§ MR. HUMPHREYS-OWEN (Montgomeryshire)I beg to ask the Vice President of the Committee of Council on Education whether his attention has been called to a letter from the Bishop of St. Asaph, which appeared in The Times of 31st July, stating that it was much to be regretted that Mr. Acland should have said in his place in the House of Commons that he signed a Circular which he never signed, and further stating that the Circular did not state that the school was undenominational; and whether these statements are in accordance with the facts of the case?
§ MR. ACLANDI have seen the letter to The Times of July 31st from the Bishop of St. Asaph. The Bishop appears to be under some misapprehension when he states that I said in the House that he signed a Circular which he never signed. The facts are as follows: I was asked on Friday last, in a question by the hon. Member for West Denbigh, whether my attention had been called to a certain Circular, of the year 1576 1888, relating to Ruthin Grammar School. I replied that I had seen it, and I said that it was signed, among others, by the Bishop of St. Asaph, Mr. Cornwallis West, and Sir John Puleston. The date of the Circular—an old Circular of more than six years ago—was before the House. It was obvious, I think, that the only person who could sign the Circular in 1888 as Bishop of St. Asaph was the Bishop of that time, to whom, of course, I referred. I had no intention of making any misstatement about the present Bishop. With reference to the other statement of the Bishop mentioned in the question, which runs as follows: "The Circular did not state that the school was undenominational," it is sufficient to quote from the Circular, which I have in my hand to-day, as I had on Friday last, the following words:—"The school is undenominational." The rest of the sentence, which it is not really necessary to quote for this purpose is as follows: "and the pupils are not subject to any religious test." The exact date of the Circular is 12th May, 1888.