§ MR. DAVID THOMAS (Merthyr Tydvil)I beg to ask the Vice President of the Committee of Council on Education whether he is aware that, in consequence of the Report of the Inspector sent down by the Education Department to inquire into the causes of the recent outbreak of students at Bangor Training College, that the discipline of the Institution is unsatisfactory, the College Committee is now engaged in re-constituting the staff of the College; can he explain why the Education Department has refused to sanction the re-admission of one of the students for his second year's course of training, notwithstanding the fact that the College General Committee and the special Sub-Committee unanimously recommended his re-admission; whether the student was given any opportunity of defending himself before the Inspector; and whether, having regard to all the circumstances of the case, he will recommend the Department to reconsider the matter?
§ THE VICE PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL (Sir W. HART DYKE, Kent, Dartford)The Education Department has refused to sanction the re-admission of the student at the Bangor Training College whose impertinence is stated by the Inspector to have been the immediate cause of the outbreak to which the hon. Member refers. The facts were, unfortunately, too well attested to permit of explanation so far as that student was concerned, and it is as well to bear in mind that the Inspector's recommendation in regard to him sought nothing more than to give effect to what had been the first resolution of the authorities of the College. The student has already been treated with indulgence, to the extent of being allowed to qualify himself for a certificate by concluding his first year's course; and, looking to the paramount importance of maintaining the discipline of the College, I am not prepared on the part of the Department to re-consider a decision which has been arrived at with the aid of the fullest information and after the most careful and deliberate inquiry. The statement that the College General Committee recommended the re-admission of the student is quite incorrect.