The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1883-07-21 00:00:00

iIVI PE P.IAL PAII, ',7 EN T

In the B OUSE ov LORDS, July 16, the Roy al Assent was given
by coma ission to a large number of Acts, the great majority
of e hieh were priv.ite measures.
EDUCATION AND INSANITY.
Lord Stanley of Alderley called the attention of the House
to the increase ef insailit%, end asked the Lord President if
the Education Office had inquired into the effects of overwork
to elementary schools alleged to have occurred by various
letters in the daily Press, and if he would recoi,sider the
letter of the Education Office of 19th January, 1882, sanc-
tioning compulsion by Board schools in the matter of home
lessons.
Lo' d Carlingford, in replying, said that the Education
Department had inquired very carefully into the question,
and had consulted the most experienced of their inspectors
and those who felt the greatest sympathy with the children;
and the result of their inquiries was the conclusion that
while there was such a thing as overwork on the part of
children, but more on the part of pupil teachers, there was
on the whole very little in the highly-coloured statements
which had appeared in the newspapers. Whatever over-
work there might be, it io no way proceeded from the
req ents of the Code, which, so far from having
been increased, bad been relaxed. The Code of this
year, just come into operation, was distinctly more easy in
its requirements than before. The truth was that over-
work did not take place in consequence of the requirements
of the Code, which was anything but a cast-iron rule appli-
cable to all schools alike, but arose from mistakes—very
often made with the best intentions from over-zeal—on the
part of the managers. The noble lord mentioned a case in
which children had been kept under instruction for seven
or eight hours a des,. That was entirely beyond the Code,
which required a school time of twenty-eve hours .a week,
or an average of five hours a day—four hours for
secular instruction, and one hour for religious in-
struction and other matters which filled up the
time. This was the maximum required by the Educa-
tion Department, and any instruction to the children
beyond those hours was entirely the doing of the local
managers. The main cause of excessive pressure on children
and pupil teachers arose, he thought, from the want of
regularity of attendanee, from the want of instruction from
the beginning of tbe school year to the end, and from too
great application in the teaching of subjects which were not
compulsory, and which were often beyond the strength of
the school staff to teach properly. This, however, was the
work of the school managers. The Department had laid
down no con3pulsory rules as to home lessons, and had done
nothing for the purpose of stimulating them. It was the
opinion of the inspectors and the best of the teachers that in
many cases home lessons were very useful,
The Earl of Shaftesbury said he questioned whothcr
recent cases of insanity were out of proportion to the recent
Increase of population. It there were an increase he should
expect it to arise from the searching out and relief of old
chronic cases. He thought there was reason to believe that
the action of temperance societies and bands of hope must
have decreased insanity. He was of opinion, however, that
there was an increase of insanity arising from nervous
disorders and brain work, and that this part of the subject
required consideration.
After a few words from Lords Norton and Ellenborough,
the subject dropped.

[uiremi

man

A motion by Earl Fortescue condemnatory of the proposal
to establish training colleges in Ireland on the pripciple of
the English colleges was negatived after a lengthy discus-
sion; and the Cornwall Sunday Closing Bill having been
read a second time, their lordships rose at a quarter to eight
o'clock.

In the HOUSE OF COMMONS Mr. Small took his seat for the
county of Wexford in the room of Mr. Byrne, resigned

THE PROPOSED NEW SUEZ CANAL.

Notice was given by Mr. C. Palmer that when the pro-
posed agreement relating to the second Baez Canal camp
under consideration he should move that the whole subject
should be referred to a Select Committee; and by Mr.
Bourke, that on Thursday he should ask the Government
whether they had received any communication from foreign
powers with respect to the proposed arrangement for con-
structing a second Canal.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer stated, in reply to Mr.
Labouchere, that he had heard of a scheme for the
establishment of a Canal passing through Palestine to
the Red Sea without entering the Gulf of Suez,
but it had not been brought specially under his
notice. M. de Lesseps had no longer any right t
employ forced labour, nor had the Government reason to
believe that he would desire to resort to it, and the repre-
sentatives of the Government would be expected to secure
this. The legal advice which the Government had ressived
on the subjece, of the Canal was not only that of the Law
Officers of the Crown, but that of the Lord Chancellor,
Lord E. eitzmaurice, in reply to Mr. M'Coan, said that
the new Canal would have the same legal status as the first;
that the loan of eight millions would rank pan i passu with
the other loans of the Company, before the share capital;
and that the conditions of sovereignty and jurisdiction
would be the same an attached to the existing Canal.
Mr. Gladstone explained, in answer to Mr. Bourke, that the
security for the completion of the proposed Canal would he
the whole estate and effects of the Company prior to the
division of any profits, It was, of course, in the power of
Parliament to require any farther specifications, or attach
any conditions it might please.