§ MR. J. E. REDMOND (Waterford)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (1) whether he is aware that the teachers of National Schools are unable to obtain copies of the 63rd Report of the Commissioners of National Education, and that, on the matter being brought before the notice of the Commissioners, they stated that the supply originally printed being exhausted, the Report could not now be reprinted without the express sanction of the Lords of Her Majesty's Treasury; and (2) whether, in view of the fact that this publication contains the Inspectors' Reports, and is therefore required by the teachers for their guidance, Her Majesty's Treasury would give the necessary sanction?
§ MR. GERALD BALFOURThe facts are generally as stated in the first paragraph. The practice in past years has been to publish the Inspectors' Reports as an appendix, apart from the Report of the Commissioners, but on the occasion of the publication of the 63rd Report the Commissioners transferred the Inspectors' Reports to the volume containing their own Report, with the result that the demand for the Inspectors' Reports was greater than the supply. The Commissioners have explained the facts to the Secretary to the Teachers' Organisation, and stated that before making application to the Treasury for a reprint it would be necessary to give a guarantee that there would be an adequate demand for the Report when reproduced, and that the Commissioners could not themselves give such a guarantee. No intimation has since been received as to the extent of the demand, and, therefore, the Commissioners have not felt warranted in bringing the matter before the Treasury.