IRISH EDUCATION.
(TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPHOTITOR:1
SIR,—A few months ago you published a letter of mine, in which I said that the Act of the last Session of Parliament by which the Poor-Law Unions of Ireland were permitted to tax themselves for the purpose of increasing the salaries of the national teachers was merely playing with the subject, and would utterly fail.
I have great pleasure in requesting you to let me state how completely I was mistaken. There are in Ireland 163 Unions, and of these, 65, or as nearly as`possible two-fifths, have become contributory under the Act. This is a wonderful success, con- sidering the difficulties,—the strong, though silent, dislike of the Roman Catholic clergy for whatever could have any tendency to make the teachers independent of them ; the widely-spread feel- ing in Ireland that the Imperial Parliament ought to find money for everything, and the fact that the Poor-Law Guardians have no control over the money when they once vote it away. One of the greatest difficulties in the way of improving Irish education has been removed by this experimental proof of the willingness of Irishmen to tax themselves for the purpose.—I am, Sir, &C.,
JOSEPH JOHN MURPHY.
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