On Tuesday night the Commons were occupied with hearing Mr.
Adderley's speech against the " revolutionary" education minute which proposed to diminish the grant to all schools " by the amount of any endowment." Mr. Adderley pointed out ably both the injustice of the principle and the immense difficulty of carry- ing it into practice. The offer of a Government grant, he said, was intended to stimulate private benevolence, and now the Government said that when that private benevolence had been called out into activity the grant might be withdrawn. " In other words, they angled for private benefactors with these grants, and as soon as they caught one they took the bait out of his mouth and reserved it to attract another." Mr. Lowe made a very insufficient reply, descanting on the indolence encouraged by fixed endowments—as if inspection ought not to put that risk out of the way, and arguing as if the educational fund of the country were a fixed inelastic sum, that could never be increased, which, of course, it is not. But he ended by a promise to withdraw the minute, and substitute one drawn on a new principle.
Previous page
