Marlborough Express. Published Every Evening. WEDNESDAY, JULY 4, 1888. THE BOROUGH SCHOOL.

Marlborough Express, Volume XXIV, Issue 141, 4 July 1888, Page 2

Marlborough Express. Published Every Evening. WEDNESDAY, JULY 4, 1888. THE BOROUGH SCHOOL.

♦_ The School Committee have no reason to complain of the reception of their request by the Board of Education. That body showed every disposition to meet the Committee's views about the enlargement of the school by providing sufficient accommodation to enable the boys and girls to be kept apart. The only obstacle m the way was lack of funds. The building grant to Education Boards has never been on a liberal scale, and m these days of retrenchment it is tapering off almost to a vanishing point. This is one of the most glaring flaws m thc system. A heavy syllabus is provided, and great results are looked for, but the disproportion between the requirements of the Act and the provisions for fulfilling them is too great. A "free, secular, and compulsory" system involves ample accommodation for pupils, and this, Government is unable to provide. It is to be regretted that private enterprise has been so ruthlessly strangled, when the State was not fully prepared to. substitute thoroughly equipped schools. We have always been of opinion that Government should make special provision for the maintenance of borough schools, because there is a constant friction between town and country, when fujide are to be allocated. Country committees, naturally enough, aie very jealous of any favour shown to town schools, and every pound spent m a town by the Board is regarded as an injustice to the country. But though this is only a natural view of the pase / it is not altogether a correct one,

Country committees and everybody el*?, must see that special conditions, demanding special treatment, exist m the large centres, and this special treatmeut must not be begrudged. Our Board recognises this, and is willing to grant a division of the Borough School. It seems more than a pity that they should be unable to carry out the required work because of impecuniosity. For such a purpose as this, there should be available a special grant. In our opinion the Committee, m asking for this division to be made, are acting m the very best interests of the children and of the public, and the reasonableness of their request is recognised by the Board. It certainly seems a pity that the question should have to be hung up, because the Board has no funds, and no prospect of getting funds enough to carry out the work on the cheapest scale.