§ MR. C. DIAMOND (Monaghan, N.)T beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland if he is aware that the salaries of Irish national teachers are paid quarterly, and then not till 15 days after the termination of each quarter; whether payment of the salaries of any other class of public servants is deferred for so long a period after they fall due; and whether, considering the fact that the 14th April (the date of issue of the teachers' money orders) falls this year on Easter Sunday, the Commissioners of National Education will see the desirability of having teachers' money orders issued so as to be in the hands of the teachers on Saturday, 13th April?
THE CHIEF SECRETARY FOR IRELAND(Mr. J. MORLEY, Newcastle-upon-Tyne)The practice of remitting the quarterly salaries of teachers a fortnight after the completion of the quarter is, I am informed, a very long-established one, and teachers consequently receive their money exactly three months after the previous payment. The Commissioners could not undertake to alter the quarterly pay-day, nor to have the money orders in the hands of teachers on the 13th April; but they will endeavour to expedite the payments as much as practicable.
§ MR. C. DIAMONDI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether, in some of the national schools in the county Monaghan the average attendance of 160 pupils for the quarter ending in December last was considerably reduced, owing to an epidemic of diphtheria; and whether the Commissioners of National Education will duly consider the fact, should the attendance for the current quarter in any such school fall below the number required owing to the exceptional and continuous severity of the weather during the months of January and February?
MR. J. MORLEYThe Commissioners are aware that in county Monaghan diphtheria prevailed in some localities, and the attendances of pupils at some of the schools were injuriously affected last quarter owing to the epidemic. The occurrence of the exceptionally severe weather of January and February has already been under consideration, and in cases where, owing to such cause, or to epidemics, the attendance of pupils for the current quarter is found to fall short of the usual number, the Commissioners will be prepared to deal as leniently with the teachers as the regulations may enable them to do.