The Report stage of the Education Bill was resumed at
the eighteenth clause on Friday week, and disposed of before the House rose, the only amendment accepted—apart from those put under the Closure—being that of Mr. Yoxall to the effect that in a borough or urban district the members of the Council should form a majority of the Education Committee. The debate on the third reading of the Education Bill was opened on Tuesday by Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, who moved the rejection of the Bill, "arguing at large," as he observed himself, and relying mainly on the old objections as to alleged overlapping, multiple control, and criticisms of detail. The tone of his speech, however, as of the whole debate, was good-humoured, and in places humorous. Mr. Long, who followed, justified the retention of the denominational school system on the ground that compulsory purchase, even if just, would have been an act of folly, for the cost would have amounted to £25,000,000.—We make a point of quoting the figures, as a much larger estimate had been given in these columns.—Mr. Bryce, in a long and detailed criticism, declared that in many respects the Bill was worse than when it was introduced, and prophesied that its passage would not be the end, but the beginning, of a struggle. His statement that the Bill had lit a great fire in the country enabled Sir William Anson. in an admirable speech in defence of the measure, to retort that the fire, if it existed, was very inadequately reflected in the House of Commons. Dr. Macnamara, whose reputation has greatly risen during these debates, paid a generous tribute to Mr. Balfour and Sir William Anson for their conduct of the Bill, which had worked something in the nature of a modern miracle, "for it had created on the part of the English people something like interest in the education question."
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