§ MR. W. E. FORSTER,in asking the Vice President of the Council, Whether it is the intention of the Government that the Minutes of the Education Department altering the Educational Code, which was laid upon the Table this month, should be laid upon the Table of the House in the next Session of Parliament for one month before they are put in force? explained that the Act of 1870 provided that all new Minutes of the Department should lie on the Table of the House for one month before they became valid; and it was a question of doubt whether the lapse of time was to be calculated from the date of the presentation of the Minutes, or whether, in the event of a Dissolution taking place before the expiration of the month, the full period was to be completed in the next Parliament. He assumed that, according to the spirit of the enactment, the period would run into the next Parliament.
§ LORD GEORGE HAMILTONI am glad to see, from the Question of the right hon. Gentleman, that he assumes that the administration of the Educational Code will in the next Parliament be con- 1207 tinued by the present Government; and, believing that this assumption is the correct one, I will to-night lay upon the Table a Minute, by which the application of all changes, or proposed changes, will be postponed for three months; and, therefore, they will not come into effect or apply to any schools to which grants were made before the 1st of July. There will, therefore, be ample time for the discussion of the matter.