§ MR. ARCHDALE (Fermanagh, N.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that in the division of the Fermanagh Royal School Endowment, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Clogher, the first chairman of the Roman Catholic Board, undertook to spend half the Roman Catholic portion of the endowment in Enniskillen, and that notwithstanding this promise, the whole funds of the Board are spent in Monaghan, while Fermanagh, which produces the endowment, is the 589 only county in Ireland which has not an intermediate school for Roman Catholics; whether he is aware that the Fermanagh Roman Catholic Board has refused to contribute to the funds for the support of a school at Enniskillen, unless the people establish such school and maintain it at their own expense until it is in a condition to compete with the college in Monaghan which for years past has monopolised the entire endowment, and that the town of Monaghan has three intermediate schools for Roman Catholics, while Enniskillen, a larger town, has none; whether the Lord Lieutenant has power, under the Educational Endowments Act of 1885, to require the Board to give effect to the Bishop's undertaking to the scheme of 1891 by establishing an intermediate school in Enniskillen; and can he state the average annual income of the Fermanagh Roman Catholic Board during the ten years ending 31st December, 1899; the amount of funds now possessed by the Board; the number of free places given to students during such ten years, specifying those given to Fermanagh boys; and the number of students admitted during such ten years from counties other than Fermanagh and Monaghan.
§ THE CHIEF SECRETARY FOR IRELAND (MR. G. W. BALFOUR, Leeds, Central)This question cannot be answered within the ordinary limits of a reply to a Parliamentary question, and I have forwarded to my hon. friend a written statement dealing with the several matters mentioned.