§ 19. Mr. GINNELLasked the Vice-President of the Department of Agriculture (Ireland) whether he and the Secretary of the Department had been consulted and had given their approval to the proposal to withdraw the usual Grants towards the training of teachers before that proposal was publicly announced; if not, whose was the proposal; and will he explain how the proposal came to be adopted by the Treasury without the approval of the President, Vice-President, or Secretary of the Department?
§ Mr. BIRRELLProposals for the reduction or withdrawal, whether of the Grants referred to or other Grants on the Department's Vote, were made by the Treasury or by the Development Commissioners, and the Department made their observations thereupon, no decision being taken by the Treasury until these observations had been considered. The Department co-operated in all efforts to meet the need for economy, and assented, though with reluctance, to some of the reductions proposed, while strongly representing the inadvisability of others.