The Scotch Education Bill is through at last, the Commons
having agreed to the Lords' amendments with a modification in the most important of them. The Pears insisted that there should be a Scotch Board of Education, and Mr. Forster has consented to this, provided the Board is appointed by Government, that it have power only to recommend, and that it last only for two years. It might, he said, turn out to be a very useful body. The recommendations would not of course be disregarded, except for very grave reasons—in fact, the Scotch Peers and Members would be sure to see they were not. That seems a reasonable compromise, and will prevent what Liberal Scotchtnen dreaded,— coercion of the Local Board by local and clerical opinion. We suspect when the Board is once in existence it will act heartily with the Committee of Privy Council, and sometimes make Mr. Forster very useful indeed as Jorkins.
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