§ MR. LOWEsaid, he rose to ask Mr. Attorney General for Ireland. Whether he will obtain and lay upon the table of the House the following information with regard to the Catholic University:—The Instrument of its foundation; the authority by which it professes to confer Degrees, and a list of such Degrees; the number of its Students fur each year since its foundation; and by Students he understood Students actually studying in the University, not affiliated to the Institution, and not evening Students; also the number of Professors?
§ SIR HUGH CAIRNSsaid, he desired, before the Question was answered, to put that of which he had given notice, having reference to the same subject. He wished to ask Mr. Attorney General for Ireland, whether the changes contemplated in the constitution of the Queen's University in Ireland are to be affected by a surrender from the Corporation of their present Charter, or in what other manner; and if by a surrender of the Charter, whether the assent of the University to such surrender has been obtained?
§ THE ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR IRELAND (Mr. LAWSON)said, in answer to the Questions put by the right hon. Gentleman (Mr. Lowe), he begged to state that the Catholic University was a voluntary institution, it did not receive aid from the State, and was not under its control, and he was not, therefore, in a condition to produce the information asked for; but he should be happy to make inquiries, and if he succeeded, he would lay the result on the table. In reference to the several points to which the right hon. Gentleman had alluded, he might state that, as the Catholic University was founded by the Roman Catholic prelates in Ireland, he was not aware that there was actually any instrument of foundation. As to the second point, the power to confer degrees, it had 1616 no such authority, and he believed it did not profess to confer any degrees except in theology. He was not in a position to give the number of students or professors. He had only access to the University Calendar, and consequently could not give authentic information on these points. With respect to the Question of the hon. and learned Member for Belfast (Sir Hugh Cairns), as to the mode in which the changes contemplated in the constitution of the Queen's University in Ireland are to be effected, he had to state that the mode of effecting these changes had not yet been finally decided upon. The changes which it was in the contemplation of the Government to recommend would be shortly laid on the table in the form of a letter from the Secretary of State to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. It would, of course, be necessary to obtain the assent of the governing body of the Queen's University to those changes, and that assent had not yet been asked for.