Lords Sitting of 18 May 1848

MINUTES.
Took the Oaths.—Several Lords.
Sat first.—The Lord Cowley, after the Death of his Father.
PUBLIC BILLS.—2a Smoke Prohibition.
Reported.—Insolvent Debtors (India); Maxwell's Restitution.
PETITIONS PRESENTED. From the Protestant Inhabitants of Lislee, Dunmanway, and Kilroan, in favour of the System of National Education (Ireland).—From the District of Glanmire, for the Imposition of the Severest Penalties on all those Roman Catholic Priests who shall Denounce Persons from the Altar.—By the Bishop of Durham, and Bishop of Oxford, from the Members of Wesleyan Methodist, Independent, and other Dissenting Congregations against the Sale of Intoxicating Liquors on Sundays.—From Justices of the Peace, and Others, against the Registration of Births, &c. (Scotland) Bill.—From the Presbytery of Perth, against the Diplomatic Relations, Court of Rome, Bill.—By Lord Campbell, from the Presbyterian Congregations of Free Saint Mary's and Free East Church of Aberdeen, for Facilitating the Attainment of Sites for Churches.—By Earl Fitzwilliam, from the Clergy of the County of Buckingham, and numerous other Places, against the Jewish Disabilities Bill.—By the Earl of Haddington, from the Magistracy of Haddington, Jews of Leeds, and a number of others, in favour of the Jewish Disabilities Bill.—From the Members of several Lodges of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Manchester Unity, for the Extension of the Privileges of the Benefit Societies Act to that Order.—From the Parish Schoolmasters of Hamilton, and several other Places, for Alteration of the Present System of Parochial Education, Scotland.—From the Electors of Edinburgh, in favour of an Extension of the Suffrage.—From the Magistrates and Council of the Burgh of Haddington, for a Revision of the Laws relating to the Curreney.—From the same Place, for an Alteration of the Law relating to Prisons (Scotland), with regard to the Mode of Assessment.—By the Duke of Buccleuch, from the Irish National Teachers' Union, for the Allowance of Retiring Pensions to Meritorious Schoolmasters in Ireland.—From the Guardians of the Poor of the Doncaster Union, against the Poor Removal Act.—From the Ratepayers of Rotherham, for the Prevention of the Increase of Professional Mendicity.

SCHOOLMASTERS (SCOTLAND).
LORD WHARNCLIFFE presented a petition from the parish schoolmasters of Scotland, and put a question as to the grants by the Committee of Privy Council for Education under the Minutes of Council of 1846 to parish schoolmasters in Scotland. The noble Lord was wholly inaudible.
The MARQUESS of LANSDOWNE found, on inquiry, that several applications had been made both for advances to schools and to schoolmasters in Scotland to the Committee; and twenty-eight of those applications were at present under consideration. With regard to the examination proposed to be instituted into the qualifications of schoolmasters, preparations were making for the appointment of proper persons to conduct such examinations in various parts of Scotland. Persons had been already appointed for that purpose in Glasgow, and were at the present moment engaged in conducting the examinations.
The MARQUESS of BREADALBANE complained that the members of the Free Church had been charged with withdrawing their support from the parochial schoolmasters. He did not believe the charge. So alive were the people of Scotland to the importance of securing a good education, that the members of the Free Church would send their children to those schools in which they could secure for them the best education. With respect to the question of an augmentation in the salaries of the parochial schoolmasters of Scotland, he should certainly object to it, unless the office of parochial schoolmaster were thrown open to members of the Free Church, who constituted the great majority of the people. At the present moment no one was eligible to the office of parochial schoolmaster in Scotland who was not a member of the Established Church. There was one method he thought by which all branches of Presbyterians in Scotland might be united, and that was by adopting as the test the Shorter Catechism.
House adjourned.