§ MR. BOLAND (Kerry, S.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether his attention has been called to the statement on page 40 of Mr. Dale's Report, that the condition of the English Department of any grant being made to a school, that girls must be satisfactorily taught needlework, has not existed in Ireland, and that there are 780 schools, with a mixed attendance of boys and girls, under a master only, and that in these schools the infants are unsuitably taught, but the girls are necessarily deprived of all instruction in needlework or any other domestic subject; if so, can he say why the Commissioners, in their Annual Report which has recently been issued, offer no explanation in defence of the state of things which Mr. Dale's complaint exhibits as existing in these schools; whether they intend to permit the teaching by men only, not only of boys under eight years of age, but of infant girls and grown girls; and, if not, what steps they propose to take in the matter.
§ THE CHIEF SECRETARY FOR IRELAND (Mr. WALTER LONG,) Bristol, S.The Commissioners allude, in their last Annual Report, to their desire for the extended employment of manual instructresses, who have been introduced into many small mixed schools with beneficial results. These instructresses might be employed in all the schools referred to in the Question. The rules provide that, in a mixed school under a master, an assistant mistress should be employed when the attendance warrants it, and that a manual instructress may be employed when the attendance is insufficient for an assistant mistress.
§ MR. DILLON (Mayo, E.)Will the right hon. Gentleman consider the propriety of publishing the observations of the Commissioners on Mr. Dale's Report?
§ MR. WALTER LONGI will communicate the hon. Member's wish to the Commissioners.