The Sun.
London, England, 1861-07-12 00:00:00

NATIONAL EDUCATION.

On the motion for going into committee of supply on
education estimates,

Sir J. PAKINGTON said he was quite aware of the value
of time in the present state of public business, yet he hoped
the house would not consider that he was unduly trespass-
ing on their indulgence in calling attention to the important
report of the education commissioners which had been re-
cently laid on the table. Having referred to the circum-
stances which led to the appointment of the commission, the
right hon. gentleman proceeded to state that five grounds
had been urged by him and others in favour of immediate
further legislation, or of an inquiry on which to base such
legislation. Those five grounds were that large masses of
the people of this country, notwithstanding the efforts of the
Committee of Privy Council, were in a state of the most de-
plorable ignorance ; that in large districts of the country
there were either inefficient schools or no schools at all ; that
the early age at which children left school prevented them
from receiving the full benefit of the instruction which was
available ; that it was indispensable that local agency should
be added to the central establishment if the education of the
people was to be efficient ; and lastly, that the system now
carried on could not be so extended as to meet the require-
ments of the country. These were the grounds on which
it was urged that an inquiry was necessary ; and though
the motion was strongly opposed in the house, and by none
more strongly than his right hon. friend the member for
Oxfordshire, it was carried, and the commission was ap-
pointed. The noble lord opposite was then at the head of
the Government, but a few days after the Earl of Derby's
Government came in, and the members of the commission
were appointed by his noble friend the Marquis of Salis-
bury. He considered that his noble friend exercised a wise
and sound discretion in omitting both himself and his right
hon. friend the member for Oxfordshire from the commis-
sion, and that he exercised an equally sound discretion in
appointing at its head a noble duke who was distinguished
for his temperate and dispassionate views on this
subject. The whole of the commissioners were in
his opinion entitled to the gratitude of the country for the
manner in which their duties had been discharged. No
document was so well calculated to increase the information
or to lead to sound and safe conclusions as the report which
had been produced by them. It was satisfactory to him to
find that every one of the five grounds which had been
urged by him and the noble lord opposite for further legis-
lation had been confirmed by the report. The very lan-
guage which he used in moving for the commission had
been repeated almost word for word in the report. The
commissioners reported that in the earliest report on the
subject there was only 1 in 17 of the population at school ;
in 1833, but lin 11, whereas now they stated that 1 in 7
' and a fraction were at school. He admitted that that was
satisfactory, for it showed that, with the exception of Swit-
zerland, perhaps a greater per tentage of the population of
this
country attended school than in any other in Europe.
The commissioners proceeded to observe that a plan upon
which the aid of the council was given had produced results
far short of what had been anticipated, and that 15,700 de-
nominational schools, containing 671,000 scholars, had been
left unassisted. They
had
not
effected and
they said, afraid that
the present system
and was not adapted to
effect a diffusion of sound education
commissioners had also referred to the
mamoncrtethofe poor. Te
he The
educa-
tion given under the present system. They said there
overwhelming evidence that even in the inspected
schoolsa
not more than one-fourth of the children received a good
education, and this they attributed to the fact that the in-
struction given was too ambitious and too superficial in its
character. (Hear, hear.) The next subject to which he
would advert was the necessity for that local inspection and
care without which an; effective system of education was
impossible. The commissioners admitted the want of local
interest and of local support, and they also in substance ad-
mitted that local aid and superintendence were indispen-
sable. They proceeded to point out the fallacy of the argu-
ment that the present :system helped those who helped
themselves. The poor, they observed, could not help them-
selves in districts where the rich would not help them.
They repeated the statement that the present system
was not fit for a national system, and a proper
reference was made to the undue amount of cost which it
entailed upon the clergy of the country. The report con-
tained a good illustration of the last points. One of the
assistant commissioners had ascertained the expenditure in
168 parishes upon 168 schools. The total average annual
cost of those schools was £6,600, and towards that sum
£4,500 was raised by voluntary contributions, of which
£1,700 was contributed by 169 parochial clergymen. (Hear.)
It appeared from the accompanying returns that the clergy
contributed twice as much as the average landowners, and
six times as much as the average householders. (Hear.) In-
deed if it were not for the undue exertions which the clergy
were called on to make, the system could not be carried on.
The right hon. baronet having read the concluding para-
graph of the report of the commissioners containing a sum-
mary of their recommendations, said that no one could deny
that with the powerful machinery at its command the pre-
sent system had done a vast amount of good, but he con-
tended that it was not sufficient, and that they now stood in
need of some supplementary syttem, In substance the sup-