HC Deb 02 April 1897 vol 48 cc400-1
MR. FIELD

I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (1) whether the Government intend to introduce this Session a Bill for the amendment of the educational system in Ireland; (2) whether manual, agricultural, and technical instruction will be provided; and (3) whether the rate will be defined to pay the expenses of enforcing compulsory attendance?

Ms. GERALD BALFOUR

I have nothing to add to the answer given by me to the hon. Member on the 11th February on the subject of the first and third Questions. As regards the second Question, a Commission is now sitting to consider the question of the application of the manual and practical instruction to the system of primary education in Ireland.

MR. PATRICK O'BRIEN (Kilkenny)

On behalf of the hon. Member for Dublin, Harbour (Mr. T. HARRINGTON), I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether manual instruction and agriculture are on the programme of the industrial schools in Ireland, and in how many of them were examinations held on these subjects in 1896?

MR. GERALD BALFOUR

Manual instruction in various trades and handicraft is given in industrial schools in Ireland, and agriculture is taught in such schools as have farms attached to them. None of the pupils of industrial schools, enrolled in national schools, were examined in 1895 in either practical agriculture or handicraft at the examinations conducted by the National Board of Education. The statistics for 1896 are not yet available.

MR. F. MANDEVILLE (Tipperary, S)

I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland is it consistent with the regulations of the National Board of Education in Ireland that an assistant teacher or monitor should take part in making a demand of possession from a tenant converted into a caretaker under Section 7 of the Land Act, 1887, with a view to eviction?

MR. GERALD BALFOUR

The Commissioners are unable to give a definite reply to this abstract question. If the hon. Member will state the circumstances and facts of the particular case out of which the question arises, further inquiry will be made.