The debate on the second reading of the Education Bill
in the House of Lords was opened on Wednesday by Lord Crewe. The chief speech of the debate, however, was from the Archbishop of Canterbury, who dealt with the measure in a tone of moderation and good sense, though at the same time putting the ease for the Church of England very strongly and fully. The debt that the nation owed to the Church in regard to elementary education was very great. Since 1870 the Church has built five thousand new schools at a cost of some nine millions, making extra provision for one million two hundred thousand scholars. In these nine millions the Parliamentary grants were not reckoned. No doubt a good deal of this money was given by landlords, railway companies, and others who wished to avoid the expenses of a Board-school ; but making ample allowance for that, it must be admitted that the great bulk of the money was subscribed for educational purposes. The Archbishop went on to deal with individual cases. In 1870 the subscrip- tions for the maintenance of Voluntary schools were only 2329,000 a year. In 1901 they had risen to £678,000 a year.
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