The points raised by the decision of the Court of
Appeal in the West Riding case have been submitted by the Education Committee of the London County Council to Sir Robert Finlay for an opinion. In his view, the decision of the majority of Judges in the Court of Appeal was erroneous ; but assuming that it stands good, he holds that local educational authorities are divested of discretionary powers, and absolutely debarred from contributing to the cost of religious education in denominational schools. The Education Committee accord- ingly recommended the Council to ask the Board of Education whether the Government intended to appeal against the decision of the Court of Appeal or to take any other pro- ceedings in the matter. The reception of the Education Committee's Report was moved by Mr. Shepheard at the meeting of the Council on Tuesday ; but after some dis- cussion an amendment ignoring Sir Robert Finlay'e opinion was moved by Mr. McKinnon Wood and carried and adopted as a substantive motion. The Council refers back the Report to the Education Committee with instructions to report forthwith what steps should be taken to provide that no payments should be made for religious instruction in non- Provided schools, due care being taken to prevent hardship to the teachers.
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