HC Deb 08 May 1884 vol 287 cc1686-7
MR. BIGGAR

asked the Vice President of the Committee of Council, Whether his attention has been drawn to the description of the conduct of Mr. Barklie, in the Fifteenth Annual Report of the Science and Art Department, Not only have the candidates copied from, and been assisted by, one and another, but in many cases they seem to have been aided and abetted by the teachers, who have systematically sent into the examination room answers to the questions, to be copied by the pupils, and passed from one to the other, and the comment of the Inspector, The foregoing, however, may be considered but trifling irregularities, when compared with the extensive and organised system of fraud which afterwards came to light in connection with some of the Belfast examinations; and, if so, is he prepared to allow Mr. Barklie to have his present amount of influence over the distribution of public money granted for the School of Science and Art in Belfast?

MR. MUNDELLA

I answered a Question of the hon. Member's substantially the same as the one now asked on the 3rd of April. The first quotation to which the hon. Gentleman now refers is from a Minute of the Committee, of Council on Education, dated October, 1867, and related to what had taken place in two schools in Belfast—one in Carrickfergus, and one at Clifden, in County Galway. The second quotation is from a Report, dated July, 1868, and the word "foregoing" in it did not refer to any of these schools, or to what had occurred in them. Mr. Barklie was, no doubt, one of several teachers inculpated by the Report of 1867, and he suffered severely for his fault. As I explained on a former occasion, he is an excellent teacher, and has done good service since; and I cannot understand with what object his early fault is thus persistently raked up against him. So long, however, as the Committee of the Science and Art School of Belfast, to whom all payments are made by the Department, choose to employ Mr. Barklie, we have no power to interfere.