The Sun.
London, England, 1868-03-30 00:00:00

THE SCHOOLS INQUIRY COMMISSION.

Yesterday was published Volumes 2 to 6 of the Report
of the Schools Inquiry Commission. The first volume, as
our readers know, has already been published. In the
second a copy is given of the circular sent to certain gen-
tlemen, asking them to give their opinion on
various matters referred to the commission. There
are answers from the Right Hon. C. B. Adderley,
M.P., the Right Hon. T. Sotheron-Estcourt,
the Rev. Dr. Angus, Mr. Montague Bernard (the Pro-
fessor of International Law at Oxford), the Rev.
J. W. Blakely, the Rev. Derwent Coleridge, the
Right Hon. Sir J. T. Coleridge, and from the Deans
of Hereford, Norwich, and Salisbury, Mr. Beresford
Hope, M.P., and others. The same volume contains the
intructions given to the Assistant Commissiolers, the ques-
tions addressed to each school, a report of the committee
of the British Association, and a valuable digest of the
evidence given before the commissioners. The third
volume contains the reports relating respectivelyto Christ's
Hospital ; St. Olave, Southwark ; Dulwich College ;
Birmingham, Manchester, Bedford, Tonbridge, and
Monmouth Schools. The fourth and fifth volumes
contain the evidence taken before the commis-
sioners from February 28, 1865, to April 24, 1866.
The 6th volume consists of a report on certain
burgh schools, and other schools of secondary education in
Scotland, by Mr. D. R. Fearon, M.A., one of her
Majesty's Inspectors of Schools ; a report on the system
of education for the middle and upper classes in France,
Italy, Germany, and Switzerland, by Mr. Matthew
Arnold, M.A. ; and a communication on the condition of
secondary education in the Netherlands, by Baron D.
Mackay.

The text of a bill has been published, the object
of which is to relieve certain officers employed in the
collection and management of her Majesty's revenues
from any legal disability to vote at the election of mem-
bers to serve in Parliament. The bill has been prepared
by Mr. Monk, Sir H. Verney, and Mr. Otway, who
simply propose to effect the object in view by the repeal
of existing enactments which disfranchise revenue officers.

The late dispute between the colliery owners
and their men in the West Yorkshire district has at last
come to a termination by the whole of the colliers resuming
work, some at the 10 per cent. reduction, but the majority
having their wages reduced only 7i per cent. The men
and their employers came to an amicable agreement with-
out the former being necessitated to give up their tools ;
and the masters promised that when trade revived, and
the demand for coal was greater, the miners' wages should
be increased proportionately.

FATAL OCCURRENCE AT ERITH. —The body of
Mr. Edmund Bignell, coal merchant, Erith, has been
found by the railway crossing near Erith Church, with his
neck dislocated. The deceased was last seen alive in a
vehicle at the crossing, and when the body was found the
horse and vehicle were proceeding unattended in the direc•
tion of Lessness-heath. Nothing certain can at present be
positively stated as to how he came by his death.

RETURN OF THE QUEEN TO THE METROPOLIS.—••
Her Majesty the Quccn, -with tho junior member* of the
Royal Family, attended by the ladies and gentlemen of
the Court, will, it is expected, according to the latest
arrangements, leave Windsor Ca3tle on Monday, or the
commencement of the week, for Buckingham Palace. Her
Majesty, it is understood, will remain abuut a week in the
metropolis.

BILLIARD Rooms IN BARRACKS.—The members
who voted in the minority for disallowing the item of
£3,000 for billiard roonis in barracks, were Messrs. Allen,
Ayrton, Bazley, Berkeley, Colvile, Cowen, Dillwyn,
Gaselee, Gilpin, Greville-Nugent, Hadfield, Harris, Lee,
M`Laren, J. S. Mill, Otway, Potter (E.), Robertson,
Sheridan, Sykes, Taylor, Winterbotham, Young, and Sir
John Gray. The majority was composed nearly equally
of Ministerialists and members of the Opposition.

We believe that, although it is quite true that
various efforts have been made for the establishment of a
new bishopric for British congregations in South America,
nothing has yet been settled, and no appointment formally
proposed. The endowment of the see is not yet forth-
coming, and it is doubtful whether there will be any ex-
tension of the colonial episcopate until the legal questions
Involved in the Natal case are finally settled. Meanwhile
active measures are being taken with regard to Mada-
gascar, and owing to the resignation of Bishop Ryan all
arrangement in this case may probably be effected.
Strenuous efforts are also being made to secure episcopal
superintendence for Northern Europe, with Heligoland as
the see.—Herald.

THE EASTER VOLUNTEER REVIEW. —The arrange-
ments for the review at Portsmouth are now approaching
completion. A good idea, by which a great relief to the
pressure on the roads leading to the space where the battle
will take place, has been decided on by the conversion of
a footpath from Stainshaw to Hillsea lines. Over this
ground 7,000 or 8,000 troops will march to the scene of
action, and a consequent sensible relief to the passage of
the troops on the main turnpike-road will be afforded.
A noticeable novelty for the sight-seers will be a grand
night attack on the shore defences of the garrison. Public
meetings are being held at all the neighbouring towns of
Portsmouth, and cordial assistance is given to the execu-
tive, which bids well for the general success of the day's
proceedings.

HORSES AT RAILWAY BRIDGES. An inquest has
been held on the body of a gentleman who was killed in
consequence of his horse taking fright at the whistling of
an engine as it passed over the Camden-street
bridge of the North London Railway. The deceased,
it appeared, was riding a spirited horse which had before
exhibited signs of impatience. He had recovered his
control over it, however, when suddenly a train rushed
across the bridge with the whistle blowing, upon which the
horse bolted off, and in its headlong course stumbled and
fell with its rider under it. The unfortunate man was
picked up in a state of insensibility, and died from frab-
ture of the skull. The bridge parapet was said to he so
low as to permit the handles of the carriage-doors to be
seen from the street. The jury returned a verdict of
accidental death, with a special finding as to the unsatis-
factory state of the bridge.

FATAL BOAT ACCIDENT AND Loss OF FOUR LIVES.
—A lamentable boat accident has occurred in Poole har-
bour, by which it is beyond doubt that four lives were
lost. It appears that a clay-cutter named Thomas
Fry, 50 years of age, left the quay at Poole in a canoe,
for Middlesborough, near Wareham, about six miles from
Poole Quay. He had with him in the boat his son, about
five or six years of age, a girl named Mary Ann Green,
aged 16, and her sister, Emily Green, aged between
two and three, the daughters of John Green, of Middles-
borough. Fry had aLso in the boat a sack of grass seed
and various other things which took up room and un-
doubtedly tended to overload it. The canoe also, it
appears, was an old one, and leaky. Fry was sober, and
as the night was calm, those standing near the landing
steps on the quay did not think any danger was to be ap-
prehended. The boat, however, never reached its desti-
nation, an the next time it was seen was about nine
o, clock on Thursday morning, when it was found by two
men who were " eel pecking" in Wareham Channel. Pre-
viously to discovering the boat, which was found bottom
upwards, they found the 'dead body of the little girl
Emily Green floating on the water. They brought the
body to Poole, and placed it in the care of the police, and
steps were promptly taken to find, if possible, the bodies
of Fry and his son, and Mary Ann Green, who, there is no
doubt, were drowned, but these efforts have as yet been in
vain. An inquest was held on Thursday, by Mr. G. B.
Aldridge, coroner, on the body of the child, Emily Green,
when all the evidence procurable was given. Nothing, of
course, was known as to the manner in which the accident
occurred, and the jury returned an open verdict of
Y9wad