§ MR. MACARTNEY(for Major SAUNDERSON) (Antrim, S.)asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether it is a principle in the management of the model schools under the control of the Commissioners of National Education in Ireland to select teachers belonging to the various Churches, so that their number may be in proportion to the number of pupils belonging to those Churches, who attend the model schools; whether the Government is aware that, in the Belfast Model School, there are five Roman Catholics in the Teaching Staff to nineteen Roman Catholic pupils, and only two Methodists in the Teaching Staff to one hundred and fifty-five Methodist pupils; and, whether Her Majesty's Government will take steps to have this inequality remedied in future appointments?
§ THE CHIEF SECRETARY (Mr. JOHN MORLEY) (Newcastle-on-Tyne)The Commissioners of National Education inform me that it is their practice to be guided by the principle enunciated in the first paragraph of the Question. The undue proportion of Catholic teachers to pupils in the Belfast Model School is due to the fact that some years ago there was a very large attendance of Catholic pupils at the school, as many as 600 appearing on the rolls. I am, however, assured that advantage is taken of every opportunity to remedy the existing inequality. I should add that, besides the two Methodist teachers referred to, there are two resident Methodist pupil teachers in the school.