§ MR. CLANCY (Dublin Co., N.)asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether the combined salaries paid to the two Assistant Commissioners of Intermediate Education in Ireland amounted in 1884 to seven per cent of the entire expenditure of the Board, to nearly one-fourth of all the results fees to boys and girls in Ireland, to once and a-half as much as the results fees given to girls' schools in all Ireland, to all the results fees given in respect of boys and girls in Munster, to six times the amount of the results fees given to all the schools in Connaught; whether the Assistant Commissioners who were appointed to act as secretaries and inspectors have even acted in the latter capacity, and have had their secretarial work mainly done by the chief and under clerks; and, if all this be the case, the Government will take advantage of the present vacancy in the office of Assistant Commissioner to effect a reduction in the administration expenses of the Board of Intermediate Education, and thus increase the small fund available for prizes to pupils and fees to schools?
§ THE CHIEF SECRETARY (Sir MICHAEL HICKS-BEACH) (Bristol, W.), The hon. Gentleman will excuse me if I do not go into the calculations he has made. They may be correct, but if they are correct I do not know that his premisses would be established. I may state, however, that in the year he mentions (1884) the Commissioners had at their disposal for payment as rewards and results fees £5,000 more than was earned by students. With regard to the distribution of the business of the Department, I am informed that the secretarial duties have been performed by the Assistant Commissioners exclusively; but that no occasion has as yet arisen for their employment as Inspectors. I have already intimated that the question of the salary to be attached to the office of Assistant Commissioner will be considered before the existing vacancy is filled.