The Sun.
London, England, 1870-07-30 00:00:00

THE EDUCATION BILL.

Their lordships then went into committee on the
Elementary Education Bill. The first two clauses were
agreed to without discussion, and Earl Russell
moved in Clause 3 to introduce an amendment, the
object of which was the appointment of a Minister of
Education, who should have power to vote in the Council,
and who should have sole control over the education
department.—Earl de Grey, after paying a corn-
pliinent to the noble earl for the exertions he
had made in the cause of education, asked him
not to press the amendment at the present
moment. He said there was no necessity for the appoint-
ing of such a Minister as far as the particular working of
the department was concerned. At present there
were persons of the greatest experience in the council, and
with respect to the future he thought it would be wise
first to ascertain what was the exact working of the
bill before they proceeded to appoint a Minister
armed with the functions set out in the
amendment. He did not ask the House to reject the pro-
position, as he hoped his noble friend would withdraw the
amendment.—The Duke of Richmond thought the pre-
sent bill was not the proper one upon which,to raise the
question of the appointment of a Minister of Education,
and if the noble Earl went to a division he should give his
vote against the proposal. The amendment was then
negatived without a division, the voice of Earl Russell
being the only non-content audible. The Duke of
Marlborough moved to insert a proviso at the end of
clause 4, but as it altered the area of rating it was
declared to be informal. The clause was then agreed to,
as were clauses 5 and 6. Upon clause 7, regulating the
conduct of the schools, the Bishop of Carlisle moved to
strike out the words " a copy of the regulations should be
conspicuously put up in every such school," because the
parents would rarely enter the room and also because it
was undesirable to keep those regulations constantly
before the eyes of the scholars. The best way of
making the parents acquainted with the regulation was
to send them a printed copy of them. The proposition
was rejected. The clause was then agreed to, as were the
six following clauses, none of the amendments moved
being pressed to a division. On clause 14 an amendment
was moved by Lord Colchester, the object of which was
to admit teaching of religious catechisms or formularies.
where a majority of the ratepayers petitioned in favour of
such being done. Earl De Grey said such an amendment
would subvert the whole principle of the clause. The
Marquis of Salisbury, in the most sarcastic manner, con-
demned the clause as being so loosely drawn that no two
persons could agree in its interpretation. Lord Claren-
don defended the clause, and the amenements being
negatived without a division, the clause was
agreed to. Clauses to 22 inclusive were agreed to. The
Duke of Marlborough suggested the addition of a clause
empowering the ratepayers to transfer the management of
a school from the school board to the trustees with the
consent of the Education Board, and of a majority of the
school board. Earl De Grey said he would consider the
mattes previous to the bringing up of the report. The
Duke of Richmond moved the omission of clause 23,
which empowers the managers of a school to alter the re-
gulations affecting the teacher. The Government, not
strongly objecting, the clause was struck out. Clause 24
was agreed to. Clause 25, establishing free schools to
special cases, on the motion of Lord Lyttelton, was
struck out after a division, the numbers being for
the clause 61, against it, 65. Clauses 26 to 72
were agreed to without any material alteration.
A discussion took place on the 73rd clause, setting out the
age of the children attending school, the age set out in
the bill not less than 5 or more than 13. The Marquis
of Salisbury thought seven ought to be the earliest age,
whilst the Earl of Shaftesbury moved amendments to
make the ages respectively 4 and 10. The ages fixed by
the bill were ultimately agreed to on the understanding
that a proviso standing in the name of the Earl of Har-
rowby that full notice of any bye law made under this
clause should be most widely pnblished before the Educa-
tional Department gave its sanction to it. The remain-
der of the clauses were then agreed to. On the second
schedule the Duke of Richmond moved an amendment
with a view of eliminating from the schedule the provi-
sion requiring the election of school boards by ballot.
Earl De Grey defended the proposition. On a division
there appeared for the amendment 72 against 53. The
bill was then passed, and the report was ordered to be
taken on Monday.
The other orders having been disposed of, their lord-
hips adjourned at 20 minutes past one.