§ MR. DOOGAN (Tyrone, E.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether his attention has been called to the fact that one of the committees, composed of five 284 Catholics and five Protestants, appointed to administer the provisions of the Compulsory Education Act in Dungannon Rural District, has, after a number of meetings, failed to agree as to the choice of a chairman; and that, as a means of solving the difficulty, the secretary of the Tyrone County Council suggested the casting of lots for the position, which suggestion the Protestant members refused to adopt; and if he will state what action is proposed to be taken to remove the deadlock at present existing to the working of the Act in this portion of the district affected.
§ MR. WYNDHAMIt is a fact that the school attendance committee failed to agree in respect to the selection of a chairman. The local authority for the purposes of the Irish Education Act, 1892, is the county council, and in February last the Commissioners of National Education informed the council that it was competent to that body to submit for approval a regulation designed to provide a settlement of the difficulty. No reply has been received from the council in the matter and the Commissioners have no authority under the Act to determine the question.