The time at my disposal is somewhat limited, but I will take the first subject first, and that is, the question of the appointment of a successor to the late distinguished Sir Owen Edwards. The hon. Member for Cardigan (Mr. Morris) referred to the answer given here some time ago by my right hon. Friend the President of the Board. Of course, as I suppose my hon. Friend will agree, Sir Owen Edwardses are not to be found every day. He was a man of very great distinction and of very exceptional achievement, and it is rather a difficult thing, even if we desired to do so at this particular moment, to appoint a man who could be expected to fulfil those duties adequately. We found the system that now prevails in education when we came into office at the beginning of this year. Under the agreement arrived at, the present Permanent Secretary of the Board of Education, Welsh Department, acts as Chief of the Welsh Department at Whitehall, as well as Chief Inspector of Education for Wales, and that arrangement has been extended until April of next year. Meanwhile, I have no doubt the President of the Board will re-examine the position in the light of things such as those my hon. Friend has mentioned, and I have not the faintest doubt that, long before the termination of the period of office of the present Permanent Secretary if the Board of Education, Welsh Department, an announcement will be made as to future policy.

In regard to secondary education generally, I think most people who know the facts would- agree that the condition of secondary education in Wales requires very careful re-examination. One is aware of the strictures passed upon the arrangements for controlling our educational system generally in Wales in the Clauses of what is called the Red Report. I can only state that the recommendations of that Report are receiving the very careful consideration--and have been for some time—of the Board, but we have, as the hon. Member perhaps knows, made some small attempt to initiate one part—a very small part, I agree—of the recommendations made in that Red Report, and at this particular moment I have been conducting, on behalf of my right hon. Friend, some delicate negotiations with the Central Welsh Board in regard to the question of the inspectorate in Wales. These negotiations are not yet at an end. There is to be another meeting presently in London, and I am afraid, having regard to that fact, that my hon. Friend must excuse me from discussing the matter in any greater detail.