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Press, Volume LII, Issue 15486, 13 January 1916, Page 6

Wo are glad to see that tho Minister of Education, Mr. J. A. Hanan, has grasped a difficulty in the free-places schemo of admission to the High Schools, which has been more than once referred to in "Tho Press.'*" In tho course of an interview with a deputation which waited upon him yesterday, Mr Han&n said ho thought there should .be some scheme of regulating admission into High Schools. Ho referred to the case of a boy or girl going to the High School on a proficiency certificate, remaining there for twelve months, and then leaving, having opened only a few books. A year was practically wasted, and the money spent on their High School education was without any result. Mr Hanan added that many who now go to tho High Schools would be' much bettor employed in attending tho technical schools and learning to do profitable work for themselves and. the Stato.

Wo need hardly say that wo thoroughly agreo with these views. When th© free-place system was inaugurated, "The Press" pointed out tho danger that it would be largely used for the purpose of giving a lad i few months or a year at tho High School, merely for the purposo of saying that ho had been to a High School. order to accommodate these extra, pupils, the schools in many cases have had to be enlarged, and the cost of High School education has been considerably increased without any tangible benefit. As a matter of fact, tho presence of these short-time pupils who have no intention of staying long enough t 0 acquire a grounding in secondary education, is very apt to upset the work of tho school, and so act detrimentally to tho pupils who intend to tako a' full course. Now that Mt Hanan so clearly sees the defect in tho system, we hopo he will not rest until he has devised a remedy.

For the first time in history a French National Loan has been offered for subscription in England as well as in France. Our cable message indicated that the loan had been very successful, and that it had been extensively dealt in on tho London. Stock Exchange. This is not surprising,

when one reads the very liberal terms. It was an issue of 5 per cent. lfcintes, both capital and interest being exempt from all taxes, present and future, of the Government of the French Republic. The price of issue is £3 4s per hundred francs nominal capital, being the equivalent, at tho exchange of 27.50, of 83 francs, the price at which the loan was issued in Paris. Tho "Statist"' pointed out that when the exchange recovers to par, that is 25.22 V, the price of issue of £3 4s will be equal to a price in francs of only 80.72, and this is practically the price at which tho investor is asked to buy. On the basis of an exchange of 20/22} the return of the present issue prico is £6 3s lOd, and on the basis of an exchange of 27.50 is £5 13s 3d. The bonds cannot be converted before 1931, so that the buyer enjoys a high return for at least fifteen years, and if the loan is then converted, he will get a premium on his investment of nearly 20 per cent.

The Foreign Office recently published an interesting extract from a 'ftttor addressed to the Admiralty by a wellknown firm of solicitors. The latter had been consulted by the master of a Swedish steamship. Among the papers which he laid before them was a clearance paper Bigned by the Customs at Lulea, in the north of Sweden, certifying that the ship was carrying no contraband. The solicitors expressed surpriso on seeing this official Swedish paper printed in German, as well as Swedish, and wero told by the captain that in all cases prior to sailing the Swedish Custom-houses telegraphed to Berlin informing them of tho sailing of the vessel, and that 6ho was not carrying contraband. Furthermore, the captain explained: that all Swedish vessels leaving the Baltic wore stopped at tho south entrance of the Sound by German patrol boats, who examined tho vessels very carefully. On his last voyage ho was signalled by a patrol boat to stop, and he patiently waited four hours until the patrol boat could find time to attend to him. Tho comment of the Foreign Office on this stato of affairs ,can hardly bo improved upon:—"Tho above appears to his Majesty's Government to merit being brought to the notice of the public as showing how tho German Government, on those waters whero they have any opportunity of displaying naval \ctivity, practise tho principle of the freedom of the Gcas for neutral commerce which they have so loudly accused his Majesty's Government of violating."

During -December reference was made ill one of our cablo messages to a statement by Mr Ronald McNeill, M.P.j in tho House of Commons, that tho "Nation" had 6aid that; it would be better that Britain should bo defeated by Germany than that compulsory military service should bo introduced. This was promptly denied by tho "Nation," and it turned out that Mr McNeill had been misled by a statement in the "English Review." Some littlo controversy followed in tho correspondence columns of "Tho Times," and th© interesting fact was mentioned that if tho "Nation" had .not made the statement complained of, another Radical journal had made an equivalent statement. This was tho "Daily " News," which, on .jeptembor Btli last, said:—"The strength of the enemy is very great, and defeat would be fatal to all the causes that England has stood for in the past, and stands for still to-day. No price is too high to pay for victory, except one, and that is, the open betrayal and abandonment of these causes themselves. It is nothing less than such an abandonment which implied in the aoceptanco of! conscription.'' That is to say, conscription is too high a price to pay for victory j in other words, it would bo better to let the Germans win t.Tmn to introduce compulsory service. Nobody will dare to say such a thing today. Tho wonder is that even the "Daily News" ever dared to say it The prejudices of the Radical doctrinaire die hard.