The regulations for secondary schools have provoked a good deal
of discussion at the Head-Masters' Conference and in the correspondence columns of the Times. But while there is a general consensus of opinion that the increased grants are calculated to promote educationalefficiency, the predominance in government conferred on municipal and local authorities and the conditions imposed in regard to religious instruction have been subjected to a good deal of adverse criticism. In particular we may note the letter of Sir William Anson in Tuesday's Times, in which he charges the Board with over- stepping its educational functions and imposing religious restrictions for which there is no statutory authority, and which local authorities are expressly forbidden by the Act of 1902 to impose. The local authority, he notes, may waive these conditions, but the decision rests with the Board. He sums up his objections as follows. The Board is entrusted with large sums for the advancement of education, and it has the power of making regulations under which these funds may be applied. "It is using this power to impose religious restrictions which have hitherto been imposed, and whioh ought only to be imposed, by legislation."
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