§ MR. SLOAN (Belfast, S.)To ask Mr. Attorney-General for Ireland if he can 1053 state what is the number of manual instructresses employed in Irish national schools who are qualified to act as assistant mistresses; and whether, considering the qualifications of such teachers, he will suggest to the National Commissioners of Education the advisability of awarding them a higher rate of salary than that of an ordinary manual instructress.
(Answered by Mr. Atkinson.) Eighty-three. The duties of manual instructresses are confined mainly to the lower standards in small schools having mixed attendances of boys and girls under masters, where the attendance is not sufficient to warrant the recognition of an assistant teacher. They all perform similar duties, and their remuneration compares favourably with that formerly given to workmistresses. There are no sufficient grounds for awarding different scales of remuneration as suggested.