The Sun.
London, England, 1865-03-01 00:00:00

public grants were now made be once broken down and
education would be placed in the utmost peril.
Mr. ADDERLEY held that the present constitution of
the education board was by no means satisfactory, and.
ought therefore to be inquired into ; but on thg question
whether grants should be extended to-endowed schools, his
impression was totally adverse to the views of the member
for Berkshire.
Sir L. PALS advocated the claim of small rural parishes
to a portion of the education grant, with which object heh
suggested that local boards mighformed to group suc
parishes into districts, and place each group under one
certificated master.
Mr. F. POWELL supported the motion for inquiry on
the ground that all departments of the Government ought
to be subjected to the frequent and rigid supervision of the
house ; that no clear information existed with regard to
the nature of the functions of the President and Vice-Pre-
sident of the Council of Education, and because of the
relations between that body and those persons who, in the
country, and at the cost of much time and money, were
carrying out the work of education in their various
localities.
Mr. BRUCE said it was not his intention on behalf of
the Government to offer any opposition to the motion and
the addendum, although there was much of the inquiry
that would be unnecessary, seeing that ample information
was already before the house upon the subject. The real
question to be decided was whether the system of educa-
tion had worked well, or was likely to be made to work
better. He doubted, however, whether any more effec-
tive machinery could be devised than that of the Committee
of Council, whose administration of the department he de-
fended at some length. In acceding to the motion. the Go-
vernment did so more in the hope of restoring confidence
and peace] than in the expectation that any official and
practical suggestions would result from inquiry.
Lord R. CECIL, adverting to the conscience clause,
said that it ought never to have been put in action by an
executive department without the formal concurrence of
the House of Commons. The existing system derived its
whole energy for the spread of education from the co-ope-
ration of religious zeal, and if that religious zeal were ac-
cepted it must be with all the conditions which it involved,
for men did not care to teach a boiled-down, colourless re-
ligion—a mere system of morality divested of all cardinal
truths. With regard to the education department, it was
a vital defect in the organisation of the Commitiee of
Council that the president, who was solely responsible,
was removed beyond the influence of that house.
After soma observations from Mr. AYRTON,
Mr. G. HARDY expressed a hope that, in conducting
their inquiry, the committee would not travel into the
question of the conscience clause or grants to endowments,
but confine themselves to the constitution "of the,depart-
ment of education and the system under which 'the busi-
ness of the office was carried on.

Mr. HENLEY was in favour of the motion, and, in order
to show that the system required examination, referred to
the original Orders in Council, which had been dealt
in by minutes, which minutes were altered by regulations,
and these regulations wholly changed by private interpre-
tation within the walls of the Education-office. He repu-
diated the idea that the whole responsibility of the depart-
ment rested with the President of the Council. The whole
Cabinet was equally responsible.
Mr. W. E. FORSTER thought that whatever commit-
tee the house might appoint would have a very difficult
and complicated duty to perform, and that the inquiry sug-
gested by Sir J. Pakington would be quite sufficient for any
one committee to carry out, without undertaking in addition
the consideration of the large question suggested by Mr.
Walter.

Mr. HENNESSY commented upon the circumstance
that, while the house was agreed that education should be
conducted on religious principles in England, a totally dif-
ferent system was adopted in Ireland. He hoped the com-
mittee which was about to be appointed would be em-
powered to inquire into the condition of those schools in
Ireland which were denied assistance because the Bible
was read in them.
After a few words from Mr. SCOURFIELD the debate was
brought to a close by a reply from Sir J. PAKINGTON, and
the original motion, with the amendment of Mr. Waiter,
was agreed to.

COURTS OF JUSTICE CONCENTRATION (SITE)
BILL.
Mr. KINNAIRD rose to move that it be an instruction
to the select committee on the Courts of Justice Concentra-
tion (Site) Bill, that they have power to make provision for
appropriating or obtaining sites, and for the erection of
lodging-houses or other suitable dwellings for the working
classes proposed to be displaced by the said bill. He had
nothing whatever to say against a measure which ought to
have been carried into effect long ago, but he confessed that
while Government was compelling railway companies to
provide facilities for the removal of the population which
they displaced in the populous districts, he was entirely at
issue with the Attorney-General, when in his speech on
this bill the hon. and learned gentleman said that the ques-
tion of the displacement of the population might be left to
the natural laws of supply and demand. From a return
placed in his hands that day by Mr. Abraham, the
architect of the Temples, he gathered that the number
of houses covering the site which was about to be
cleared for the new courts of justice was 482, and of
that number 123 were occupied by persons purely belong-
ing to the labouring classes. According to the same return
the number of those to be dispossessed would be 3,070.
Now he had reason to believe that this estimate was quite
below the mark, for many of the houses were lodging-

