Mr. IV. E. Forster questioned the Government yesterday week an
the course they were going to pursue with reference to popular education. He insisted on the advantage with which a Conser- vative Government could legislate on the subject, and promised on behalf of Mr. Austin Bruce and himself that their own Bill should not stand in the way, if Government would only introduce one the principle of which they could accept. The one condition on which he insisted was that the State should undertake to see that good schools should be provided for any district not willing to provide them for itself,—i.e., the power to impose a rate on -obstinate districts,—and we gather from his speech that, failing this principle, no Government Bill could be accepted by the Opposition as satisfactory,—with it almost any might be made so. Mr. Disraeli was very guarded in his reply. It was the intention of the Government, he said, and long had been their intention, to introduce a Bill in the present session with respect to the ele- mentary education of the children of the working classes, but he entirely declined to reveal its nature. Possibly, that is still a matter in debate.
Previous page
