23 FEBRUARY 1889, Page 13

NATIONALIST SCHOOLMASTERS IN IRELAND.

[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] Sin,—You spoke a word of wisdom when you said, in the Spectator of February 9th (p. 186), speaking of the Board- school teachers :—" We dread nothing more than the transfer of all education to a class necessarily self-conscious and chronically discontented." I have no special knowledge of the subject, but I know that in Ireland, before the beginning of the present troubles, men much better informed than I am, saw a grave political danger in the discontent of the National- school teachers with their position, being poorly paid, and subject to dismissal at the mere will of the "patrons " or managers of schools.—I am, Sir, &c.,