§ MR. J. PINKERTON (Galway)On behalf of the hon. Member for West Waterford, I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he will communicate with the Science and Art Department, or the Local Government Board for Ireland, with a view to their causing to be issued to local authorities in Ireland a circular elucidating and explaining the provisions of the Technical Instruction Acts, 1889 632 and 1891, so far as regards the provision of manual and technical instruction by such authorities; and whether there is any means of having the provisions of the said Acts, where they appear to be ambiguous, interpreted by a Court of Law?
§ MR. GERALD BALFOURThe Science and Art Department and the Irish Local Government Board are always ready to advise local authorities with respect to the Technical Instruction Acts so far as it may be proper for them to do so. The Local Government Board have no power to direct the action of local authorities with respect to the construction or application of the provisions of the Acts, and the Science and Art Department are unwilling to take upon themselves the responsibility of issuing a general circular purporting to give an authoritative interpretation of the Acts. I am not aware of any means of having the provisions of the Technical Instruction Acts interpreted by a Court of Law, except by the parties interested bringing a case before them.