Sir F. Sandford, formerly the permanent head of the Education
Department, appears to have submitted to the Commission on Education a very bold proposal for handing over education bodily to the new (and old) local bodies, and abolishing the School Boards and Attendance Committees. This plan is explained in a memorandum which he placed before the Commission, and which he communicated to the Times of Thursday. He proposes to transfer the School Board functions to the great Borough and County Councils, who might be em- powered, for the execution of this part of their duties, to create special committees, one-third of which committees might be chosen from outside their own body ; or to the District Councils for urban districts, or to the rural District Councils of the same size. However, his plan seems to us quite premature. The School Boards are very popular, and have done their work, take it as a whole, remarkably well. It is too soon to super- sede them by bodies for whose administrative capacity we have as yet no guarantee.
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