HC Deb 14 March 1884 vol 285 cc1536-7
MR. W. J. CORBET

asked the Secretary of State for War, Whether neither the head master of the Normal School nor the "upper" (head) master of the Model School is, or has been, an Army schoolmaster; whether the head master at the Hibernian School has filled his present post for thirty-eight and a-half years, has 158 boys to look after, and a fixed salary of £270, while the head master at Chelsea with eight and a-half years' service as head, and a total of twenty-seven years' service, has a salary progressing from a minimum of £270 to a maximum of £350 with only 100 boys in his own immediate charge; and, whether he will reconsider the advisability of removing the inequalities existing in this matter as between the two institutions and the two countries?

THE MARQUESS OF HARTINGTON

The Normal School is a training school for Army schoolmasters, and the head master's duties are quite distinct from those of the upper masters of the Royal Military Asylum and Royal Hibernian Military School. He is a civilian, and has nothing to do with either of those schools. The upper master of the model school is not an Army schoolmaster; but all the under masters are. The other particulars in the hon. Member's Question are accurate. As regards the inequalities in the salaries of the respective head masters, it must be remarked that the principal duty of a head master is the charge of the whole school under him. I will cause further inquiry to be made, whether, judging by this standard, there is a case for increasing the salary of the head master of the Hibernian School.