37S THE SCHOOL BOARDS xv 



singular disposition to accumulate power in the 

 hands of the future ^linistcr of Education, and to 

 evade the more troublesome diliiculties of the edu- 

 cation question by leaving them to be settled be- 

 tween that Minister and the School Boards. 



I express no opinion whether it is, or is not, 

 desirable that such powers of controlling all the 

 School Boards in the country should be possessed 

 by a person who may be, like Mr. Forster, eminent- 

 ly likely to use these powers justly and wisely, but 

 who also may be quite the reverse. I merely wish 

 to draw attention to the fact that such powers are 

 given to the Minister, whether he be fit or unfit. 

 The extent of these powers becomes apparent when 

 the other sections of the Act referred to are con- 

 sidered. The fourth clause of the seventh section 

 says:— 



"The school shall be conducted in accordance with the 

 conditions required to be fulfilled by an elementary school 

 in order to obtain an annual Parliamentary grant." 



"What these conditions are appears from the fol- 

 lowing clauses of the ninety-seventh section: — 



"The conditions required to be fulfilled by an elemen- 

 tary school in order to obtain an annual Parliamentary 

 grant shall be those contained in the minutes of the Educa- 

 tif)n Department in force for the time being. . . . Provided 

 that no such minute of the Education Department, not in 

 force at the time of the passing of this Act, shall be deemed 

 to be in force until it has lain for not less than one month 

 on the table of both Houses of Parliament." 



