§ MR. O'MALLEYI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland if he is aware that a new and very difficult text-book on agriculture has been introduced into Irish national schools, and was made compulsory in October last year; whether he is aware that each class, beginning with the junior fifth, is required to know, in order to merit a pass in this subject, the special portions of the programme for the preceding classes in addition to its own; and, if such is the case, will he recommend the Commissioners of National Education to instruct their school inspectors not to insist at the results examination, particularly in Irish-speaking localities, for the next few years on a knowledge from any one class of the programme in agriculture for the preceding classes.
§ THE CHIEF SECRETARY FOR IRELAND (Mr. G. W. BALFOUR (Leeds, Central)The new edition of the Agricultural Text-book contains substantially the same matter as the old edition. It is written in a simpler style, and is thus less difficult for children to learn. As a rule pupils are expected to be prepared for examination in the parts of a subject studied in previous years. A relaxation of this rule was allowed in the case of agriculture on the introduction of the new text-book, and this relaxation will be continued to the required extent as long as may be deemed necessary. As regards the third paragraph, the Commissioners do not consider it advisable to make a difference in the standard of examination in different localities.