§ 33. Mr. WALTER GUINNESSasked the President of the Board of Education whether the finance committee of the Bristol University in 1910 recommended the dismissal of Professors Cowl, Brooks, and Kent on the ground that their departments were reported unsatisfactory by Professor C. Lloyd Morgan; whether any explanation has been offered as to the failure of the council to act on any but the first recommendation; whether they have admitted the fitness of Professor Cowl by subsequently appointing him to a research chair which has now been allowed to lapse; and whether the right hon. Gentleman will take steps to induce the council to rehabilitate Professor Cowl?
§ The PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY to the BOARD of EDUCATION (Mr. Trevelyan)My right hon. Friend must refer the hon. Member to the answer he gave to the hon. Member for Hoxton yesterday on the subject of appointments at universities.
§ 34. Mr. WALTER GUINNESSasked whether Convocation, the assembly of graduates, protested in the autumn of 1912 against the indiscriminate distribution of sixty-three honorary degrees in October last, including many to persons of no previous academic standing whatsoever; whether Convocation's unrestricted 1197 rights of criticism under the charter were interfered with on this occasion by the vice-chancellor and other officials, who denounced the protest as an outrage; whether it was suggested by the vice-chancellor that council decline to receive the protest; whether after a record of it had been entered in the council's minutes an attempt was subsequently made to expunge it; and whether the President of the Board of Education will take steps to secure Convocation's freedom of discussion in the future?
§ Mr. TREVELYANMy right hon. Friend has no information with regard to the matters referred to in the question. He is only concerned with the work done at the university, and he does not think he can interfere.