case of Cork, supposing the same footnote to refer to it, was equally defective; whether the Government obtained at all, from those Colleges, the number of the class of Students to which the Order of the House of Commons applied; who was responsible for the failure to produce to the House the Returns really moved for; and, whether he can state the correct numbers which should have been given in the Return in the cases of Belfast and Cork?
§ MR. TREVELYANSir, the hon. Member is correct as to there having been two classes of Art students ranking as matriculated students of the Royal University. The accidental omission has been already stated at length to the House. From the information now before me, it appears that the number of Arts students who actually passed the matriculation examination of the Royal University in 1881 from the several Colleges were, from Belfast, six; from Cork, none; and from Galway, three. In reference to these very low numbers it is well to observe that the Royal University examination was deferred to 1497 December, and that the usual matriculation examinations had been held in the Colleges in the previous October.