We have dealt with the Bill at length elsewhere, and
will only say here that we regard it on the whole as likely to settle a vexed question in a way which will not only help the cause of national education and prevent a great waste of energy, but will also provide a fair compromise in regard to the claims of the voluntary schools. We entirely approve of the decision to leave London over till next year as an exceptional case, but we think it will be wiser to drop the permissive clauses and make the Bill imperative, although we realise the difficulties of the Government in regard to certain of the great School Boards, which have done excel- lent work. We also hold that it would be better not to let the towns of over ten thousand and the urban districts of over twenty thousand have the option of standing outside the county system for primary education. We would make the County Councils and County Borough Councils the sole education authorities.
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