Mr. Dixon brought forward on Wednesday his motion for extending
compulsory education, by the agency of School Boards, to the whole country, and received some valuable support in the shape of very emphatic testimony from Mr. Ramsay,—somewhat demurred to by Lord Saadon,—as to the beneficial working of the compulsory system in Scotland. Mr. Ilamond, the Conserva- tive-Liberal and Home-rule Member for Newcastle-on-Tyne, took the lead in opposing Mr. Dixon, and Lord Sandon's tone was certainly much colder towards compulsion than last year. He said that out of 14,080 civil parishes, only 1,214 School Boards had hitherto been formed, and, even of these 1,214, only 734 had been formed voluntarily. If compulsion were enacted, 12,800 planes which had hitherto shown no desire for School Boards would be forced to elect them, while 843 School Boards which had not hitherto adopted compulson in their bye-laws would be forced to adopt it.
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