The Sun.
London, England, 1855-03-16 00:00:00

SOLDIERS' KNAPSACKS.

Mr. BERESFORD asked the Under Secretary for
War whether a knapsack, known as "Brady's Patent,"
and condemned at Chobliam by a committee of officers
commanding regiments, were not authorised by the late
Secretary at War for the use of the militia, and a great
number of them issued accordingly, notwithbt.inding
that a knapsack of a different pattern is established to
the regular army ?
Mr. PEEL said it was optional with the colonels of
militia regiments to select what knapsack they thought
hest suited to their men.

STAMPED ENVELOPES.
Mr. T. DUNCOAIBE asked the Secretary of the
Treasury when it was likely that the public would be
able to obtain stamped sheets of paper and private enve-
lopes for free transmission by post.
Mr. WILSON said instructions had been given to the
Board of Inland Revenue to make the necessary ar-
rangements for issuing stamped paper and envelopes,
and in about two months he expected such arrangement
would be completed. The public would have 101. worth
of stamped paper issued to them for the duty, but par-
ties requiring paper to be stamped for a less amount,
would have to pay ls. beyond the duty.

FLErrE R. CARRI E RS.
Mr. T. DUNCOMBE called the attention of the hon.
member to the fact, that his promises, on the part of
the Government, that the recommendations contained
in the Report on the Post-office, relative to the letter-
carriers of the metropolis, should be speedily carried out,
remain unfulfilled.

Mr. WILSON said steps had been taken for carrying
out the recommendation at once, and a notice on the
subject would be issued to-morrow.

THE BUDGET.

Sir H. WILLOUGHBY asked the Chancellor of the
Exchequer if he intended to make his finaccial state-
ment before Easter ?

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said
there were several reasons, ene of which was the period
at which the financial year would terminate. That
would induce him not to make his Financial Statement
until after Easter.
GENERAL EDUCATION.

Sir J. PAKINGTON, pursuant to notice, rose to
move for leave to bring in a bill for the better encourage-
ment and promotion of general education in England
aid Wales. No one, he said, could dispute now-a-
days the advantage of education ; it fitted men
for the station of life which they were called to, and
made them good members of society. The subject,
therefore, was one which had been too long neglected.
Last year the Manchester and Salford Education Bill
was thrown out, and seeing then, as well as at the open-
ing of the present session, that there was no pros-
pect of the question being taken up in earnest he
determined to take it in hand himself. (Hear, hear.)
He found fault with the manner in which the Commit-
' tee of Council on Education had fulfilled its functions.
It was entrusted annually with the distribution of
300,0001. for the purposes of education, but the
money was appropriated in such a manner as to
produce only the minimum amount of good. There
was no Minister in Parliament responsible for the
distribution of the money. Nor had we, as in France,
Prussia, Switzerland, and America, a Minister of Public
Instruction. Now that was a defect in our administra-
tive system which he wished to see remedied, and one of
the objects of this bill was to create an officer who
should be anawereble to Parliament for the proper
distribution of the funds voted for the purpose of
education. Another defect in the existing system was
the training of our national schoolmasters ; it was a
great dea: too high, while the services expecte of pupil
teachers were so varied and extensive that they pre-
ferred resorting to other professions for a means of live-
lihood, where the remuneration was larger than that of
a schoolmaster. But few of the pupil teachers educated at
the expense of the State with the view of ultimately be-
coming schoolmasters ever undertook the duties of school-
masters because they preferred rather to take situations
as bankers' clerks, and so forth ; and here again was a
subject upon which a minister of public instruction
might be well expected to afford periodical infor-
mation to Parliament. He would now venture
to call the attention of the house to a statement
of the present condition of education in this country.
Ile had been told that this question might be left where
it was with a liberal House of Coinnione. He should
show that they wtre going on quite the reverse. lie
should lay before the house startling statements ; and
he would wake no statement without giving his autho-
rity, and in all cases that would be official. Lord J. Rus-
sell, in introducing his bill in 1853, gave a too flattering
account of the present advanced state of education, with-
out venturing on the other side of the question. He
should, however, tell the house the truth. In 1833 there
was only 1 out of 13 of the population at school, and it
bad gone on uet.l there were now 1 in every 8 at school.
So far there was improvement. (Hear, hear.) But if
the house would analyse the figures, they would
ficd the increase, between those periods, was by no
means an equal ratio than between 1818 and 1819 ;
whilst in 1821 the country was in this respect in a very
Lad condition.' But he should call the attention of the
house t s the important question--What was the quality
of the education afforded ? What was the nature of the
instruction the scholars received? The house was aware
we were greatly indebted for information on this subject
to the able report in the Census by Mr. H. Mann. (Hear.)
In this he (Sir J. Pakington) found that whilst great
numbers of children were at school, three millions, be-
tween the ages of 5 and 12, remained to be accounted
for. Mr. H. Mann deducted one million for children
employed at wcrk, he then deducted 200,000 who might
be suffering from illness, and 20,000 more for chil-
dren educated at home ; thus leaving a large
number—nearly a million—wholly unaccounted for as
far as education was concerned. Why were tbese chil-
dren not at school ? But before entering upon that
question, he might say that the whole number of these
children were not found on the school-books, but what-
ever number they deducted they must in the same ratio
deduct the time during which the children ought to have
been at school. (Hear, hear.) He believed it to be a
mistake that so many children were actually at work, for
he found from a statement he held in his band that
in the whole kingdom 41 and a fraction per cent. of
child' en were at school, only 12 and a fraction were at
work, and 46 and a fraction were neither at school nor
at work. (Hear, hear.) This was to be accounted for
in various ways. It had been attributed to the poverty,
of the parents; but he thought the indifference of pa-
rents must not be forgotten, and this, no doubt, arose
from the badness of the education afforded them.
(Hear, bear.) This brought him to the consideration of
the value of the education given to children. And he felt
bound on this point to tell the house that, with the ex-
ception of Russia, Spain, Italy, and the Slave States of
America, England stood lowest in the educational scale.
(Hear, hear.) The hon. gentleman then referred to the
quality of the elementary instruction afforded in schools
in Switzerland, Denmark, France (under the system
adopted by M. Guizot), Germany, Holland, and Ame-
rica, which embraced moral and religious instruc-
tion, grammar, elementary philosophy, in addition
to the usual rudiments of reading, writing, arithmetic,
and geography. (Hear, hear.) Coming to England,
the elementary instruction afforded was—reading, 98
per cent. ; English grammar, 44 per cent. ; geography,
39 per cent. ; music, 10 per cent. ; and industrial occu-
pations the low rats of only 2 per cent. (Hear, hear.)
He would now turn to the authority of Mr. Horace
Mann on the subject of 30,000 schools, which he bad
thus analysed : superior, 4,956 ; middling, 10,000 ;
inferior, 13,879 ; and he significantly added, that
from 708 of -these schools the returns were actually
signed by the master or mistress by their mark. (Hear,
hear.) Could he mention a more significant indication
of the state of our educational system than this ? (Hear,
bear.) Would the house console itself with this state of
education ? Turning, now, to that which followed as a
matter of course—namely, the deplorable results which
had ensued.

[LEFT SPEAKING.]

ARMY BEFORE SEBASTOPOL COM-