The consideration of the Education Bill in Committee began in
the House of Lords on Thursday. Lord Goschen, in a speech of weight and ability, protested against the view that the House of Lords would act simply as defenders of the Church. They were there as legislators, and not as Church- men. The Provided schools with which the Voluntary schools were to be incorporated could put forward no claim to be free from the hand of Parliament. He believed that the country bad pronounced against secularism, and that the great bulk of the Peers and Members of the Upper House were also against it. Criticising the Bill generally, he pointed out that it would not conduce to uniformity. There would be greater confusion than before. There would be the old Provided schools, the transformed Ordinary Facilities Pro- vided schools, the Four-fifths Facilities schools and the State-aided schools, and possibly another class, under Clause IX., of schools by appeal to the Commissioners. Where, then, was the national system and the uniformity for which great sacrifices were to be made and the whole method of education revolutionised
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