24 MARCH 1906, Page 2

On Thursday night the question of Irish University educa- tion

came up before the House of Commons. PrOfessor Butcher, the Member for Cambridge University, in an admir- able speech urged that it was futile to attempt any solution of the Irish University question which did not go on lines which would meet with the approval of the Roman Catholic Bishops, and that this should be the starting-point of any inquiry. He was not one of those who would say : "There is Trinity, if you will go, and if not, the fault is your own." They could not deal in that way with the religious sentiment of three-fourths of a nation, nor could they say : " We will wait until the sentiment changes." Ireland could not afford to wait. He did not shrink from the words " Catholic College" or " Catholic University." He urged the House to think of the young men of the Irish race, with their social instincts and spirit of fellowship and their genius for friend- ship, asking for a University and being given an Examining Board.