STIRRINGS OF NEW LIFE. 151 



for agricultural education, especially for technical instruction 

 in dairying. It was a lucky chance which diverted money 

 intended for publicans into the channels of technical educa- 

 tion ; and in 1889, on through the 'nineties, agricultural 

 instruction was inaugurated at various institutions. 1 



Though farmers' sons were receiving a better technical 

 education during this period, none of these grants benefited 

 the labourer's son, save when in some miraculous way a 

 labourer's son managed to win a scholarship. Whilst far- 

 mers had some extra educational advantages for their sons, 

 those in the southern and midland counties resented as much 

 as ever an Education Rate and the education of labourers. 

 Our statesmen were discovering that education was kept 

 down to the lowest level by members of country School 

 Boards and managers of Church schools. Some slight im- 

 provement, however, was effected by the Education Act of 

 1902, when all elementary schools were placed under the local 

 authority and the management of non-provided schools, 

 such as Church schools, had some shadow of public control 

 such as one representative from the Parish Council, one 

 appointed by the County Council, besides the four appointed 

 under the Trust Deed of the school. 



No radical change, however, took place in the personnel 

 of many school management committees, for the one repre- 

 sentative from the Parish Council usually turned out to be 

 the old cheese-paring educationist under a new name ; 

 and the same criticism might be applied to the managers 

 appointed by the County Education Committee. 



The opposition of farmers to the labourer's son being 

 educated is understandable, as they saw the most intelligent 

 lads, equipped with a higher wage-earning capacity acquired 



1 University College of North Wales, Bangor ; University of Leeds ; 

 Armstrong College, Newcastle-on-Tyne ; University College of Wales, 

 Aberystwyth ; Cambridge University ; University College, Reading ; 

 South-Eastern Agricultural College, Wye ; Midland Agricultural and 

 Dairy College ; Harper Adams Agricultural College ; College of Agri- 

 culture and Horticulture, Holmes Chapel ; Agricultural and Horticul- 

 tural College, Uckfield ; Essex County Technical Laboratories ; Harris 

 Institute, Preston ; Br itish Dairy Institute, Reading ; Eastern Counties 

 Dairy Institute, Ipswich ; Royal Veterinary College ; National Fruit 

 and Cider Institute ; Cumberland and Westmoreland Farm School ; 

 Hampshire Farm School ; Agricultural Institute, Ridgmount. 



