§ Mr. HUGH BARRIEasked the Chief Secretary (1) whether, as the proceedings of the Commissioners of National Education are conducted within closed doors and as no reference is made in any of their published reports to their sanction of pictures of sacred subjects or their permission of statues in the schoolroom during the hours of united instruction, he will ask the Commissioners to furnish a list of the names of such pictures and statues, together with the minutes of the Board that relate to them, to be laid upon the Table of the House; and what steps he proposes to take to prevent the further violation of the fundamental principles and rules of the system of national education; (2) whether the Commissioners of National Education have sanctioned the exhibition of a picture of the Sacred Heart and similar pictures in national schools during the hours of united instruction; if, so, whether, as the picture of the Sacred Heart is specially identified with the worship of the Roman Catholic Church, he would explain why the Commissioners have sanctioned a violation of their own rule, which states that no emblems or symbols of a denominational nature can be exhibited in the schoolroom during the 2212W hours of united instruction; whether, acting on the sanction given by the Commissioners of National Education to the exhibition of the picture of the Sacred Heart and similar pictures in schools during the hours of united instruction, a number of managers have introduced statues without the permission of the board; and, if so, would he explain why, whilst the Commissioners have expressly forbidden the introduction of any further statues of a religious character during the time of secular instruction, they have allowed those already introduced without their permission to remain?
§ Mr. BIRRELLI would refer the hon. Member to my replies to his similar questions on the 28th April and 16th June last.