In the House of Commons on Thursday Sir William Anson
showed that no little progress has been made in putting the new Education Act in motion. Already two hundred and thirty- eight schemes in England and five in Wales had been approved. Only four schemes had been set aside, and only nineteen local authorities had not yet sent in schemes. In the earlier part of his speech he paid a tribute to Mr. Sadler's work, and expressed his regret that he had found it necessary to resign ; but later, when Mr. Emmott called attention to the resignation, Sir William Anson strongly defended the action of the Educa- tion Office in this much-disputed matter. We have neither space nor inclination to enter into the details of the controversy, but we cannot get rid of the feeling which we expressed formerly that some arrangement ought to have been possible under which services so valuable as those of Mr. Sadler could be retained. Even admitting that Mr. Sadler's action cannot be defended on a strict view of administrative discipline, we should have thought that a certain tolerance might have been extended to so useful an official. Discipline must, of course, be maintained in an Administration, but the best administrators are careful not to stamp out originality and independence, even though these qualities may sometimes be a cause of trouble and inconvenience.
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