The Sun.
London, England, 1862-02-14 00:00:00

HARWICH HARBOUR.

In reply to Captain JERVIS,
Mr. M. GIBSON said that the Government had directed
an inquiry into the subject of the prevention of the
extension of sand deposit at the entrance of Harwich
Harbour. At the same time, while the Government was
willing to contribute towards the object of an
improvement in regard to the state of the harbour, he
thought that Harwich and Ipswich, which would benefit
so considerably by such improvements, should contribute to
the expense of any undertaking that might be considered
necessary.
LAW RELATING TO JOINT• STOCK COMPANIES.

In reply to Mr. Alderman SALOMONS,
Air. M. GIBSON said it was intended by Government
to introduce a bill for the consolidation and amendment of
the law relating to joint-stock companies.
HER MAJESTY'S SHIP "WARRIOR."
state sea
to of
Sir J. PAKINGTON asked the Secretary to the Admi-
ralty if there is any truth in the statements which have
appeared in the
lrrnewspapersaiora,
andsto whetherthebad lie
w qualities
will
at
her
the h
Majesty's
thestysslaipv
nature of any official report which has been
received at the Admiralty as to the performances of that
ship during the heavy gales to which she has been lately
exposedPAGET said that the Government had received
no official information on the subject of the 'Warrior. She
erd
C.
P
arrived at Lisbon, and the captain had addressed a letter to
the Comptroller of the Navy which he would read. The
noble lord read the letter, m which Captain Cochrane
said, "3 ou will be glad to hear that we have had a continua-
tion of gales of wind. (Laughter.) The ship behaved very
well—nothing strained—no accident. We found the main-
yard slightly sprung,
but we fished it at sea with iron
fishes, and it is
n,o,vi, as strong as ever." He adds, at the
end of the letter, The spring in the yard I do not con-
eider has anything to do with the straining or working of

I filo ship." He (Lord C. Paget) was happy to bear his tea-
t tiniony to the efficiency of the vessel.

THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER.

On the motion of Mr. BRAND, a week's leave of absence
was granted to the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the
ground of domestic affliction.