houses capable of harbouring some 50 or 60 persons. His

own impression was that the number of persons to be dis
possessed would be nearer 4,000. One of the houses to be
removed was formerly occupied by Judge Jeffreys, and he
only wished that that learned functionary could have lived
to these days to see his house pulled about his ears. (A
laugh.) There was a growing impression amongst the
working classes that in these displacements of the popula-
tion the welfare of the poor was but too little consulted. In
this instance the people must take refuge elsewhere—in St.
Giles's, for example, and other kindred localities ; and the
result must be that these parts of the town would suffer
proportionately from over-crowding.
Mr. COWPER assured the house he was deeply sensible
of the great drawback arising out of the displacement of
the population which attached to the execution of great
public improvements; and he regretted that such displace-
ment must necessarily take place in the instance of the
present improvement. Indeed, he would give any one £lOO
who could point out to him a way of avoiding the disagree-
able alternative. At the same time he was unable to
harken to the suggestion of his hon. friend, for the bill took
no more land than was absolutely required for the new
courts. If they were to build houses elsewhere for the dis-
placed working classesthey must buy additional land for the
purpose, and in order to provide for 3,000 persons they
would have to take down at least 200 houses. But in that
way others of the working classes would have to be dispos-
sessed, and so the evil, instead of being mitigated, would be
increased. The only thing possible to be done was that there
should be greater facilities giving by railways for people
living in the suburbs to come to the neighbourhood of their
occupations. That was a process which he was ]happy to say
was going on at the present moment. There was another
process also going on, by which houses hitherto occupied
by single families of a comparatively high station were
gradually divided into single rooms, and let to a number
of persons. He hoped the hon. gentleman would not press
the house to agree to the instruction he had proposed, as
it was impossible to execute it without contravening the
existing-orders of the house.
Mr. WATKIN thought that, in the case of Charing-cross
Railway, and other undertakings, the companies might
fairly have been required to provide dwelling accommoda-
tion for the poor people whom they displaced.
Mr. LYGON concurred with the hon. member for Perth
(Mr. Kinnaird) in protesting against this scheme. The ob-
ject of the promoters of the bill would be met if the Chan-
cery courts were left in Lincoln's-inn and the common law
courts built upon the Thames Embankment. He protested
against the practice of making a solitude, and calling it a
metropolitan improvement.
Sir F. GOLDSIMID approved of the scheme, but re-
gretted that it should displace so large a number of the
lfaobrouring classes. He believed the reason why buildings
wereth e y not
woulderected
not p
awya ssobweceallusase,
though their
they accommodation
would
pay,
yet
if the sites on which they stood were devoted to other
purposes. A remedy might perhaps be found if the Go-
vernment would make a slight sacrifice in the sale of sites
which were at their disposal. (Hear.)
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL hoped the house would
take a practical view of the subject. Ho confessed he
heard with regret that this occasion was selected for in-
troducing another scheme. It was utterly impossible
that the proposed instruction could be carried out. The
direct and immediate tendency of adopting the resolution
would be to defeat the bill. Other bills appropriating sites
in the metropolis had been allowed to pass without intro-
ducing any resolution like the present. The scheme for
providing cheap trains to carry the working classes who
would be displaced by the present bill was altogether im-
practicable. It would be impossible to move a large body
of people in the way proposed. Those people would choose
their own lodgings, and would not come back to inhabit
the new houses proposed to be erected for them. He
ready to admit the goodness of the motive, but
it would
be better to trust to the laws of nature for accommodating
those people instead of attempting it by artificial means.
Mr. HENLEY said the plain fact was that the
Govern-
meat, having found tho site proposed in the bill a conve-
nient one, pounced upon the unfortunate people who now
resided there, and resolved to cast them upon the world,
leaving it to chance to provide in the long run for them.
In the case of railways, when people were driven out, the
railways themselves supplied the means of bringing them
easily and cheaply back. Were there no vacant sites on
which it was possible to erect dwellings for the displaced
\
poor people ? The Government had laid down the prin-
ciple that, whatever inconvenience they caused people, the
people would be better for it in the long run ; it was a public
improvement, and the Government shut their eyes to the
distress.
Lord RS
TON
to in TON pointed out that the amendment
struct the committee to do that which it was
perfectly incapable of do•
impose on them the • Ing, and therefore it would only
pain necessity of reporting that they