§ MR. STANLEY LEIGHTONasked the Vice President of the Council, Whether the secret instructions issued last year to Government School Inspectors remain in force; and, whether, in view of the importance of Parliament being kept acquainted with the interpretation placed on the Code, by the Department, and of the expediency of making known to school managers the authorised mode of assessing the grant, he will this year communicate to Parliament all the instructions of the Department to the school inspectors?
§ MR. MUNDELLASir, the instructions issued last year to School Inspectors were not so secret as the hon. Gentleman seems to suppose. Those instructions do remain in force; but we have made changes in the Code which will supersede some of them. It has never been found possible to administer properly the Parliamentary grant without issuing from time to time Circulars and confidential instructions to the many Inspectors who are in charge of school districts all over the country; and it is possible that after the next conference of Inspectors at Easter, in order to obtain uniformity of examination, additional 865 instructions may be requisite. If so, they will be issued; but I cannot undertake, contrary to the invariable practice of the Department, to lay such instructions before Parliament.