§ Mr. DELANYasked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland if he is aware of the character of the letters signed by the junior secretary of the National Education Board that are being constantly issued to inspectors of schools throughout Ireland; whether he is aware that up to a few years since this junior secretary was a subordinate master in a training school, and so knows little about inspection work; and whether, in the interests of education and economy, he will inquire as to the methods by which this officer was a few years ago appointed to his present position in preference to many deserving and capable inspectors who were candidates at the time?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe Commissioners of National Education inform me that all letters from the secretaries of the Board are issued by the authority, general or special, of the Board, or of the Resident Commissioner. The secretary referred to in the question was not a subordinate master in a training school. He was the162W principal and professor in the Commissioners' Training College, Marlborough Street, and is a distinguished graduate of Trinity College, Dublin, with large experience in connection with educational matters. He was selected by the Commissioners in 1903 as the most suitable candidate for the position of secretary, then vacant.