Further, the Duke spoke on the Education Bill, pointing out
how completely the Opposition are at sixes and sevens on the meaning and drift of this Bill, how they confound School Boards with Board-schools, and how it is the Opposition, not the Government, who, by making it impossible to get a single shilling out of the rates for any school which is not more or less controlled by the ratepayers, compel the Government to give the support which the voluntary schools need, if they are not to be extinguished, out of the Imperial taxes. He also pointed out that the present Bill gives no power at all to suppress a single school, though it gives the people of any locality the right to choose whether its schools shall be managed by a School Board or by an authority appointed by the County Council. The Duke expressed his sincere con- viction that a responsible and economical management by such a body as the County Council would greatly improve, instead of "degrading," the character of the education given.
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