THE REVISED CODE OF EDUCATION.
Mr. R. LOWE having brought up papers connected with
the revised code issued by the Committee of Privy Council,
and having moved that they do lie on the table, proceeded
to state they contained the modifications which the Govern-
ment proposed to make in the recent minute, and were, as
far as Government were concerned, the result of six months'
controversy. The Government had paid most respectful at-
tention to the opinions that had been ventilated by a num-
ber of able gentlemen in pamphlets and in speeches,and had
endeavoured to make the minute conform as far as possible
to the views which experience had pointed out, Before
stating the nature of the amendments which it was proposed
to make it would be necessary, in order to make the matter
intelligible, that he should give some explanation. He
could not presume that all hon. membcrs had spent the last
six months as ho had done in the perusal of pamphlets and
speeches en the subject, and in order to carry the house
with him as far as possible it was necessary that he should
fix the exact limits of the controversy that had taken place.
The objects of the Committee of Privy Council could not be
better explained than by its OA a minutes. They were "to
promote education amongst the children of the labouring
poor." And the means it took to carry out these objects was
by "giving assistance to voluntary effort." The species of
voluntary effort to which it gave assistance was defined to
be " schools in connection with some recognised religious
denomination, or school in which, besides secular instruc-
tion, the Scriptures are read daily fiem the authorised ver-
sion." No grants were made to schools which were not open
to inspection, but the inspector did not interfere with reli-
gious instruction, discipline, or management, beyond veri-
fying the conditions on which grants were made. No annual
grant was made except upon the report of the inspector. It
appeared therefore that the religious element underlaid the
whole system, and it was only in connection with some reli-
gious denomination or society like the National or British
and Foreign Schools that the g: ant was administered. The
conditions onwhich the grant was given to Church ofE ngland
echoolswas that the inspector should b 9 satisfiedwith the state
of the schools generally, but in the schools of all other de-
nominations the inspector did not inquire at all into the re-
ligious instruction. By an order in council, bearing date
Aug. 10, 1840, it was ordered that the inspectors of Church
of England schools should be previously approved by the
,irchbishops of Canterbury and York respectively for their
provinces, that they should be removable at their pleasure,
end- that duplicates of their reports should be sent to them
end to the bishops of their dioceses. That order was still in.
full force and could not be altered except by the authority
of an act of Parliament. It followed then that the inspece
tors of Church of England schools, which consisted of four-
fifths of the whole number of schools under the administra-
tion of the Privy Council, did not inspect the state of reli-
gious instruction in the schools as inspectors of the Privy
Council, but in the other character in which thej, were
clothed by the order of 1840, as servants, as it were, of the
two archbishops. Their report was sent to the Privy Coun-
cil, and if the result was not satisfactory no grant was
given. The next point was as to the method in which the
Government assistance was given. The assistance for the
maintenance of the schools was technically called, in the
language of the education department, annual grants, and
they were divided into three heads. First there was the
capitation grant, which was given for each child who had
attended in the school 176 days and upwards. The amount.
varied from 3s. to ss. for girls, and ss. to Gs. for boys, giv-
ing an average of ss. a head. The condition required from
the school was, that 14s. a head had been already expended
upon the child, and the amount of the grant under that
head alone was £77,000. The division was that which
consisted of certain allowances to certificated teachers, the
first and most important of which was the augmentation
grant which was given upon. the certificate. The Com-
mittee of Plisse Council held examinations every year,
at which the successful candidates received certificates,
and according to the class attained those certificates had
a certain money value capable of increase every five
years. That
value was called the augmentation,
oney
and the terms on which it was given were that the mana-
gers of the schools should contribute twice as much, so that
if the augmentation amounted to £l5, that sum would not
be payable to the teacher unless the managers contributed
at least£3o. These grunts were to be given in aid of the Sala-
ries of the teachers and as a means of distributing the grants
to schools. These grants were liable to be withheld even if
the teachers were guilty of no misconduct,
and even if, from
any misconduct of the manager, government aid was with-
drawn, the augmentation might be withheld from the
teacher. There was also a grant for training pupil-teachers
and teaching them to draw, and teaching them the Gaelic,
and Welsh languages. These pupil-teachers were put in tha
position of apprentices, who were taken into the service of
the school at thirteen, and continued in it for five years, at
a payment for the first year of £5, and increasing £2 10s. a
year up to £2O. The whole of this payment was provided
by the government, and the amount required under this
head was about £300,000. The three grants together made
up the wholil sum as near as possible to £550,000. The
question as to the administration of this department was
referred by her Majesty in the year 1858 to a royal corn.
mission. That commission after three years' investigation
reported in favour of the continuance of the grant upon
the principles ho had enumerated. It gave the *weight of
its approbation to the system of basing the instruction in
this country upon assistance given by government to velum,
Lary religious effort. It recommended the continuance of
that part of the system which he had mentioned in speak-
ing of the annual grant, but recommended the total
abolition of the ennual grants and the substitution
of the two capitation grants, one to be paid by
the government upon 140 attendances at the school
being proved, and the other out of the county rates,
upon an examination of the pupils. That which took place
in March last year forced upon the government the consi-
deration as to how far they should adopt the report of the
commission, and there were reasons why they considered
that the matter admitted of no delay. They took the sub-
ject therefore into their most serious consideration, and
after an investigation, with all the means at the command
of the committee of council, they came to the conclusions
which had been embodied in the revised code now before
the public. The house was now in a condition to form an
opinion as to the merits of that revised code, and he would,
therefore, with their permission, state the reasons which
had led the committee of council to come to the decision at
which they had arrived. When these annual grants were
first established it was firmly believed that they would be
provisional and temporary, and if there was any doubt of
that, he thought the fact was sufficiently established by the
frequent motions in that house, by the appointment of a
royal commission, and above all by the authority of Earl
Russell, who was the leading Minister of the Crown in the
House of Commons at the time when the system was ina-
gurated, That noble lord said he did not think it was in-
tended the system should pervade the whole country, but
that the object was create models of teaching. He (Mr.
Lowe) made these remarks because it would free him from
any presumption if, in the course of his observations, he
should criticise rather freely the rules of the department
which was it his duty to administer. There were many
things in this system excusable, defensible, and even right,
if regarded from Earl Russell's point of view, but which
were not proper when the system was to assume its final
form. One other remark he would make. It was generally
the practice of those who introduced a question to the house
to elevate and exaggerate its importance, and to speak of
the manner in which they were overwhelmed by its weight.
On the contrary, he would beg the house not to over-esti-
mate the importance of the present question. It was not
in itself of first-rate magnitude. It was not, properly
speaking, of the magnitude of the educational controversy,
and would really be found to turn on the simple question
of the annual grant. The Government were satisfied by
the reasoning of the Educational Commissioners and by the
knowledge and feelings of the country, that it would not be
wise or right to innovate on the foundations of this system.
They had after proper consideration loyally subscribed to
the necessity of the present educational system, and he did.
not think it would be right or wise to disturb it, since it
had gained such a strong hold upon the feelings and inte-
rests of the country. He had heard of a man who went to
call upon a friend and stayed withhina 30 years—(laughter)
_-and the unexpected perpetuation of the present system been similarly remarkable. H
quite
ofp prepare
rd r too-
say that the Government adopted as w
the basis
ceeding the present system. They had no wish to disturb
any of its fundamental principles, and they were endeavour-
ing loyally and honourably to carry it out in the manner
which they believed would insure the greatest permanency
and efficiency in supplying the educational wants of the coun-
try. (Hear.) The first fault he found in the system, and
which the commissioners had also reported, was what he
would call its partiality. It was the great fault of the system
that it did not pervade or permeate the whole country, It
left too much to spontaneous education, the consequence of
which was that the foundation schools were rather regulated
by the wealth and public spirit of the persons inhabiting the
locality, than by the number of its population. He would
state a few facts to show this, and which might suggest the
kind of remedy to be ;proposed. The number of schools
assisted by the Privy Council was, at the time the com-
mission reported, G,807; whereas the number of those not
assisted by the Privy Council was 15,952. But although the
number of unassisted schools was greater, the number of
scholars was much smaller. The number of pupils in the
assisted schools, which formed a proportion of only on9-halnf
of the whole, was 917,000, while the number of pupdf!l
the unassisted schools was only 654,000. If they wyPtoe.
fur-
ther and extended their view to the number of children
d they
the class for whose education they wished to Prruir five..
would find the proportion stood something
lssswhich it was
Privy Council, and five-ninths were it! schools which Four-ninths of them were in schools notlieke
i into con-
the avowed object of the council to assist.i
sewn, that in the
sideration the facts reported by the co i°ted by the
and cipher, then
were of the Privy Councilonloyn
were thoroughly taught to read, write,
the schools which the
found the mortifying resultthat
ia different dioceses, populations
Privy Council desired to assist ol
only
renoteu: h
one-ninth
of
e tchhei
chil-
dren
effective education. Further than
including 359 such parishes, there were only
actually received an
that, he found on
eta6itoho,:h3oe
sfuolelhowpianrgisrheessu,ltths
e:
rel n thewere
only
ni ol
C2SO of Oxford,
estion with the Privy Council. In the
numberingfolrdessinthe
24 schools m conn
diocese of
Devonshire
th 2 5 • , 4 parishes, there were only
t th P •
tte.SCIIIOneISCI connected rivy Council, Aioraetshire