§ MR. FLAVIN (Kerry, N.)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury will he explain why Irish assistant teachers who have spent five years as monitors and two years in one of the Board's training colleges only receive an average salary of £62 per annum, although some of the assistants may be University graduates, 1061 and may have spent 20 years as assistant teachers; and whether he can say why Irish assistant teachers only receive an average salary of £62 per year, as compared with the English and Scotch assistant teachers, who receive respectively £97 and £100 per annum?
§ MR. HANBURYThe average income of male assistant teachers in Ireland, according to the latest available Return (for the year 1895), was £63 6s. 8¼d. In England the latest Return (for 1896) shows an average of £97 7s. 6d., and in Scotland (for the same year) of £103 7s. 9d. But the three countries compare very differently when the total provision for teaching is taken in proportion to the number of children in average attendance. The average payment to Irish teachers was £2 4s. per child, as against £1 15s. in England and £1 18s. 7d. in Scotland. And it is also to be remembered that in Ireland more than 7–8ths of the total payment comes from the Parliamentary Votes, and less than 1–8th from local sources; while in England the proportions are less than 2–3rds from Parliamentary Votes, and more than 1–3rd from local sources; and in Scotland the local contribution is between 1–3rd and 1–4th. The distribution of the total amount between the different classes of teachers is not a matter which directly concerns the Treasury.