GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 



859 



labor, exercised by way of trade or for the pur- 

 pose of gain, is liable to the same penalty. 

 That the expense of school fees may not pre- 

 vent the children of the poor from obtaining 

 :m education, school boards are still allowed to 

 r.-init the foes charged in board schools, while 

 the hoards of guardians are empowered to pay 

 the fees of children attending either board or 

 voluntary schools. Still further to encourage 

 regularity in attendance, those pupils who shall, 

 before they are eleven years of age, have passed 

 Standard IV. of the new code, and have also 

 attended three hundred and fifty times in not 

 more than two schools during each of two 

 years, will bo entitled to the payment of their 

 fees by Government during three years. In 

 1879 the standard of attendance qualification 

 is to be increased to three hundred and fifty 

 attendances during each of these years ; in 

 1880, during each of four years ; in 1881, dur- 

 ing each of five years. The scholars whose 

 fees are thus paid must pass a higher standard 

 during each year of their attendance. The 

 fees are to be paid only for children attending 



schools whose average fee does not exceed six- 

 pence per week, and they can be obtained in 

 one year by not more than ten per < . nt. of tl.e 

 scholars presented for examination at the an- 

 nual visit of her Majesty's inspector. 



The bill " for amending the law in respect 

 of the appellate jurisdiction of the House of 

 Lords " was introduced in the House of Lords 

 by Lord Cairns, February 10th, and, having 

 passed that body, was affirmed by the Houi-e 

 of Commons August 9th. It establishes a court 

 within the House of Lords, to relieve that Hou^e 

 of the duty of hearing the trial of cases of ap- 

 peal. The court is to sit during the whole ju- 

 dicial year, and will consist, besides certain 

 judges who are ex officio judges of this court, 

 of Lords of Appeal in Ordinary, who are ap- 

 pointed to that office by the crown, and are 

 entitled to sit during their term of office as 

 members of the House of Lords and as mem- 

 bers of the Judicial Committee of the Privy 

 Council. A final appeal will lie from this 

 court, as now lies from all the other courts 

 of the kingdom, to the full court of the House 



BATH, ENGLAND. 





of Lords, constating of the Lord-Chancellor, 

 the Lords of Appeal, the Judicial Committee 

 of the Privy Council, and the Law Lords. 



On the 5th of October, the Queen appointed 

 as Lords of Appeal under this act Mr. Justice 

 Blackburn and the Right Honorable G. S. Gor- 

 don, and raised them to the peerage under the 

 titles of Lord Blackburn of Kilearn and Lord 

 Gordon of Drurnearn. 



The bill for removing the electoral disa- 

 bilities of women, which has been regularly 

 offered several years, was again introduced in 

 the House of Commons, and again rejected, 

 the vote being 239 to 152. It is noteworthy 



that the bill was opposed by Mr. John Bright, 

 as " in the interest of the women themselves, 

 as the principle of the bill was untenable, and 

 was contradicted by universal experience." 



Another attempt was made to obtain the 

 repeal of the so-called "Contagious Diseases 

 Act." The bill having that object in view was 

 defeated in the House of Commons, July 19th, 

 by a vote of 122 in favor of the repeal, to 824 

 against it. 



The House of Commons, May 18th, against 

 the opposition of the Government adopted a 

 resolution to the effect that it regarded it ex- 

 pedient that the law which forbids the general 



