§ MR. MUNTZasked the Vice President of the Council, If it be true that 1043 the Committee of Council on Education have forbidden Her Majesty's Inspectors of Schools to attend the Conference on Domestic Economy to be held this month at Birmingham; and, if so, if he would state why?
§ VISCOUNT SANDONWe are sorry to be unable to meet the wishes of the Conference and to sanction the attendance of our Inspectors there. But, in the first place, it is held at one of the busiest seasons of the year, when many of the schools are waiting for grants which depend upon the Inspectors' visits, while, as the holidays are approaching, the visits cannot be deferred. Beyond this, so many of these Conferences on education matters are now held concerning subjects on which we have afterwards to consult our Inspectors, that we have laid down a general rule to discourage the attendance of these officers at such meetings, where they would be committed upon subjects respecting which afterwards we should wish to have the advantage of their unbiassed judgment. I need hardly assure my hon. Friend that I am quite as anxious as he is that domestic economy should be well taught in our schools, and I shall look with interest to hear the result of the important Conference proposed to be held in Birmingham.