To ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that inspectors of national schools are prohibited, under pain of punishment, from going any distance outside their districts even between Saturday evening and Monday morning unless they have previously obtained special permission; what is the object of such a regulation in the case of men whose work is purely educational; and whether this restrictive enactment was copied from the code of the Royal Irish Constabulary.

The Commissioners of National Education inform me that, in the interests of the public service, they do not consider it desirable to make any statement as to the nature of, or the reasons for, any disciplinary regulations which they may have framed for the proper discharge of the duties of their inspectors or other officers.