334 



GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 



chasing tenants to repay the money borrowed from 

 the state is extended from forty-nine to seventy 

 years. Evicted tenants are allowed to return as 

 purchasers by agreement. 



The light-railway bill for England, to be followed 

 by similar measures for Scotland and Ireland, pro- 

 vides that the maximum sum of 1,000,000 may be 

 advanced from the imperial treasury to assist the 

 construction of light railways to aid transport from 

 agricultural districts or fishing centers. Companies 

 already in existence undertaking to build such 

 agricultural feeder lines can borrow of the Govern- 

 ment 25 per cent, of the capital at 3| per cent, in- 

 terest and an equal proportion on the same terms 

 from the local authorities. One half of the amount 

 required for the railway must be provided by stock 

 subscriptions, and 50 per cent, of these must be 

 p.- id up. Land taken for such railways will not be 

 made to pay higher rates than it has before. Three 

 commissioners are appointed to superintend the 

 working of the act, and these shall have power, sub- 

 ject to the approval of the Board of Trade, to con- 

 demn and take land for the railways. The Govern- 

 ment is empowered to have a quarter of the million 

 pounds at its disposal in special advances as loans 

 or free gifts for building railways of particular 

 utility that would not otherwise be built. A bill 

 to prevent the adulteration of beer, introduced by 

 Protectionists who desired to foster the cultiva- 

 tion of British barley, prescribed that malt and 

 hops should be the ingredients used in the brewing 

 of beer. The bill was withdrawn when the Lord 

 Chancellor gave a promise to institute an inquiry 

 as to whether fresh legislation was needed to pre- 

 vent the use of deleterious ingredients in the bn-w- 

 ing of beer, and whether it is possible and desirable 

 to define the materials of which beer is composed 

 without undue interference with the liberty of the 

 brewer to compose it as he pleases, so long as it is 

 not poisonous. To please the various schools of 

 temperance reform, a royal commission was ap- 

 pointed, with Lord Peel at its head, to inquire into 

 theoperation and administration of the laws relating 

 to the sale of intoxicating liquors, and to examine 

 and report on the proposals which may be made 

 for their amendment in the public interest, due re- 

 gard being had to the rights of individuals. 



One of the most important pledges that the Con- 

 servative party gave before the election was to 

 carry an education bill that would satisfy the 

 friends of religious education. The bill was elab- 

 orately drawn up in such fashion as to attract the 

 support of the Irish members by its provisions 

 for aiding Catholic as well as Anglican and other 

 denominational schools. After a thorough discus- 

 sion of the principle the Government carried it on 

 the second reading by a majority of 267. It was 

 obnoxious, however, to the great majority of the 

 nonconformists, so much so that a serious dissension 

 between the Conservatives and a large section of 

 the Liberal Unionists was likely to result if the 

 Cabinet attempted to force its proposals through 

 Parliament. The education bill proposed to de- 

 centralize the administrative control of the schools 

 by setting up a new education authority in every 

 county and borough. The county or borough coun- 

 cil would appoint an education committee, and 

 through it control the administration of the parlia- 

 mentary grants, have charge of the inspection of 

 elementary schools, and assist in the development 

 of secondary schools, which would be under the 

 control of the committee, with the powers conferred 

 by the technical education act and the handling of 

 the portion of the beer tax allocated for the assist- 

 ance of secondary schools. In addition to the Par- 

 liamentary grants already prescribed by law the 

 the new local education authority would have to 



distribute 4s. for every child among the voluntary 

 schools. Schools would be allowed to federate 

 themselves by districts or by denominations and 

 receive the whole grant due to all the schools in the 

 federation. Eventually the local or denominational 

 authorities would be intrusted to alter the code of 

 education to suit their particular requirements. 

 In board schools or others receiving Government 

 aid, whenever a reasonable number of parents unite 

 in demanding separate religious instruction for 

 their children, the managers must arrange to allow 

 it to be given. The limitation of parliamentary 

 aid to 17s. 6d. for each pupil in average attendance 

 was abolished and elementary schools were exempt ed 

 from the payment of rates. The additional grant 

 of 4s. per child was to be applied to improving the 

 teaching staff and increasing the pay of teachers 

 in the voluntary schools, which in the poor and 

 crowded districts labored under financial dis- 

 tress. Sir John Gorst, in defending his propos- 

 als against the attacks of the advocates of secular 

 state education, pointed out that the voluntary 

 schools were an established institution, and that 

 in 1895 they educated 2,445,812 children, against 

 1,879,218 educated in the board schools, and could 

 not be replaced except by the expenditure of 25,- 

 346,000 for buildings and equipments and 2,250,000 

 a year for maintenance. The bill was read a second 

 time on May 12 by the unprecedented majority of 

 42:3 to 150. all sect ions of the Irish Nationalists hav- 

 ing decided to vote for it, though Mr. Dillon 

 threatened to oppose its details. The breach be- 

 tween the Radicals and the Irish gave rise to a 

 lively controversy and was welcomed by many Eng- 

 lish nonconformists as being final. In committee 

 it was found that the Ministerialists were divided 

 in regard to the application of the principle of de- 

 centralization in details, and that not only the non- 

 conformists and the secularists, but many of the 

 Church party also clamored against the clause pro- 

 viding for religious instruction, condemning it as a 

 departure from the existing compromise. The 

 managers both of Anglican and of Roman Catholic 

 schools declared the 4s. grant to be insufficient. 

 Some county councils protested against the responsi- 

 bility thrown upon them ; separate treatment was 

 demanded for London, and a grave difference of 

 opinion arose among the strongest supporters of 

 voluntary schools as to whether aid should be given 

 by an imperial grant or by allowing voluntary 

 schools to obtain a share of the rates. An amend- 

 ment accepted by Mr. -Balfour, though Sir John 

 Gorst demurred, allowing separate education com- 

 mittees to be established in noncounty boroughs 

 containing 20,000 inhabitants, thus multiplying the 

 number of these authorities, roused a general pro- 

 test from the county councils against being deprived 

 of the best rate-paying areas. Mr. Balfour, seeing 

 that it was now impossible to pass the bill if the 

 session was to close in the middle of August, pro- 

 posed that the House adjourn at that time till the 

 middle of January, and then go on with the bill. 

 This plan having been pronounced impracticable, 

 as it would place the ministry at the mercy of the 

 minority, since the new session must begin in 

 March, he withdrew the bill, promising that the 

 Government would convoke Parliament early in the 

 following year in order to fulfill the pledges given 

 to the voluntary schools. 



The labor legislation was not extensive or re- 

 markable. The truck bill that was passed is very 

 similar to the one prepared by Mr. Asquith for the 

 previous Parliament, but it was declared unsatis- 

 factory to the working people because it contains a 

 loophole in the interest of the employer, legalizing 

 contracting out on the part of the worker. The 

 mines regulation bill had also been prepared by the 



