§ MR. MELDONasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland, When the Bill dealing with the claims of the Irish National Teachers will be introduced; whether it is time that the scheme for providing pensions for the teachers of Irish National Schools, which has been for some years in preparation, has been rejected by the Treasury or the Government, and whether instructions have been given to prepare another scheme much less beneficial to the teachers?
§ MR. J. LOWTHERSir, the state in which the question alluded to by the hon. and learned Gentleman now stands is as follows:—It was referred to an ac- 924 tuary, whose Report was received last February by the Treasury, and was forwarded to me by that Department in March. It appeared upon examination that the scale of proposed pensions had been framed upon the old scale of remuneration, and, therefore, required re-adjusting in accordance with the proposed new scale of payment. This is now being gone into. The hon. and learned Gentleman inquires whether, or rather he assumes that, the amended scheme will be less beneficial to the teachers than the original draft. That is a question I can scarcely go into now, though I may point out that the amended scheme is based upon the proposed augmented class salaries, which is manifestly a fairer and more equal basis upon which to calculate pensions than could be afforded by a fluctuating scale of results fees, which has, with good reason, been so frequently denounced by "the teachers and their friends as unequal in its application, and as operating injuriously to many, especially those whose lot is cast in thinly-populated districts. As to when the Bill will be introduced, we must, of course, wait till the scale has been corrected and considered; but I hope this will not be long.