GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 



295 



of Parliament, but the Conservative Government, 

 having resigned the matter largely into the hands 

 of the clergy at the outset, was unwilling to ac- 

 knowledge responsibility. A judgment of the 

 courts in the Cockcrton case showed that the 

 school boards had illegally invaded the domain 

 of secondary education, making legislation neces- 

 sary. The decision was that school boards can 

 not employ funds derived from the school rates 

 for giving instruction that is not elementary, or 

 instruction to persons who are not children. Sir 

 John Gorst introduced a makeshift bill, disap- 

 pointing and inadequate, which was finally aban- 

 doned on the ground that there was not sufficient 

 time to pass it through all the stages. The prin- 

 ciple was affirmed that in secondary education the 

 school boards, elected on narrow local or sectional 

 issues, were not fitted to exercise the controlling 

 authority, which should be entrusted rather to a^ 

 body selected for general intelligence and adminis- 

 trative capacity on some such basis as the county 

 councils are selected. The Liberal Opposition, 

 urged by their Non-conformist supporters and 

 stimulated by a popular agitation, protested 

 against such a principle, and championed the 

 claims of the school boards. The Government 

 brought in a second bill of a single clause, and 

 under the ten-minute rule pressed it through, in 

 spite of the objections of the Opposition and a 

 minority of its own party. The bill gives to 

 county and borough councils control of schools in 

 which science and art are taught beyond the 

 elementary grades and of evening and continua- 

 tion schools for pupils over fifteen years of age, 

 and legalizes for a year the continuation of the 

 existing schools and their support out of school 

 rates by agreement between school boards and 

 the councils. A bill authorizing the laying of a 

 Pacific cable in cooperation with the colonies was 

 passed in the teeth of vigorous Irish opposition. 

 The agricultural rating act was renewed, but in 

 deference to the Liberals its duration was limited 

 to four years. A new act regulating factories and 

 workshops was passed, in which the ministers 

 were compelled by an adverse vote to change the 

 hour for closing on Saturdays from one to twelve 

 o'clock, and by threats of Irish resistance to leave 

 out an important clause affecting laundries, be- 

 cause Mr. Ritchie proposed to bring under the 

 operation of the factory act laundries conducted 

 by religious societies for charitable purposes as 

 well as ordinary laundries. The two-shift clause, 

 on which the previous bill was wrecked, was 

 omitted, also a clause dealing with overtime in 

 certain trades. Dangerous trades are to be deter- 

 mined by the Government without arbitration. 

 A beer bill was introduced by a private member in 

 consequence of the popular' alarm caused by the 

 fatal poisoning of nearly 100 persons in Manches- 

 ter by beer containing arsenic. This arsenic was 

 traced to the sulfuric acid used in the prepara- 

 tion of glucose, one of the constituents of light 

 beer made from rice. The friends of British agri- 

 culture asked for a measure prohibiting brewers 

 from using any materials other than malt and 

 hops. It was argued on the other side that for- 

 eign agriculturists would benefit by such a re- 

 striction, British barley not being the best for 

 malting purposes, and that the public would be 

 deprived of a beer which suited the taste and 

 the pocket of the multitude, and which by a 

 proper inspection of its materials could be ren- 

 dered as safe and wholesome as that brewed from 

 malt and hops alone. The Government bill did 

 not prohibit the use of substitutes, but provided 

 that beer made from barley, hops, and yeast shall 

 be served when customers call for malt beer, and 



.that all other kinds shall bo sold n n.-nt malt 

 beer; but hop substitutes, being injunnu^ ,in<] dif- 

 ficult to detect, aie prohibited. 'I < UK, pro- 

 tectionists of the school of ]V!i. i I ii, ; ,; ; , \,\ ho 

 would be glad to have the corn duti< - n impo-cd, 

 the Government ordered that only I'.iin h , s 

 should be supplied to the army in Great, ll/it:<iii, 

 an order that could have no appreciable cITcd n\\ 

 American beef exports. The Irish, alt.hu'rjh 

 active and aggressive, extracted no Icgishr-i'i.!' 

 from the Government. Mr. Balfour expressed ap- 

 proval of the project for an Irish Catholic uni- 

 versity, and a royal commission was appointed to 

 inquire into the state of higher education in Ire- 

 land outside of Trinity College. A. new Irish 

 member drew attention to the Irish language 

 question by attempting to address the House in 

 Erse until he was checked by the Speaker. Sub- 

 sequently Mr. Wyndham referred sympathetically 

 to the aims and efforts of Irishmen to revive and 

 cultivate their ancient language. He brought 

 upon himself, however, the reproaches of the Irish 

 party when the Government seized Mr. O'Brien's 

 Dublin newspaper for libeling the King and broke 

 up Irish Land League meetings in Sligo and other 

 parts of the country. A resolution was offered 

 for the purchase of Irish railroads by the state. 

 Mr. Redmond obtained 140 votes for a motion in 

 favor of the compulsory sale of lands in Ireland. 

 The Irish members contended that Ireland should 

 not be compelled to contribute money for a mili- 

 tary system she abhorred, and Mr. Clancy's mo- 

 tion to that effect obtained 102 votes. When Irish 

 members refused to vote on the education esti- 

 mates in which Ireland had no interest they were 

 named by the Speaker and removed by the "police. 

 A rule was subsequently adopted suspending for 

 the remainder of the session any member whose 

 refusal to obey the Speaker's order to withdraw 

 is carried so far that it would necessitate a resort 

 to force. Another new rule enables the Govern- 

 ment to carry in batches votes in supply that re- 

 main outstanding after the expiration of the al- 

 lotted days. The Irish members forced upon the 

 house two controversies with newspapers for 

 breach of privilege. On the last day of the ses- 

 sion a London editor who had charged the Secre- 

 tary for War with partiality in the communica- 

 tion of news was called before the bar to apolo- 

 gize. 



The trial before the House of Lords of Earl 

 Russell for bigamy was an antiquated pageant 

 which served to call attention to the senselessness 

 of the surviving privileges of the nobility. The 

 deceased wife's sister bill was read a second time 

 by a majority of 279 to 122, but went no further. 

 Other measures offered by private members, such 

 as a cremation bill, met with a similar fate. Mr. 

 Pirie carried through a Scotch education bill that 

 was approved by the leaders on both sides of the 

 house. The pure bill was read a second time by 

 a large majority, and then turned over to a stand- 

 ing committee. Mr. Strachey's outdoor relief bill 

 passed through the Commons, but was rejected in 

 the Lords for financial reasons. The Bishop of 

 Winchester offered a licensing bill which the Gov- 

 ernment changed materially and let fall after car- 

 rying it through the House of Lords. The bill as 

 amended provided that any person convicted as 

 a habitual drunkard who attempts within three 

 years of such conviction to purchase intoxicating 

 liquor should be liable to a fine of 20s. in the 

 first instance and 40s. afterward, and a license- 

 holder knowingly allowing intoxicants to be sold 

 to such a person to a fine of 10 for the first 

 and 20 for each subsequent offense; that any 

 one found drunk in charge of a child shall pay 



