HC Deb 28 October 1884 vol 293 cc349-50
MR. STANLEY LEIGHTON

asked the Vice President of the Committee of Council, Whether instructions were given by the Secretary of the Education Department to Mr. Fitch, one of the permanent officials of the Department, to prepare an answer to Dr. Crichton Browne's Report, after reference had been made to that Report in this House?

MR. MUNDELLA

Immediately on receipt of Dr. Crichton Browne's statement it was sent to Mr. Fitch for perusal. Mr. Fitch communicated to me his dissent from Dr. Browne's conclusions, and his dissatisfaction with the methods which Dr. Browne employed; but he was not requested to make any official Report until the document was made public by being laid on the Table of this House.

MR. STANLEY LEIGHTON

Is it the fact that Mr. Fitch is the gentleman who had the principal hand in drafting the New Code?

MR. MUNDELLA

He had not the principal hand in drafting the Code. He was one of a Committee of nine or ten gentlemen employed on that Code.