EDUCATION (MR. MORELL). RETURN to an Address of the Honourable The House of Commons, "COPY of all CORRESPONDENCE relating to the Dismissal of Mr. Morell from the Office of Her Majesty's Roman Catholic Inspector of Schools." (Lord Robert Cecil.) Ordered, by The House of Commons, to be Printed, COPY of all CORRESPONDENCE relating to the Dismissal of Mr. Morell from the Office of Her Majesty's Roman Catholic Inspector of Schools. No. 1. Mr. Bird to the Secretary of the Committee of Council on Education. Protestant Alliance, 7, Serjeant's Inn, Sir, Fleet-street, London, E. C., 5 November 1863. A FEW days ago Mr. James Kelly made a statement to this Committee respecting matters which appeared of great importance, and to relate to the Committee of Council on Education. He was recommended, in the first instance, to submit, with the view to an investigation, the statement to the Committee of Council, which is accordingly done in the memorial I have the honour to enclose. I am, &c. (signed) Charles Bird, Secretary. To the Secretary of the Committee of Enclosure in No. 1. To the Right Honourable the Lords of the Committee of Council on Education. The Memorial of James Kelly, late Teacher of St. David's Roman Catholic School, Cardiff, Glamorganshire, Showeth, THAT your memorialist is compelled to place before your Lordships a statement of the conduct of J. R. Morell, Esq., Her Majesty's Inspector of Schools, in the discharge of his official duties. That your memorialist was the first secular teacher appointed to the above-named school, all his predecessors being "religious teachers," or lay monks of same religious order as the managers. That when, in September 1861, Mr. Morell, in his "official capacity," visited said school, your memorialist's predecessor, who was then in charge as teacher, had two pupils prepared as candidates for the pupil teachership, and these candidates were not examined in Mr. Morell's presence, as they ought to have been; but he left the printed examination papers with them, having marked the questions to be answered in his absence, time not being limited, and he directed that the written answers should be given to Rev. Stephen Bruno, who would forward them to the proper quarter. That the printed examination papers which Mr. Morell left on that occasion still exist, and Mr. Morell's pencil-marks to the questions which the candidates answered are still visible. That your memorialist was present in the school-room, though not in charge of the school, during the whole time that Mr. Morell was present, and your memorialist observed that Mr. Morell did not ask for nor see the summary (Register, No. 3); had he seen it, he would have found that for nearly four months previous to his visit, no entry had been made in it. The blanks were subsequently filled up by a pupil teacher, your memorialist having declined to meddle with them. They were filled up from the class registers; but these class registers were filled up from memory or at mere random. That Mr. Morell was not impartial in his official reports of said school when it was taught by monks, your memorialist is also prepared to show, in so much as he did not 215. report the incorrect manner in which the school registers were kept. A glance at these books ought to have convinced him that they were falsified. The class registers, which ought to have been called and marked daily, were seldom or never called at all; but after the lapse of many months, they were filled up at random. Even on school holidays, and on holy days of obligation in the Roman Catholic church when the school was closed, the usual attendance of children at school was marked as present on the class registers, and, of course, counted for capitation grant. The school-pence were collected sometimes in a canvas bag, and sometimes in a boy's cap; but not entered on the registers when taken. That such was the state of the school prior to the appointment of your memorialist he is prepared to prove. That in June 1862 Mr. Morell visited said school when your memorialist had been only eight months teacher of it. Mr. Morell, on that occasion, did not examine the school, because he said he had not time then; but he said "I will make a report sufficient for the grant," and he added "I will come again to examine the school." Mr. Morell did not fulfil his promise of coming to examine the school, notwithstanding he made a very unfavourable report to your Lordships; and again in his general report for the year, he states that nothing was satisfactory in your memorialist's school, which he could not have known even if it were so. His whole time in the school-room was less than 20 minutes, during which time no child moved from his place; a word was not spoken nor even a whisper heard throughout the entire school; the organization of the school was precisely as when it was taught by monks, except that your memorialist had ten classes where his predecessor had only eight; but Mr. Morell's report is calculated to show how a school fails from a highly efficient to a very inefficient state when a "religious teacher" is succeeded by a secular teacher. That said general report is published by the Catholic Poor School Committee, and being in the hands of nearly all the priests in Great Britain prevents your memorialist from getting a school. That the managers (Rev. S. Bruno and Rev. F. Signini) taking advantage of Mr. Morell's bad report strove to have the future services of your memorialist at a reduced salary; they argued that the inspector was biassed against your memorialist, that such bias would influence his official reports, and thereby diminish the income of the school very considerably under the Revised Code, which gives the Inspector so much power over the annual grants, and that consequently your memorialist should be content with the very small salary which they proposed to give him. Another reason given by Rev. F. Signini for reducing your memorialist's stipend from 80 to 50 l. per annum, was that he should apply some of the income of the schools to the convent; "the convent," said he, " is in debt; I borrowed money to build it, aud I pay interest for it." That the assertions of the said managers led to a correspondence between your memorialist and Mr. Morell, which correspondence your memorialist is prepared to place before your Lordships. That in some schools Mr. Morell does not report on the way the registers are kept and the returns made out, the following fact will help to show. In the year ending June 1st, 1863, the girls' school at Cardiff, which is taught by nuns, had throughout the year a smaller weekly average attendance than the boys' school, which was taught by your memorialist, notwithstanding the daily average attendance for the year in the girls' school was set down in the printed form, which was returned to the Education Office, at 165, and the daily average in the boys' school, where the registers were carefully kept, and the attendance entered daily, was only 166, and the number of days the girls' school was open was set down at 239, although some of the girls whose names were returned in said form for capitation grant were represented as having attended school a greater number of days than 239, and one girl was returned as having attended school 258 days; but this printed form containing these returns remained in the managers' hands for many days after Mr. Morell had inspected and examined the schools, these glaring errors were discovered, those high numbers were scraped out, and numbers sufficiently low set in their places. That your memorialist seeing he was unfairly dealt with, and that the cause of his leaving the school was misrepresented, wrote in the log-book the true cause of his leaving the school. That after your memorialist had left the school, Rev. Stephen Bruno expressed great displeasure with your memorialist for having made said entry in the log-book. Rev. S. Bruno did not deny that what was there written was true; but he said, "you did it to injure me;" and he added" to prevent scandal I erased it." That your memorialist has since learned that the pages of the log-book (2 and 3), which contained said entry, have been pasted together, and thus these two pages have been completely destroyed.* That your memorialist prays your Lordships to allow him to appear personally at the Education Office to submit the evidence which will establish the truth of the charges which he has made against Mr. Morell and others. Some of this evidence consists of written correspondence with Mr. Morell, printed examination papers, and old falsified class registers, which require some explanation that cannot be well given in writing. And your memorialist will ever pray. (signed) James Kelly. See page 12, infra. |