The London County Council on Tuesday adopted the draft scheme
submitted by the General Purposes Committee for the administration of the London Education Act. This scheme, already forecasted in the speech of Mr. McKinnon Wood last month, proposes that the Education Committee shall consist of the Chairman, Vice-Chairman, and Deputy- Chairman of the London County Council for the time being, thirty-five other Councillors, five women selected by the Council, and, during the lifetime of the first Committee, members of the London School Board not exceeding five in number. The scheme further states that "persons of experience in education and persons acquainted with the various kinds of schools in the Administrative County of London" shall always be included in the Committee ; but it makes no definite provision for the co-optation of educa- tional specialists, regarding the precedent of the Technical Education Board as unconvincing. It would be difficult, so it was urged, to represent all the interests concerned, and the result would be a Committee which would not he homogeneous with the Council. The Moderates proposed an amendment remedying this deficiency, Mr. Sidney Low emphasising the slight cast on the newly constituted Univer- sity of London ; but it was rejected by a majority of 78 to 26, and the recommendation of the Committee was then agreed to almost unanimously. Mr. Sidney Webb no doubt reflected the feelings of the great majority when he said that while the exclusion of experts was to be regretted, amendment of the scheme would be dearly bought if it pre- vented the Council from beginning to administer the Act on the appointed day.
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