The Timaru Herald MONDAY, JANUARY 18, 1909. ENGLISH EDUCATION BILL.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13806, 18 January 1909, Page 4

The Timaru Herald MONDAY, JANUARY 18, 1909. ENGLISH EDUCATION BILL.

Home papers of November arc now to hand containing lengthy reports of the negotiations between the Imperial Government and the heads of., the Church of England and the Roman Catholic Churcl}, which led up to the framing of a new Education Bill. . The correspondence is too long to reproduce in this column; but the compromise arrived at can be briefly summarised .under three headings—(l) The power to provide from private sources a new contracted-out school, where the money is forthcoming and a sufficient number of parents desire it. (2) The right of the existing head-teacher to volunteer to give denominational instruction during the full tenure, however long, of his head mastership, and, further, to give it for a period of five years from now in any lieadmastership in any transferred voluntary "school to which lie may be moved. (3) The raising of no objection to the loeiil education authorities setting up religious instruction committees similar to those" set up by the London School Board and other school boards for the purpose of agreeing on syllabuses. It was in order to secure what Mr Runciman, Secretary to the Board of Education, called a " balanced statement," that the outlined compromise was arrived at; and he particularly insisted that there could be no concurrence in any arrangement tending to the employment of direct or indirect tests on teachers. The Prime Minister attached great importance to contracting out, for it was his desire that the voluntary schools should bo "efficiently kept in life without an impossible strain upon voluntary subscribers." This was the point that, raised most discussion in the'negotiations, for the schools named 'are ''denominational," and affect in all parts of the country both the Church of England and the Roman Catholic schools. -The new Bill is more generous in its financial treatment of these schools, than was the one which was dropped at the Spring session, as the capitation grants have been raised and fees may be charged,' representing together an additional income of over 30s per child. Pooling of grants is allowed by the religious bodies interested, and rent is to be'.' given to transferred voluntary schools, one-tliird of which is treated \as a loan charge and borne by the Imperial Exchequer. The compromise, taken altogether, found favour with the religions, bodies, for the Archbishop of Canterbury < not only expressed himself as satisfied, but also voiced the hope that the bulk of Nonconformist opinion and the majority of opinion in the House of Commons would be in favour of it. The House of Commons started on the new Bill on November 24tli; and our cable messages of the first week in December showed that the Bill was wrecked and filially dropped for the session on December 4tli, the Cabinet being unanimously of opinion that it was impossible to arrange the - contracting-out terms. Finance was at the bottom of these, and the Church Council, dissatisfied with the proposed arrangement, carried a resolution condemning 'the Bill, after affirming that it was an advance towards a reasonable settlement. ' We shall have to await the receipt of' Home .files to ascertain what the terms objected to were. It seem 3 very strange that after a satisfactory compromise appeared to have been arrived at by Mr Runciman and th: Archbishop of Canterbury, acting for the churches, the Church Council should take upon themselves to alter the .whole situation. In dropping the Bill Mr Runciman blamed the Council for advancing jiew claims Which tin Government' could not accept. It :s just possible that the Bill will be reintroduced in flic House of Commons this month; and, if not carried in tii-i form'that the Government wish,- an appeal to the country on the qu-ijiS'.on may follow.