EDUCATION QUESTION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13926, 7 December 1908, Page 5

EDUCATION QUESTION.

THE BILL ABANDONED.

CABINET UNANIMOUS.

CHURCH COUNCIL BLAMED. By Telegraph.— Association.—Copyright.

London, December 4. It is officially announced that the Education Bill has been abandoned.

Cabinet's decision was practically unanimous, and was due' to the impossibility of arranging contractingout terms.

Mr. Walter Runciman (President of the Board of Education), in a letter to the Primate (Right Rev. Dr. Davidson), remarked that it was understood that the number of schools contracting-out would be strictly limited. The State had promised to give them a reasonable chance of existence, and no facts had been produced showing that the proposals of the Bill were inadequate.

The meeting of the Church Council, he added, . had altered the whole situation. Several new claims had been advanced, which met with the support of the majority of the bishops, hence the Government's conclusion that the Archbishop did not find it possible to obtain adhesion to the terms of the proposed settlement.

The Primate, replying on Friday night, and surveying the details of the meeting of the Church Council, declared that Mr. Runciman's view concerning the Council's vote was based on a complete misapprehension of the facts. There were more regrets at the loss of the Education Bill expressed among churchmen than among Nonconformists, many of whom had threatened revolt if further concessions were granted.

The Hon. Alfred Lyttelton (late Secretary of State for the Colonies), in a letter to the Times, deprecates the abandonment of the final settlement merely owing to'* differences in figures hastily collected by both sides.

The Times suggests the reintroduction of the Bill next session.

The Daily Telegraph declares that several members of the Cabinet favour a dissolution in January, on the grounds that the Government will then be able to retain the support of that section of the Nonconformists who, if the education question had been- settled, would have left them owing to the socialistic tendencies of their legislation.

The Rev. Dr. Clifford advises the resumption of the policy of passive resistance.