MR. GATHORNE HARDYasked the Vice President of the Committee of Council, If he will lay upon the Table of the House a Paper issued by the Endowed Schools Commissioners, containing the general rules upon which they will deal with endowments now applicable to Elementary Education?
§ MR. W. E. FORSTERsaid, in reply, that he was very anxious that every information should be given by the Department of which he was the head; but he felt considerable difficulty with regard to the document referred to, which was neither headed nor signed, so that it was impossible to make it a Parliamentary Paper without giving it an importance which it was not intended to have. It was not an official statement drawn up for publication, nor was it addressed to the public, but formed part of an explanatory 141 letter adapted to the circumstances of each case.
§ MR. BERESFORD HOPEsaid, he thought that the document, together with the correspondence with which it was accompanied, would form an interesting Parliamentary Paper, and he therefore hoped it would be laid before the House.
§ MR. W. E. FORSTERsaid, some limit must be put on the production of documents of this nature. If documents which were a mere statement of views and were devoid of official responsibility were to be laid before the House, there would be no end of such Parliamentary Papers.