Professor Sadler contributes an interesting letter to the current number
of the British Weekly in regard to the question of contracting out, which he strongly favours, not merely on the ground that such an arrangement would act as a safety-valve, but on what we may term higher educa- tional considerations. It could be, he declares, adopted, "unless I misread the Acts, without any new legislation. It would, give scope for intense religious feeling, which has always been one strong factor in educational effort, to express itself in its own way through the influences and observances of school life. By requiring their supporters to pay out of their own pockets a fair share of the denominational character, the plan would in working test the reality of the convictions of those concerned." He adds, of course, that the State would have effective power to insist upon a high standard of intel- lectual efficiency in those schools. Professor Sadler goes on to say that the only change which the adoption of the plan would involve in Mr. Birrell's measure is the addition of Section 96 of the Elementary Education Act, 1870, to the long list of sections in that Act which the second schedule of the Bill proposes to repeal. In spite of the defeat of Sir Henry Craik's Motion, we cannot help thinking that ulti- mately the option of contracting out in some form or other will be added to the Bill as a necessary safety-valve.
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