The Speaker of the House of Commons made some sensible
remarks at Leamington on Monday, on the subject of prizes and examinations, urging that these humble but useful instru- ments should be means and not ends, and that they ought not to be magnified into ends. Many a prize-getting boy, many a skilful examinee, is greatly the inferior of other boys who neither get prizes nor show well as examinees. That is probably true, and most essential for schoolmasters to keep in mind; and the more they keep it in mind, the more useful their prizes and examinations are likely to be. At the same time, we do not agree with Mr. Peel that it is the introduction of the examination system which has brought " into the public offices and the great Universities, persons who are not. tted for the positions they obtain." Doubtless such persons do get into those positions now as formerly, but, we believe, much less now than formerly. The exam in54.tion system has not cured the evil of unsuitable appointments. No system would. But we believe that it has greatly diminished the evil.
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