§ MR. SEXTONI beg to ask the Vice President of the Committee of Council on Education whether the statement, that of five Professors appointed to the Royal College of Science, Dublin, within the last 20 898 years only one has been an Irishman is correct, or whether it refers only to the Professors still holding positions in the College; whether he is aware that as many as nine appointments to Professorships in the College have been made within a period of 18 years, and that only one of the nine gentlemen appointed has been an Irishman; and whether he can give any explanation of the parallel case that, of the recent appointments made by his Department to the Science and Art Museum in Dublin, none have been given to Irishmen?
§ THE VICE PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL (Sir W. HART DYKE,) Kent, DartfordMy answer referred to the Professors now holding appointments in the Royal College of Science, to whom I understand the hon. Member alluded in his question. In regard to the nationality of the Professors who have been appointed within the last 18 years, but are since resigned or dead, I am afraid I can speak with no certainty, but it is quite possible that the hon. Member is substantially correct. Of the present superior staff of the Science and Art Museum, including the Metropolitan School of Art and Botanic Gardens, three were appointed by competitive examination, and eight by various Lords President. Of the former —those appointed by competitive examination—I believe none are Irishmen; and of the latter, those appointed by nomination, all except one are, I believe, Irishmen.