§ MR. LONSDALETo ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that the rules of the National Commissioners of Education, with regard to the patronage and management of national schools, stipulate that a person to be eligible for the position of local manager of a school must reside within a convenient distance of the school, and must undertake to visit the school frequently, and whether such duties can be discharged satisfactorily by 1382 deputy; whether the appointment of the Rev. Mr. Simpson, as manager of the Lislea national school, is in conformity with this rule; and whether he will give the name of the local gentleman who visits the school on Mr. Simpson's behalf.
(Answered by Mr. Bryce) The Rule to which the hon. Member refers is as follows:—Rule 40 (E).—A person to be eligible for the position of local manager of a school must be either a clergyman or other person of good position in society, must reside within a convenient distance from the school, and must undertake to visit the school frequently, and to check and certify the correctness of the school returns furnished to the office of National Education. The Commissioners of National Education inform me that the Rev. Mr. Simpson does not reside in the locality of the school; but that their chief inspector, after holding an inquiry in the matter, recommended Mr. Simpson as the most suitable person to hold the temporary management, in view of the local differences upon the subject which existed. The local gentlemen who occasionally visits the school in supplement to the visits of Mr. Simpson is Mr. S. Wilson, J.P. I have already stated that any question as to the observance by the Commissioners of their own rules is a matter for their own decision. The Commissioners inform me that they have no present intention of upsetting the arrangements by which the Rev. Mr. Simpson is recognised as temporary manager pending the appointment of a successor to the Rev. Mr. Ingram, the former manager.