[TO THE EDITOR OP THE "SPECTATOR. "] SIR,—Mr. J. J. Murphy
has given in your columns so clear and truthful an account of the merits and demerits of the system of national education in Ireland, and has given so unexceptionable and,- with one exception, exhaustive a list of remedies for the latter, that I, a patron of several national schools in Ireland, am surprised that he did not add the most important, necessary, and obvious remedy of all, viz., a compulsory-education measure. The vexed question of School Boards bids fair to postpone the enactment of such a measure for England for a year or two. No such difficulty stands in the way in Ireland, where almost all the pri- mary schools are under the National Board ; and the Constabulary, already employed in collecting census and agricultural returns, are quite competent to assist the magistracy to enforce the law. The tone of the late debate on Mr. Dixon's Bill shows that such a measure could probably be carried next Session, and I hope the friends of education in England and Ireland will combine to get it brought forward.—I am, Sir, &c.,
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