Mr. Herbert Fisher on Friday week introduced his Education Bill
in a very able and interesting speech. Though not directly a war measure, it would, he said, repair the wastage of war and help to solve the problems of child labour before peace returns. It would build on the foundations laid in tho great Act of 1902, and it would not raise the denominational issue. The Bill would require each County or Borough Council to provide a complete scheme of education in its own area, or by co-operation with neighbouring Councils, and the twopenny limit to the higher education rate would be abolished. Nursery schools, preferably in the open air, should be established wherever desirable for children under five. Children between the ages of five and fourteen must attend school continuously. All exemptions would cease, including that wretched half-time system from which thirty thousand children of tho artisans of Lancashire and Yorkshire still suffer. The employment of schoolchildren under twelve would be for- bidden, and in the case of children over twelve would be restricted to the early evenings and to Saturdays and school holidays.
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