The Sun.
London, England, 1858-05-04 00:00:00

SECOND READINGS.

On the motion of Lord REDESDALE the following bills
were read a second time :—Aberdare Water, Merthyr
Tydfil Water, Selkirk and Gateshead Railway, Folke-
Soca Water, Ely Valley Railway, and Liskeard and
Lore Union Canal Companies.
GAME LAWS.

A eoblelord asked whether there was any intention
on the part of the Government to amend the Game
Laws.
The LORD CHANCELLOR said the subject not
having been considered by the Government he could
give no definite answer to the question.
THE COURT OF CHANCERY.
Viscount CLIFFORD asked the noble and learned
lord on the wooleack, whether any further steps
an were
to be taken to expedite causes in the Court of Ch eery.
R
The :LORD CHANCELLO said the _ question of
the noble viscount wag so
from
mneradlilry worded,
directing his
that he had been precl
inquiries to any particular brwinel of thed Court
thaof Chan-
took
cery. He, however, compl ianed of the elays t
place, more particularly before the chief clerks at
Chambers,
' but be must say that all the infor-
mation he bad been able to collect did
not confirm the noble lord's complaint. He found that
instead of the business being conducted in a very dilatory
and unsatisfactory manner, the contrary was the case,
sa he found that the chief clerks phrsued and
transacted their business in as expeditious a
manner as possible. If the noble lord would point out
Any particular branch in which delay was unnecessarily
caused, he would institute an immediate and searching
inquity.
Lord CRANWORTH must say that ha had no recol-
lection of the candid but not very courteous answer of
his to which the noble viscount referred. With regard
to the complaints made by the noble earl with respect
to the delay in the chief clerks' offices, he must say that
he thought them if not absolutely unfounded, at least
grossly exaggerated. He had before now inquired into
this matter, and the thing he found was that sometimes
when parties wanted to proceed on a particular day the
pressure of other business would not allow the chief
clerk to appoint a Iday for taking up their case until a
day Or two after the one which they were anxious to
have. This must occur with any tribunal. It was im-
possible for any court having a large amount of business
to transact so to be constituted that the suitor could, as
it were, at any time ring the bell of the court, and say,
" Now just take up my case." Each matter must take
its turn, and beyond the delay which this necessarily
created, he believed that no delay whatever arose.
Lord CAMPBELL said that the practice of ?putting
off causes from time to time was a very objectionable
ohs. It was the thing which had been the ruin of the
system of the Masters' offices.
Lord ST. LEONARDS said that the practice in the
chief clerks' chambers was by no means similar to the
old practice before the masters. The intention of the
Legislature was not to put the chief clerks in the situa
tion of the masters, but to give them as subordina.:e
officers to the judgeß, in order that the latter might
with their aid do that which the masters had formerly
done. The Court of Chancery should make it a rule that
when it took up any particular matter it would not leave
it until it was concluded ; but at the same time he
bound to admit that from what he had seen of the chief
clerks be had the highest opinion of their capacity and
industry.
Lord LIFFORD said if it could be shown that the
statement upon which his complaint was founded was
untrue he would at once admit that he was wrong in the
position he had taken up, but in the absence of any di
sect proof to that effect be should retain the opinion he
had already expressed in this matter.
The subject then dropped.
ENDOWED SCHOOLS IN IRELAND.

