§ MR. T. M. HEALY (Louth, N.)To ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether Rule 10 of the Revised Rules for Evening National Schools, which provides that payment will be made to the managers immediately after the end of each session, is acted upon; can he say how the Commissioners of Education interpret the word immediately; and, seeing that most evening national schools ended their session on 31st March, will he state whether payment of the money earned has been made to the managers.
(Answered by Mr. Wyndham.) There has been a very large increase in the number of evening national schools since the new rules for evening schools were issued. Before the issue of the new rules there were only twenty-one evening schools throughout Ireland; now there are over 1,000 such schools. This remarkable increase in the number of evening schools has thrown enormous additional work on the officers of the Commissioners, both indoor and outdoor. It has been found, therefore, quite impossible to transmit the fees in every case immediately after the close of the session, but the fees are sent to the managers as soon as possible after the close of the 534 session in each case where the conditions have been complied with and the final reports have been received from the inspectors.