§ SIR R. PAGET (Somerset, Wells)I beg to ask the Vice President of the Committee of Council on Education if he will be good enough to state to the House what measures are now being taken, with regard to the day training colleges for teachers at Manchester, Birmingham, Newcastle, Cardiff, Nottingham, Leeds, &c, to carry out the recommendation of the late Royal Education Commission, that in all day training colleges for teachers due provision should be made for the religious instruction of the students?
§ THE VICE PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL (Sir W. HART DYKE,) Kent, DartfordThe Report of the Royal Commission mentioned the point as one for the consideration of Parliament, but did not suggest any means by which the Education Department could secure such provision. It is no part of the duty of the Department to inquire into the character or amount of the religious instruction provided, even in residential colleges, which it is assumed will be the care of those responsible for their maintenance; but by requiring that every day training college shall be under the direction of a committee who are responsible for the moral conduct and discipline of the students, and by seeing that all arrangements for the purpose are satisfactory, the Department has, in my opinion, gone to the full extent of its obligations in this important matter.