MR. O'BRIENasked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether he is aware that the President of the Queen's College, Cork, in one of his late Reports, complains that the students admitted to that College are so ill-instructed in "the ordinary instruments of thought" that they are to be classed into the "instructed and the un-instructed;" how many of the students at present attending lectures in the Queen's College, Cork, are of the uninstructed class; is it the fact that Scholarships are awarded on the principle laid down by the President, in his Report for 1880–81, that—
When the number of candidates is less than the number of Scholarships to be competed for, the standard is determined by the knowledge of the lowest candidate;if so, are Scholarships so awarded to be continued as a public charge; how many of the students in any of the Queen's Colleges have obtained prizes or Scholarships in any of these Colleges after failing to obtain an Exhibition or any honorary distinction in the Royal University; and, whether, the regulations of the Royal University notwithstanding, there are students in any of the Queen's Colleges holding an Exhibition in the Royal University, and a Scholarship in any of the Queen's Colleges?
§ MR. TREVELYANThe hon. Member quotes from the elaborate Report of the President of the Queen's College, Cork, for 1880–81, certain detached phrases and parts of sentences which are misleading in the shape in which he pre- 1267 sents them. The President's remarks about the unprepared state of some of the students who enter College are directed against the course of instruction in the schools from which they come, and are no more an argument against the Queen's Colleges, than it would be an argument against Oxford if the Vice Chancellor of the University complained that boys came up badly prepared from our public schools. The case is still stronger as regards the sentence which the hon. Member quotes about the Scholarships. I can find no such sentence in the Report. The President (speaking not specially of Cork College, but of any College examining for prizes) says—
If the number of competitors is not greater than the number of prizes, or even fall short of it, the standard would be determined by the knowledge of the lowest candidate, unless a predetermined minimum were fixed;and he goes on to say that the Council of Cork College have always taken care to fix a minimum which would represent a fair knowledge of the subjects of the examination. As regards students who may have obtained prizes in any of the Queen's Colleges, after failing to obtain an Exhibition or honorary distinction in the Royal University, I have referred the inquiry to Belfast and Gal-way. So far as Cork College is concerned, the President informs me that he knows of only one such case, and in it the student succeeded in subjects different from those in which he had failed in the Royal University. I have received a letter from the Secretaries of the Royal University, from which it appears that they have no knowledge of any breach of the regulations under which the University Exhibitions may be held.