The Earl of CORK called the attention of the house
to the report of the commissioners appointed to inquire
into the state of endowed schools in Ireland. The com-
missioners were appointed, he said, in 1854, and the
duty entrusted to them was to ascertain the state of the
schools ; the mode of managing the funds that supported
them, and the nature of the instruction given in the
schools. Having made themselves masters of the entire
subject, they were to report the evidence, together with
the opinions they had formed in collecting it, to her Ma-
jesty. Subsequently to the appointment of the commis-
sioners difficulties arose in the way of pursuing the in-
quiry in consequence of the refusal of parties interested
iu the endowments to admit the authority of the cam-
misoiioners, and an Act of Parliament was passed to
enable them to carry out the investigation. After a most
diligent inquiry, the commissioners made their report,
which had now for some time been before Parliament,
and although it formed no part of his intention to dis-
cuss its merits, he must yet trouble their lordships with
a few extracts from it. The middle classes in Ireland were
daily becoming alive to the importance of securing a
sound administration for their endowed schools. They
saw the benefits that resulted to the poorer classes from
the working of the national system, and they were at a
loss toconceive why some system of management equally
efficient could not be devised for securing to their chil-
dren the full benefits of the endowed schooie. The noble
lord then proceeded to quote largely from the report of
the emnalissioners to show that the management of en-
dowed schools in Ireland generally was grossly defective
—dot only as regarded the nature and quality of educa-
tion given by them, but also as regarded the husbanding
and distribution of the estates with which they were en-
dowed. The middle classes of Ireland were anxiously
waiting to see what course the noble earl at the head of
the Government intended to take in consequence of this
report, and he should be rejoiced to learn that the noble
earl was alive to the importance of applying some remedy
to the defects which the commissioners pointed out.
The Earl of DERBY said that the noble lord had cor-
rectly stated that the commissioners were appointed in
1854. They found it necessary in the course of their in-
quiry to appoint four assistant commissioners ; they had
also a very extensive staff of clerks and short-hand
writers, and the result of their labours they had embodied
in four large folio volumes. To one of these, which con-
tained upwards of 200 pages, the noble lord had just
called attention, but the others no doubt embraced
equally valuable information, though of a somewhat ex-
tended nature, as might be gathered from the fact that
the expense of printing it cost 5,2001, while the quantity
of paper which the publication of it had consumed
amounted to no less than 15 tons. (A laugh.) He did
not know whether the noble lord who had-put this ques-
tion to him had found leisure to make himself master of
this light reading ; but for himself, he must confess that
he had not yet had any time to go through it. The re-
port was not that of the commissioners, but only of the
majority, as it was only signed by three of them, while
the other two absolutely and entirely dissented from all
the conclusions to which their colleagues had come. Far
be it, however, from him to dispute the labour, the in-
dustry, and the value of the inquiry, and he had no hesi-
tation iu saying, that in the management of many of the
schools there appeared to have been great and unjustifi-
able neglect. The commissioners had succeeded in many
instances in demonstrating the want of sufficient audit
of the funds of these schools, and of proper schoolmas-
ters to conduct the educaton given in them. It was not
desirable to enter then into
.any discussion of the indi-
vidual cases of mismanagement : it was enough for the
purposes of the discussion to admit that mismanagement
did exist. But what was the remedy which three out of
the five commissioners proposed for remedying the defects?
The commissioners were the Marquis of Kildare, Dr.
Graves, Mr. Andrews, members of the Irish bar; Mr.
II: G. Hughes+, the late Solicitor-General for Ireland,
and Mr. A. J. Stephens a member of the English bar. Mr
ilughesandMr. Stephens were the dissentients from the
conclueions at which the other three had arrived. The com-
missioners proposed to make a distinction in the school?,
and to divide them into non-exclusive and exclusive
schools. Willi regard to all non-exclusive schools it was
proposed that a new board should be established on the
principle of the National Education Board, and composed
of persona varying in their religious persuasions. It
was
proposed that the board should have an office in Dublin
—a solicitor, an inspector, an audit department, with a
paid treasurer, and various other officers, and that the
charge of supporting the board should be thrown upon
the Consolidated Fund. That was the first proposition.
The next was, that all endowed schools, of whatever de-
nominatioc, provided they were non-exclusive, should
be placed under the actual and, as he understood, t'le
sole control of the new board ; that they should keep a
register for the entry of bequests, and that all Courts of
Probate should furnish them with extracts of such wills
as left money for the establishment of new or the sup-
port of existingschools ; that the management of ali
papers c..nnected with the property of the schools and
the )satrousge of the endowed schools vested in the lord-
lieutenant should be transferred to them ; and that the
funds of the endowed schocls should be brought into
one oornsrson mass and distributed by them amongst the
differ/ant schools. These were some of the powers to be
enj qed by the new board,
they appeared
to be both extensive and ex raordZrtalY
aryi,n.and demanded the
most serious consideration b -fore
any prop t
,saol could be
made to put them in force. lie did not re
y that
it alight not be found necessary
to make 801:8ealteration
in the constitution of these schools, but he would
come to the conclusion, on the report of a majorityy of
one out of five, to transfer the whole of these schools and
all their endowments to a new board
whichtobe
He constituted
with new staff of officers, was a matter
didwould re-
quire very ser:ous consideration.
know whe.
ther the new board was proposed to be separate from the
national board, it would involve a serious expense, which
it was proposed to throw on th
country. He lad not as yet hade consolidated fund of this
time to make himself ac-
quajoed with the contents of these bulky volumes which