In the Commons the discussion of the Education Bill in
Committee proceeded during the earlier part of the week without any very great amount of friction, though the extremer Nonconformists expressed no small hostility to the Bill. On Wednesday night, however, there was evidence of a conflict of opinion between the Government and the repre- sentatives of the Church in regard to the terms of transfer for the Provided schools, and also as to the pecuniary conditions for contracting out. No good purpose would be served by our entering in detail upon the controversy on these points, since, for good or evil, the matter will probably have been decided before these pages are in our readers' bands. We will only remark that both the Archbishop and Mr. Runciman, owing, no doubt, to the hurry with which the negotiations have been conducted, were provided with financial estimates in which there were considerable inaccuracies. In any case, the divergence between the two points of view was apparently so great that on Thursday morning it seemed as if the Bill were doomed. We are glad to say, however, that Mr. Asquith, in a wise and temperate speech on Thursday evening, announced
that the Bill would not be taken till Friday evening in order, if possible, that a compromise might be arranged. His speech was eminently conciliatory in spirit, and he refused to contemplate the notion that no settlement could be obtained.
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