§ MR. STANLEY LEIGHTON (Shropshire, Oswestry)I beg to ask the Vice President of the Committee of Council on Education whether he has read the report of a trial at Chester in the case of "Hughes v. Vernon and others," in which the Judge characterised the proceedings of the Senate of the University College of Bangor in an inquiry into the conduct of the Lady Principal of a hostel as a travesty of justice, and from which it appears that the Council of the University College without investigation acted on the finding of the Senate, and withdrew from Miss Hughes her licence to keep a hall, although the Directors of the hall supported Miss Hughes; and whether, under these circumstances, he will cause an impartial inquiry to be made before lie applies to Parliament for a grant of £4,000 for the support of the College?
§ MR. ACLANDI have seen in The Times the report of this case, which was an action for libel brought by Miss Hughes against the proprietors of The Weekly Despatch. I do not there find the remarks attributed to the learned Judge; but the report is brief, and I have no reason to doubt the accuracy of the 123 hon. Member's statement. The question at issue seems to be a matter of internal discipline; and, quite independently of this trial, it does not appear to me that the fact that the College receives a Treasury grant of £4,000 provides any justification for a Government inquiry in this case.