In discussing the Scotch Local Government Bill on Thursday, the
Government made a concession to Free Education in the case of the poorest districts of Scot- land, which Mr. Mundella and others treated as fore- shadowing a general concession of the principle of Free Education both in Scotland and in England. Against this interpretation of Mr. Goschen's willingness to aid the excep- tional poverty of parts of Scotland in the matter of education, Mr. Balfour protested, declaring that it foreshadowed nothing more than it actually conceded. Mr. Howorth, however, moved an amendment, proposing the omission of the sub- section providing that the balance of the Probate-Duty Grant shall be applied towards the payment of school-fees, but eventually the amendment was negatived by 245 to 52. We ourselves see hardly any prospect of good in the proposal of the abolition of school-fees, and should be very glad if the offer to Scotland were only the mild and limited proposal which it professes to be. But it cannot be denied that Mr. Howorth's view is not popular on either side of the House, and that it looks very much as if eventually the parents' school-fees would disappear.
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