338 



GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 



norainational schools. Even the Radicals ob- 

 jected merely as a declaration of principle, and 

 were careful not to obstruct a measure that 

 offered such relief to poor parents and was a 

 step toward state education. The measure was 

 not complicated. It dealt with the question of 

 fees only, and leaving the existing system other- 

 wise intact. The management of voluntary 

 schools, the conscience clause, compulsory at- 

 tendance, and the educational standards were 

 left as they were. The bill simply offered to 

 such schools as chose to accept it a fee grant of 

 ten shillings a head annually, calculated 6n the 

 average attendance. When the average fees 

 received did not exceed ten shillings a head, 

 every school taking the grant would become 

 free, while those where the fees amounted to 

 more were allowed to charge the excess up to a 

 certain limit. The bill as introduced gave the 

 grant only in the case of children over five and 

 under fourteen, who are compelled by law to at- 

 tend, under the education act of 1876. At the 

 request of representatives of voluntary schools, 

 the Government consented to extend the limit 

 of age so as to include all children between the 

 ages of three and fifteen. The question of popu- 

 lar control was raised by Mr. Fowler, and after 

 his introduction had been rejected by a majority 

 of 267 against 166, the Gladstonians being de- 

 serted by the anti-Parnellites, no serious oppo- 

 sition to the bill was offered. An ' amendment 

 of Lord Cranborne allows voluntary schools to 

 join in groups, so as to divide the fee-grant 

 among themselves, with provision for grading. 

 The bill was sent to the upper house on July 8, 

 and minor changes made there were afterward 

 attacked by the Opposition when they were sub- 

 mitted for the concurrence of the House of 

 Commons, one of them because it was an inad- 

 vertent invasion of the power over the public 

 purse. The grant is equivalent to 3d. a week 

 for every child in attendance. If in any district 

 the Education Department is satisfied that suffi- 

 cient free schooling is provided, the managers of 

 a particular school may impose or retain school 



Eence not to exceed 6d. a week for any child of 

 sgal school age, 2d. for any child under five, 

 nor 3d. for one over fourteen years of age. 



The Newfoundland bill, which was carried 

 through the upper house in May in spite of the 

 protests of the Opposition, was a coercive meas- 

 ure to empower the officers of the Imperial Gov- 

 ernment to carry out the modus vivendi with 

 France in regard to the Newfoundland fisheries 

 pending the arbitration of the question. The 

 colonial courts had refused to allow the validity 

 of the diplomatic arrangement, and Sir William 

 Whiteway, Prime Minister of Newfoundland, pre- 

 sented arguments for this view before the bar 

 of the House of Lords, but at the same time he 

 promised that the colonial Legislature would 

 pass the measure necessary for the enforcement 

 of the modus vivendi. As this pledge was not 

 immediately fulfilled, the Government proceeded 

 with the bill, on which the colonial Legislature 

 yielded, and the bill was withdrawn on May 28, 

 the date set for the second reading. The 

 Bering Sea Nbill, placing restrictions on the seal, 

 fishery pending the arbitration of the matters in 

 dispute betweenXEngland and the United States, 

 was carried withoot opposition. 



The factory bill was referred to the standing 

 Committee on Trade, and was brought before the 

 House on June 18, when the debate took place 

 on Mr. Buzton's amendment to prohibit the em- 

 ployment of children under the age of eleven, 

 which was one of the recommendations of the 

 Berlin Congress on Labor. The motion was 

 carried against the Government by a majority 

 of 16, and was afterward accepted and made a 

 part of the bill. A proposition to raise the age 

 for full time to fourteen was rejected by a ma- 

 jority of 25, and the bill passed rapidly through 

 the remaining stages. ' The Home Secretary 

 brought in a bill to empower courts of sum- 

 mary jurisdiction to deal with offenders below 

 the age of sixteen, and to adjudge that the of- 

 fenders shall be whipped instead of imprisoned, 

 and also to impose fines on the parents or order 

 them to pay compensation to persons injured by 

 the child's offense. 



The bill relating to procedure in Scotch pri- 

 vate legislation contained provisions to which 

 local objections were raised, and though the 

 Government met these with concessions the bill 

 had to be sacrificed in fulfillment of the promise 

 to talk up no contentious business after the edu- 

 cation bill. Sir William Harcourt came near pre- 

 venting the passing of the bill for the recoinage 

 of light gold pieces by raising a debate on the 

 general monetary system and the gold reserves. 

 A bill for the discipline of the English clergy, 

 worked out by the bench of Bishops in the 

 House of Lords, was dropped, because the Radi- 

 cals found in it contentious features. One to 

 establish training colleges in Ireland succumbed 

 to the objections of the Ulster Orangemen. The 

 bill for the local registration of land titles in 

 Ireland, an experimental step in the direction of 

 the modern registration systems of Australia and 

 the United States, was carried through by the At- 

 torney-General for Ireland. Other minor meas- 

 ures that survived the " massacre of the inno- 

 cents " were the London public health bill, the 

 penal-servitude bill, and the bill to facilitate the 

 registration of voters for the election of county 

 councils. The last was urgent because the tri- 

 ennial elections were to come off in November. 

 Sir Joseph Pease's resolution calling on the Gov- 

 ernment of India to resign the profits of the 

 opium trade and to prohibit the manufacture of 

 the drug, except for medicinal purposes, was car- 

 ried against the Government by the considerable, 

 if somewhat accidental, majority of 160 votes to 

 130. Sir William Fowler, in supporting the reso- 

 lution, even proposed that the British tax-payers 

 should reimburse the deficiency caused by the 

 abolition of the opium receipts, which constitute 

 one tenth of the Indian revenue, and amount to 

 about 6,000,000 a year. John Morley was the? 

 only politician of note and responsibility who 

 gave his support to the resolution. Mr. Glad- 

 stone's bill for the removal of religious dis- 

 qualifications, the object of which was to allow 

 a Roman Catholic to be appointed Chancellor 

 in England or Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, and 

 which was sarcastically described as the " Ri- 

 pon and Russell relief bill." was rejected by 256 

 against 224. While Charles Bradlaugh lay on 

 his deathbed, the House expunged the resolution 

 passed in 1880 by which he was precluded from 

 either making an affirmation or taking the oath. 





