§ MR. BIGGARasked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, What is the amount of Results Fees paid in the Coleraine District each year since the present Inspector of National Schools took charge, and the amounts for an equal number of years during his Predecessor's tenure of office; if the reduction is occasioned by the adoption of too high a standard, or by fewer pupils being presented for examination, or by deterioration in the teaching staff; if it is not a fact within the experience of the Commissioners of National Education in Ireland, and borne out by the statistics and records of the Education Office, that, when inspectors of comparatively limited experience in inspection and examination of schools are transferred to a new district, the Results Fees are cut down by one-third or one-half; whether it frequently happens that schools obtaining a high and satisfactory percentage of passes one year are reported on next year as insufficient and unsatisfactory under a new inspector; what guarantees do the rules of the 1446 Commissioners of National Education provide to secure their teachers from the whims and prejudices of the Board's officers; and, whether the records of the Education Office do not show that, if a teacher takes auy action against his inspector in order to assert his rights, he becomes a marked man amongst the official staff, and that his professional career continues to be reported ever after as unsatisfactory?
§ MR. CAMPBELL - BANNERMAN, in reply, said, that the Commissioners of National Education entirely objected to the production of Returns having for their object comparison of the results examination by different Inspectors. Such a course the Commissioners believed would be a severe blow to the independence of the Inspectors. In that view he entirely concurred. The Commissioners had taken elaborate precautions to secure absolute fairness in the examination. No new Inspector was commissioned to take charge of a district until he had mastered all details connected with his duties under two or three experienced Inspectors. He might mention that in the Coleraine district the test examinations showed almost an identity of judgment. The public rules of the Commissioners provided for appeal on the part of any manager or teacher who felt aggrieved by the results examinations. He was assured that the suggestions in the last part of the Question were absolutely without foundation.