The election of the Oxford City School Board of six,
has not been a credit to the organization of the Liberals, who are in a large majority in the town. First came the ticket of three Con. servative candidates, neck to neck, with above 5,000 votes each ; then the independent lady candidate (Miss Smith), more than 1,500 behind the Conservatives ; then a Liberal, with less than 2,000 votes; and then at the bottom of the poll another Liberal, with 300 votes less than his predecessor. Two Liberals out of four failed, though they hoped and had reason to expect to get in all four. The University sent two Conservatives and one Liberal. So that on the whole, counting Miss Smith as a Liberal, and certainly as one who wished the Act to be applied to Oxford, there are five Conservatives on the new Board opposed to the application of the Act to Oxford, to four of the Liberals who supported the Act and obtained its application to Oxford. The fault was, no doubt, with the Liberals. Their ticket was hardly well chosen, consisting rather of men fitted to agitate well for the Act than of those who would carry it out in the most judicious spirit ; and moreover, after their ticket was chosen they omitted to follow it up by a good canvas. Their somewhat ignominious defeat will do them good. The only bright feature of the election is Miss Smith's election. She has long been one of the best friends of liberal education for the middle-class, having had a great hand in founding the Bedford College in London, and will doubtless be as wise and energetic in her efforts for the working-class at Oxford.
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