The Sun.
London, England, 1864-07-16 00:00:00

e•-•-

ruary, 1862, except that of Mr. Longueville Jones's
report for the year '862.3. That report was brought
specially under the notice of the Lord President, on
account of its infringing the Minute of 1861 in a
peculiar manner. The secretary seems to have
marked eertain passages in pencil for the Lord Pre
sident's attention; and the report thus marked, with
remarks endorsed upon it by Lord Granville him.
self, was sent back to Mr. L. Jones.
"The evidence laid before your committee is to
the effect that the Committee of Council considered
Mr. Jones's report to have been written with a feel-
ing of hostility to the department under which he
served, and that in consequence it was dealt with,
not in accordance with the ordinary practice of the
office, but as an exceptional case. Mr. Jones was
partially examint.d, bat, before his examination
could be resumed, 11,-? was attacked by so serious an
illness that it was impossible for him to appear again
to make any reply to the evidence adduced against
him. Your Committee wtrci thus precluded from
proceeding wiAi the investigation of this case.
"Your Committee must now advert to the resom
lotion passed by your Honourable House on the
'
12th of April Jest, affirming that, In the opinion
of this House the mutilation of the it:ports of her
Majesty's inspectors of schools, and the exclusion
from them of statements and opteions adverse to
the educational views entertained by the Committee
of Council, while matter favourable to them is ad-
mitted, are violations of the understanding under
which the appointment of the inspectors was origi.
nally sanctioned by Parliament, and tend entirely
to destroy the value of their reports.'
"By whatever term any alteration of the reports
described, it is clear that the alterations when made
since January, 1861, were made by the inspectors
themselves, on receiving back their reports, with
the intimation that they were not in confor-
mity with the minute of that date. If any Inspector
declined to make his report conformable to the
minute the report was not printed. It is also clear
that passages considered to be objectionable were,
through inadvertence or mistake, marked in some
reports after the date of the minute of 1861, and
contrary to its intention, until the practice of mark,
ing passages was finally stopped by the vice-pre-
sident's order of the 14th February, 1862.
"During the debate on the motion proposing the
above resolution the house was not informed of the
fact that some passages had been marked between
January, 1861, and February, 1862, and that all
marking was stopped from the latter date; this
want of information was the cause of a double
misunderstanding, under which, on the one side,
the motion was pressed by its supporters upon
the House and was carried, notwithstanding the
statement then made by the Vice-President ; while
on the other side the resolution so passed was con.
sidered by the Vice-President to be reflection on his
personal honour.
" The principle involved in the subject of this in-
quiry and in the resolution is important. Your
committee have carefully considered the action of
the Department, and have come to the conclusion
that the supervision exercised in objecting to the
insertion of irrelevant matter, of mere dissertation,
and of controversial argument, is consistent with the
powers of the Committee of Council, and has, on the
whole, been exercised fairly, and without excessive
strictness. If passages occur in the reports, as
printed, consisting of inference or arguments which
may tend to support the educational view of the
Department, other passages may be found which
have a contrary tendency. No objection is made to
statements of facts observed by the inspectors with-
in the circle of their official experience, whatever
may be their bearing on the policy of the Committee
of Council.

" The knowledge, or even a reasonable suspicion,
that the inspectors' reports are subject to alteration,
either directly or indirectly, at the instance cf the
Department, has, without doubt, a tendency to lower
their value, if they are to be regarded as indepen.
dent sources of testimony in matters of opinion or
controversy touching the educational views or policy
of the Committee of Council. It appears, however,
to your committee that, whatever may have been
the understanding under which the appointment of
inspectors was originally sanctioned, Parliament
cannot be presumed to be ignorant (since the year
1858 at latest), that the heads of the office have exer.
cised a censorship over the inspectors' reports as to
the insertion of argumentative or irrelevant matter;
and your committee aro of opinion that some such
power is essential to the effectual working of the
department so long as it retains its present conetis.
Union and functions.

" It has occurred to your Committee that it might
be possible to obtain all the information which the
inspectors can be desired to give to the department
or to Parliament, by requiring them to furnish
answers to specific questions, instead of making
general reports, and thus to avoid risk of misunder•
standing, either between the Department and the
inspectors, or between the Department and Parlia.
went, as to the kind of information which the in.
spectors are required to give. It appears, however,
that none of the reports for the last year have been
objected to on the ground of non-conformity with
the Minute of 1861, as explained by the paragraph
of August, 1863. For the information of Parlia-
ment your Committee recommend that all instrnos
tions which may hereafter from time to time be
issued to the inspectors, either as to their general or
tabulated reports, should be laid before Parliament
with the annual report of the Committee of Council.

" Note.—The reports withheld, under the Minute of 1861,
are seven in number. Ten reports in all have been sent
back to the inspectors under the Minute, and have been.
returned to the office with alterations, and so printed. Such
of the withheld and altered reports as could be obtained in
their original shape are printed in the Appendices; the
others have been destroyed. Some passages which have
been objected to as adverse to the policy of the department
are given in the evidence. References are given in the
Appendix (K) to other passages which may be considered
adverse to the policy of the department, and have not been
objected to,"