§ MR. BLACKsaid he wished to ask the Secretary of the Treasury what proceedings have been taken in regard to the publication of the Irish School Books; and if he has any objection to lay upon the table of the House the Correspondence between 1733 the Government and the Commissioners of National Education in Ireland, with the Treasury Minute consequent thereupon. Also Copy of Letter from Mr. Thomas Longman to the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the same subject, dated July 14, 1857; and Sir Charles Trevelyan's Reply, dated July 28, 1857?
MR. WILSONsaid, he believed that the contract entered into by the Commissioners of National Education in Ireland for the production of their books would terminate at the end of the present month; and it was not intended to renew it except so far as concerned the books required in their own schools. In future, therefore, they would not supply the public with any books whatever, but the copyright of their works would be thrown open to the trade generally, so that all publishers might have the right of printing and publishing those works, and of selling them to the public on their own terms. The demand for these books had risen during the last three years from 3,000 to 12,000.