308 EDUCATION 



sion from field labour of children under nine years of age ; 

 but disapproving of compulsory attendance at school, and 

 declaring that the outlay for national education ought not 

 to fall on the rates. 



On 8th March, 1870, the Council unanimously resolved that 

 the Elementary Education Bill then before the country merited 

 the support of the Chambers, declared against the compulsory 

 attendance of children up to twelve years of age as a hardship 

 to the labouring classes, but favoured regular attendance up 

 to the age of ten years, supplemented by partial attendance 

 after that age. The Council also resolved that the proposed 

 education rate was an increased injustice upon owners and 

 occupiers of rateable property, and that national education 

 ought to be paid for out of national taxation, at least until 

 there had been a complete revision of the present system of 

 rating. 



On 5th April, 1870, the Council resolved that compulsory 

 attendance ought not to be required after ten years of age, 

 nor after a certificate of proficiency in reading and elementary 

 writing at any age ; and on 31st May the Council further 

 resolved that the limit of distance determining the exemption 

 of a child from liability to attend school should be two miles 

 instead of one. 



It has been said by some that this opposition by farmers to 

 compulsory attendance up to twelve years of age was merely 

 an underhanded protest against their being deprived of cheap 

 child labour. Whether there was any truth in this imputation 

 or not, the present writer is not old enough to be able to 

 pronounce ; but this compulsory attendance most certainly 

 did inflict considerable hardship on the working classes, for 

 in those days wages were lower, and the price of many com- 

 modities higher, than they have since become ; so that the 

 earnings of children, however small, were a welcome addition 

 to the family exchequer. Moreover, parents had then to 

 pay a weekly contribution towards the cost of education, and 

 thus it made a considerable difference whether a child between 

 ten and twelve was earning a small wage or was costing them 

 so many pence per week for school fees. 



