§ MR. THOROLD ROGERSasked the First Lord of the Treasury, Whether it is true that the governing body of Westminster School have agreed to surrender the right of the school to the house in Little Dean's Yard, lately occupied by the Rev. Lord John Thynne, and containing an area of about 10,000 square feet, and to accept instead another house containing an area of about 4,000 feet, after the decease of the present occupier, this house, the acquisition of which is more or less remote, not being so conveniently situated for the proper conduct of the school, and for the necessary expansion of its teaching, and whether in case such an arrangement has been made, there are any means by which it may be rescinded, and the school enter at once into the premises to which it is legally entitled; and, whether, in case the statutes of Westminster School, and the College of Christ Church, Oxford, are revised, it would not be expedient to free the ancient and royal foundation of Westminster from the relations with the two Deans and two Chapters of St. Peter's and Christ Church, especially the latter, since during the last ten years the undergraduates of Christ Church, Oxford, have gained only six first classes in Literis Humanioribus, and only eighteen first classes under Moderators, the college containing 207 undergraduates, while another college, exemptia gratia, now has, in the same period, having now 165 undergraduates, gained twenty-six first classes in Literis Humanioribus, and thirty-nine first classes under Moderators, and that the Westminster students may be left free to choose their own college?
MR. GLADSTONEIn reply to my hon. Friend, I have to state that, as I am informed, the Governing Body of Westminster School have agreed to surrender the right of the School to which he refers. With regard to the second branch of the first portion of his Ques- 961 tion, I am not aware of any means by which such an arrangement can be rescinded. The fact is, that the Legislature has, by a not very old Act of Parliament, made provision, through this body, for the conduct of the affairs of the School; and there are no means of taking the conduct of those affairs out of their hands. With reference to the second Question, I may allude to the inference to be drawn from it, which would lead one to suppose that my hon. Friend is of opinion that the diminution in the number of first classes in the case of the Undergraduates of Christ Church was due to the contaminating influence of the contact between the School and College. The Dean of Westminster gives me this consolatory assurance with regard to the composition of these Governing Bodies—namely, that out of 15 persons the Dean and Chapter have only three places; and, consequently, they cannot well corrupt the other 12 members, or if they do they must do so by some mysterious influence, which evidently testifies to an occult virtue in Deans and Chapters. At Christ Church the case was quite as strong, the Governing Body consisting of 29 persons, and the Dean and Chapter having only seven places; so that only about a fourth part of the responsibility for anything that takes place rests with the Dean and Chapter. My hon. Friend is dissatisfied with the conduct of the Governing Body; and upon that matter I must leave him to form an independent judgment.