On Tuesday Mr. Acland spoke, and spoke in a very
much more moderate tone than most of his supporters. His best point was that when the Education Authority established schools of its own, it would not be competent also to examine and inspect them so as to inspire the public with confidence- that they deserved the grants of money for which their own inspectors certified their fitness. Lord Hugh Cecil and Mr. Augustine Birrell both of them made good speeches, but the speech of the evening was Mr. Balfour's in reply, which took up the broadest and strongest ground, as we have elsewhere shown, and more than justified the belief that the Bill would greatly improve instead of lowering the standard of education in the country. The second reading was passed by 423 to 156, majority 2G7, or 115 above the normal majority of the Govern- ment. The Parnellites, all but three of them, who were absent, voted for the Bill, and some fifty of the Anti-Parnellites also, while one Conservative voted against the Government.
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