§ COLONEL LOCKWOODI beg to ask the Vice-President of the Committee of Council on Education whether his atten- 804 tion has been called to the speech indicating a method of organising the Education Office, which was delivered on 1st August. 1898,* by the Lord President in introducing the then Board of Education Bill, and which was subsequently officially circulated: and whether the Departmental Committee for the organisa- of the Board of Education will be instructed to take, in connection with the terms of reference which were assigned to them by the Lord President, and were communicated to this House on the 12th inst., the method of organisation suggested by the Lord President, namely, that a Secondary Education Department proper should he established, which in its supervision of all secondary schools would necessarily also take over some of the duties at present performed by the Education Department, together with other duties at present performed by the Science and Art Department, and that another Department might be charged with the duties pertaining to strictly technical education.
§ SIR J. GORSTThe answer to the first paragraph is in the affirmative. No addition to the terms of reference to the Departmental Committee is at present in contemplation.