It has long been notorious that Irish unrest is largely
due to ignorance, and that the work of reform should begin with the Irish schools. The schools cost the State more, in proportion, than do our British schools, but their standard is low, and only sixty per cent. of the children on the rolls attend regularly. The neglect of education in Ireland may be traced to the fact that the Local Author ities have nothing to do with the schools, which are administered by voluntary managers under the control of the State. The recent Irish Committee on Primary Educa. tion, under Lord Killanin, reported unanimously in favour of requiring Local Authorities to appoint Education Committees for enforcing school attendance and for maintaining schools out of the rates. The new Irish Education Bill gives effect to this proposal, and also amalgamates the three Irish Departments dealing with education. The Nationalist Press, of course, con- demns it on wholly irrelevant grounds. But the Bill, if carried, would do more permanent good to Ireland than any other conceivable measure. Young Ireland needs educating. The Ulster Local Authorities, and especially Belfast, are eager for the powers which the Hill would confer upon them.
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