The Education Bill made good progress in Committee of the
House of Commons on Monday and Tuesday. The crucial Clause 10, making attendance at continuation schools compulsory for children between fourteen and sixteen within the next two years, and, after seven years, for children between sixteen and eighteen, was adopted without further serious amendment. A Labour proposal that the rakvayera should maintain the poor children attending continuation
schools, at a cost variously estimated at £7,000,000 to £39,000,001 a year, was rejected by 143 votes to 54. Such a proposal was an insult both to the House and to the British working man, who is perfectly well able to feed and clothe his own children. An alternative scheme of inspection by the Universities was sanctioned for the great Public Schools. On Clause 11, an attempt to abolish fine] for non-attendance—the only means by which compulsion could be applied—was foiled by 196 votes to 42. Clause 13, restricting the employment of schoolchildren, was adopted very much as it stood. Mr. Fisher, who is conducting the Bill with much tact and firmness, has now overcome the most serious obstacles in the path of this great measure of reform.
Previous page
