Mr. W. E. Forster made a good speech on the
Education Bill, introduced by Mr. Austin Bruce, and the second reading of which was discussed on Wednesday. The principle of the Bill was to give any community rating powers to rate themselves for the purpose of more efficient education, if they so please,—the -ratepayers to avail themselves of existing denominational schools with the help of the Conscience Clause, but to provide out of the -rates for more complete and efficient education. The Bill was only an experimental one, and if it succeeded in large towns, it might then be applied to country districts. Mr. Forster's statis- tics, however, seemed to show that even plenty of good schools -would not secure all the scholars who ought to be compelled to attend. A system of compulsory education, and therefore also of compulsory rating, is what is really wanted. Mr. Austin Bruce's measure seems fit only to prepare the way for something bigger and more effective.
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