Much criticism of the maintenance grants followed from various speakers,
some of whom complained of the means test and some of whom condemned any kind of maintenance grant on the ground that parents should not be paid for obeying the law. Personally, we do not like maintenance grants in principle, for they must tend, to weaken parental responsibility, but we admit that if such grants are ever admissible they are certainly admissible in connexion with education. The lengthening of the school age means a great change in the budget of many families. As for the Bill in general, we are satisfied that most of the risks of confusion are worth taking. Without such risks there would be very slow progress in putting into operation the Hadow principle of strictly dividing education into primary and post-primary. One most satisfactory point is that the concordat is generally welcomed. This could not have happened twenty 'years ago. The Archbishop of Canterbury deserves gratitude for the wisdom with which he has eased the bargain.
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