The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1874-06-13 00:00:00

THE EDUCATION MT.

In the IioUSE .PF Comm°Ns, June 10, Mr. Richard moved
the second reading of the Jl3ementary Education Act
Amendment Bill, which proposed to repeal the 2Lth Clause
of the Education Act of 130, which was objected to by
Noneonformists on the ground that it involved a violation
of conscience, and was at variance with the principles of
religious liberty, lie complained that school boards, by
paying fees for the children of indigent parents attending
denominational schools, virtually compelled the ratepayers
to aid in the support of such schools. The Nonconformists
did not want this help to be gii en, and felt that it oh-
stroeted the extension of the real system of national ethica-
-1 tion

ND. Isaac moved that the bill be read a second time this •
day six mouths, and remarked that his return to Parliament
was mainly due to his support of the 25th Clause. so that,
therefore, he was bound to oppose its repeaL The feeling
of the conutry in favour of the clause bad been overwhelm-
ingly and unmistakably manifested, and he was unable to
see in what way it could act objectionably
Lord F. Cavendish contended that this clause did not in-
volve the question of religious education in our schools
Some of the School Boards had not availed themselvel of the
clause, yet religious education had not been banished
from the schools under their control. The burden it im-
posed was a rapidly decreasing one, and sunk from, £5,000
in 1e72 to £4,000 last year. Under the circumstances, he
contended the clause was an unimportant matter, at the
same time there were. he might remark, 66,000 children
attending voluntary schools without payment of fees, end
only MOO were paid for under this clause, and taking these
facts into consideration, he thought it would be no unfair
burden to say to managers of voluntary schools that it
should henceforth be a condition of an increased parlia-
mentary grant that they should take these children and
educate them.
After remarks from several other hon. members,
Mr. Forster said he considered it was somewhat straining
the matter to say that because the fees of children
were paid for parents who could not pay them the Act
was contributing to denominational education. The bill
; would take from School Boards all power to pay fees,
FRIENDLY ROCTErilee.'tint at the same time it left the power to the School
The ('haneellor of the Exchequer, in bringing.in a bill to ; 'Mani to compel the parent to send children to school ;
consolidate and amend the law relating to Friendly Societies or, in other words, if the parent were acknowledged on
—a question which, he sail, affected four millions of people • all hands to be ton poor to pay school fees, he should lose
and twelve or thirteen millions in capital—explained the his power to choose among the schools of the neighbourhood
eaxious inconveniences and defects of the present law the one to which he would like his child to go. Therefore
and of the present system of management, which had the bill was neither just nor wise. He believed the clause
led to the appointment of the Royal Commission. was the only just and practical way of carrying out comma-
ire.. the Report of this Commission Sir Stafford ' situ, and htecould not vote for its repeal because he was ex-
read extracts showing the necessity of legislation, thmely anxious that compulsion should be carried out
but at the same aims he admitted that much had been ; throughout the country.
done by the Societies themselves to improve their Mr. Lowe said thiv was not a logical question, but a (Ines.
position, and if only the great Societies, like the Manchester ; tion of practical statesmanship, and when they came to look
'Puffy or the Foresters, were concerned there might he no at it its dimensions were ridiculously mall. The amount
necessity for legislative interference. The bill, he said, paid was small, anti was distributed among a peculiar class
would not trench on the
and self-government ; hut it would sins at satiating Principles of 'l'l"nfttrY effort --a cli.s which did not consist of paupers, but of those who
hi the efficient and solvent management of the Ni. two
• were so near pauperism that they could not afford to pay
twopence a week for the education of their children. How
WWII, by supplying them with accurate Tables on which would the Act work if it was repealed? A hundred or I
their calculations might be hissed, and by providing-
for periodical valuation of Assets. The Central Regis- ; perhaps two hundred children a year would come with- '
fait the operation of the Act, and would if robably get
try would be strengthened, and the country would lie their educatiou as children did ',afore the Education Act •
divided into 40 or 50 district., with officials to receive reels- p d, in voluntary schools. Had the charity which ;
trat Mos, and to transmit them to the Central Office. There had done so much for education in past years sunk so low
are various minor provisions in the bill to reniove difficulties i that the fees would not be forthcoming from the hands of
experienced in the management of the Societies. With re- I charitable persona who only awaited an outlet for their
paid to the Burial Societiee, in which the large/it frauds ' money? [fear, hear) This was a most urgent question, ;
occur, alterations are made in the mode of collection ; and and it was most desirable that the clause should be re- ,
the Insurance of the lives of infants under three years of sled for the sake of peace and quietness. The Govern-
age is absolutely prohibited. Finally, after fixing the 22nd itTent would do very wisely to lend their rid to this end, and
inst, for the second reading, Sir Stafford iuvited gentlemen assist the course of the great work of education.
Who might have amendments to propose to consult with I ~
t &onion protested against the assumption that the
him in private, in order that an agreement 'sight be arrived
.;\ iseoun
at, if possible, before the Committee, so that the bill might • 25th Clause hail stmsel in the way of education, and re-
pass this year, which would bo impossible if any lengthy ' marked that evenstrides education had made since the passing
the hon. member for Bradford must be
eitscusaLin were likely to occur. wirprised at the
of the Act. The clause was before Parliament on two I wen-
Mr. Holdnoy, Mr. Macdonald. and Sir. Wheelhouse made aions last session, and both times the House had affirmed the
an= Obeeriations, and leave was given to Ming in the bill. ,prirneip that a parent should have the choice of its school.
MERCHANT tiIIIPPIOG (MRA.4CREIIENT OF TONNAGE) BILL. been followed in the Scotch
The Merchant Merchant Shipping (Measurement of Tonnage) Bill— • trhionr' APric;_riPanied hthe country had certainly not signified
et the last general election, that it was desirable to
the main object of which Is to legalize the new system of Upon one point the Govern.
measuring tonnage mnctioned at the Constantinople Con-
I Leeat' wt fluid not give waY• They would not for one
ference—was read a second time, after a abort debate, pea he clause (Cheers).
' do anything that would take away or diminish
Some other bills were forwarded a stage, and the House ad- thmomente right of a parent to choose the schoel at
u9O minutes to two o'clock. which hiu child should Ire educated, because they
-
felt it absolutely impovaible that the great work of education
eould go on if they meddled with that great prineiple (bear,
hear) I tewould be fatal to the working of compulsion if they
once took away this choice.
Alter a few words from Mr. Richard, he t House divided,
when there appeared —For the second reading, 129 Against,
973 Majority, 246.
The bill was therefore rejected, the result being received
with loud Ministerial cheering.
:,cple other business was disposed of. and the House

