Dr. James Glover publishes in Thursday's Times the corre- spondence
that has passed between Mr. Chamberlain and him- self on the subject of the Education Bill. Dr. Glover, writing as a staunch Liberal Unionist, assails the Bill on the grounds generally taken up by its opponenta. Mr. Chamberlain, after pay- ing a proper tribute to the spirit and temper of Dr. Glover's remonstrance, meets his objections with great ability and candour. He emphasises the facts that the new local authority is given absolute control of the secular education in the schools, and that though the actual nomination of teachers is in the voluntary schools reserved to the committee of management, the local authority will be able to veto the appointments or secure dismissal if necessary on educational grounds. In reply to the charges of preferential treatment of voluntary schools and the "new endowment" of denomi- nationalism, Mr. Chamberlain points out that the gift of free education in 1891 was similarly denounced. For himself, he frankly admits that his ideal has always been the entire separation between religious and secular education, but states that as a result of the breakdown of the purely secular system, owing to the overwhelming pressure of the Nonconformists themselves, he has long recognised the necessity, as a prac- tical educationist, of substituting another and a more work- able scheme. Under the new Bill the representation on the committee of management in voluntary schools of the rate- payers and parents has been secured, an.d so far from theological tests „being revived in regard to the religion of 'teachers, "the evil, so far as it is an evil," will be lessened by the limitation of denominational control.
Previous page
