In the Commons on Monday Mr. BitTell was severely cross-
examined at question time in regard to rifle practice in public elementary schools. He explained that, in view of the strong representations of the county authority and local persons, he had sanctioned a temporary experiment at Bushey under stringent conditions,—viz., that it should not encroach on the time for proper physical exercises, and should be restricted to boys of proper physique who had reached the age of twelve years. This provisional consent had been misinterpreted by the Board of Education, with the result that the experiment was being conducted in four other schools. He assured the House that the experiment would be confined to those schools only, that in every case the consent of the parents was insisted on, and that the extension of the experiment would depend on the report he received from his own educational authorities. He stated that his own personal view was that it was not desirable that rifle-shooting should be included in the time-table of public elementary schools, "since it was un- suitable for children of the age likely to be found in these schools, and was not in itself a good means of physical exer- cise." He further added the entirely gratuitous remark that the Board of Education did not consider rifle-shooting neces- sary for the purpose of national defence. Shall we next have the Secretary of State for War declaring that the Army Council consider that religious instruction is unnecessary for the purpose of national education ?
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