‘,17.578Acr if BILL.
In the if orsg or RDS, .tune 6, Viscount Ifiddleton, in I
LO
moving the second reading of this bill, (ilmt-red that one-
half or upwards of the students at universities, and a large
proportion of the officers of the army. were under age, and
adverted to the systematic inducements which were held out
to them by money-lenders, tradesmen, and others to run into
debt. If the parent declined to pay the debts the matter was
taken into court, and of the decisions of juries in such cases
the noble Lord cited three or four smnpi.es. ln one case it
was proved that champagne and wild lick' ',other that
emerald studs set with diamonds, andi 11 tithe& a ssri,s
of most expensive engravings -proofs beloi e letters were
necessaries. The bill by means of which I (proposed to
remedy the evils that existed, provided that nodebt incurred
by a young man in his minority should be continued by
advances after he had attained his majority ; and the tad
clause, which was the most important, proposed that the
judge, and not the jury, should decide what were necessaries
unlike the Act,

......
pljounsetl

Inquests were held on Saturday, at Liverpool, upon
the bodies of two children who had been drowned by falling
Into tabs of water in the alinevese of their guardians In one
case, a girl of two years old was left alone in the scullery of
the house, and when next seen was lying in a tub of water,
drowned. In the other instance, an infant of Ilse months
fell out of bed into a tub of water which wan lying by the
side, and was drowned. Verdicts of " Aecidental death"
and "Found drowned" were returned