§ SIR HENRY STRACEYsaid, he wished to inquire of the Vice President of the Committee of Council on Education, Whether the intended regulations applying to Navigation Schools, to come into operation on 1st January 1864, cannot be so altered as to make it compulsory on the applicants for the rank of Master or Mate to acquire the subjects laid down as necessary to produce the results upon which the Teachers at the Navigation Schools are to be paid?
§ MR. LOWEreplied, that it was not in the power of his Department to make the alteration suggested. Examinations of Masters and Mates for Certificates of competency were in the hands of the Board of Trade. The examinations in Navigation Schools were appointed to be made by the Committee of Council on Education, for the purpose of placing those Schools in the same position as other certificated Schools; the pupils in them would be examined and the masters paid according to their proficiency. In his opinion there would, in the present state of nautical education, be great difficulty in carrying out the suggestion of the hon. Gentleman.