The Education Commission have signed their Report, or at least
seventeen of them have signed it, while a minority of eight, consisting of Sir John Lubbock, Mr. Lyulph Stanley, Mr. Henry Richard, Sir Bernhard Samuelson, Dr. Dale, Mr. Sydney Buxton, Mr. Heller, and Mr. Shipton, have signed a minority Report dissenting from the Report of Lord Cross and the majority. The main issue is upon the two proposals to establish a more thorough moral and religious teaching even in Board schools, and to aid voluntary schools more generally and freely out of the rates without giving the ratepayers any representation on the management of these voluntary schools. As to the first of these proposals, so long as the conscience clause is strictly enforced, and all parents are allowed to with- draw their children from the moral and religious education given if they disapprove it, we hope it may be successful. But we confess that we do not see how voluntary schools can properly be generally aided out of the rates without offering the ratepayers a share in the management of these schools,— which, of course, would be utterly inconsistent with their re- taining the stamp of voluntary energy and purpose. It would, however, be premature to comment on the proposal till its full meaning has been made clear to us, and as yet only sum- maries of the Report have been published.
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