§ MR. PATRICK O'BRIEN (Kilkenny)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether the form of agreement adopted by the Commissioners of National Education (Ireland) in 1895, and which was intended to prevent the arbitrary dismissal of teachers by school managers by providing for a referee without whose written concurrence in the action of a manager there could be neither immediate dismissal of the teacher, nor the issue to him of three months' notice, has ever been put into operation; and, if so, in what case, and who was the referee; and did the Commissioners, when making the rule, name any particular person to act as referee, or any class of persons from whom a referee was to be selected if oases arose; and, if so, can he give their names or qualifications?
§ THE ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR IRELAND (Mr. ATKINSON,) Londonderry, N.In the absence of the Chief Secretary I have to say I am informed by the Commissioners that the number of cases in which agreements have been executed between managers and teachers since the adoption in 1895 of the new forms is 262. The several persons or bodies named as referees in these agreements are the Commissioners themselves, Roman Catholic bishops, bishops of the Church of Ireland, the General Assembly, the Methodist Conference, individual clergymen of various denominations, etc. No particular person, or class of persons, was named by the Commissioners to act as referee.