Contrary to the hopes of its enemies and the fears
of its friends, Baron Elitvos' Education Bill has, on the 23rd inst., passed the Lower House of the Hungarian Diet, It narrowly escaped post- ponement, as that body will be dissolved in less than a fortnight. The religious sects will have the right to establish their own schools, but they must all be under State inspection. In case such schools in any district do not satisfy the requirements of the State, it will itself proceed to establish unsectarian,—there curiously enough called " simultaneous,"—schools. Provisions are made for punish- ing parents and guardians who neglect to send their children to school. A member proposed to deprive of political rights such communes or parishes as fail to set up communal schools within three years, but the proposal was negatived as superfluous. Ano- ther of an opposite turn proposed to exempt from compulsory attendance at school all children who are at present in service and engaged by the year. This too was negatived without discussion. When shall we have unsectarian State schools and compulsory education ?
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