The Sun.
London, England, 1870-01-13 00:00:00

SrU J. PAXINGTON AND MB. FORSTER.

Sir John Pakington presided over a meeting of
the Scholastic Registration Society held in London
on Tuesday in support of Mr. Forster's second En-
dowed Schools Bill. Sir John has on a former occa-
sion publicly declared his confidence in the
Vice-President of the Committee of Council.
His co-operation with the Liberal Minister
is noticeable for its disinterestedness and
public spirit. The Conservative leader ex-
pressed his full approval of the Educational
Council Bill, as the measure in question is called.
He could listen, he said, to no party views as to which
side of the House the measure came from when he
saw that in a spirit of earnestness and sincerity the
Educational Department proposed to deal with that
most crying evil and scandal—the extent to which
valuable endowments had been allowed to lapse into a
condition of worse than uselessness. The
committee of which he was a member had de-
cided to divide the original bill into two parts, one of
which had become law, and another had been post-
poned. But Sir John expressed a hope that it was
only postponed, and that it would soon become the law
of the land. The measure provides for the registrationof
teachers, the extending of examination to all endowed
schools, and the registration and examination of such
private schools as may be willing to come within the
action of the Bill. In all these respects it has Sir
John Pakington's support. The meeting passed
several resolutions touching the Bill, in particular one
in favour of permitting teachers' representatives,
elected by their own body, to sit on the proposed
Educational Council.

MR. LEATHAM AND COLONEL AKBOYD •ON EDU-
CATION.

Mr. Leatham and Colonel Akroyd, M.P's., ad-
dressed the members of the Halifax Mechanics'
Institute on Education,
,at their annual soiree. Mr.
Leatham dwelt on the futile nature of the pro-
mises made some thirty years ago,. that it
was natural and easy to make a law which would
render all the children wise, clever, and moral in
spite of themselves and those antiquated pig-headedold parties, their parents, and that when this desir-
able state of things had been brought about, they
might set to work pulling down the workhouses
and prisons until the only gaoler left should be
the schoolmaster. The honourable member
then asked how many gaols they had pulled
down ; and expressed his opinion, while he did
not wish to undervalue the services of the clergy-
men of the Church of England, that their
ruling motive in their exertions on behalf of educa-
cation had been the furtherance of denomina-
tional purposes. He condemned the compulsory
system, because it " sought to introduce into this
country the odious Continental plan, which made
no man's house his castle, and planted a spy upon
every hearth." He believed that the gigantic force of the
working men's examplewould do that which no clamour
of leagues could shake, and, without listening to a
single creed, make education free and universal.
Colonel Akroyd said he did not see how education
could be carried on without religious and moral cul-
ture. He thought mechanics' institutes were not for
primary but secondary education.