§ MR. REES (Montgomery Boroughs)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Education whether he will consider the omission from the regulations and syllabus for the preliminary examination for the certificate, 1907, of Welsh subjects; and will he restore the subject of Welsh to a position of at least equal prominence with that which it enjoyed in the Code for former years.
§ MR. BIRRELLThe hon. Member is under a misapprehension in regard to the place now occupied by Wesh subjects in the syllabus for the Preliminary Examination for the certificate, 1907. Provision has been made in the Revised Regulations and Syllabus for this Examination for questions to be set in history and geography having a special reference to Welsh history and geography. In the Examination in English language and literature an opportunity will also be afforded to candidates from Wales to use their knowledge of Welsh, and, as in previous years, Welsh may be taken as one of the optional subjects. Under those circumstances I think that the question hardly arises of restoring Welsh to a position of at least equal importance with that which it has hitherto enjoyed, since the present arrangements clearly 1134 tend to the encouragement of a real study of the language and literature of the Principality.