§ SIR THOMAS ESMONDETo ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, if it is the intention of the Commissioners of National Education in Ireland, to amalgamate the male and female schools at Blackwater, county Wexford, on the grounds that the attendance at the female school is insufficient; if he is aware that there are at present forty-seven girls on the roll of this school, with an average attendance of twenty-seven; if he is aware that this average attendance is likely to be considerably increased in the immediate future; and if, in view of the opposition which the proposed amalgamation will meet with in the district, he will use his influence with the Education Commissioners to defer the proposed amalgamation for the 905 present, and until this House has had an opportunity of expressing its views upon the question of the amalgamation of male and female national schools in Ireland.
(Answered by Mr. Bryce.) The Commissioners of National Education inform me that the teacher of the girls' school, in which the average attendance is under thirty, having recently resigned, it became necessary, in view of Rule 186, to ascertain whether the schools should be amalgamated. After consideration of the circumstances in connection with a report from the Board's senior inspector and a letter from the manager, the Commissioners have decided to postpone the question of amalgamation for the present, in view of the prospect of a sufficient average attendance henceforth at the girls' school. Should, however, an average of at least thirty pupils be not secured in the girls' department during the current year the question of amalgamation will be again brought forward.