376 THE SCHOOL BOARDS xv 



admissible, except for factious and abusive pur- 

 poses, to assume that any one who endeavours to 

 get at this clear meaning is desirous only of raising 

 quibbles and making difficulties. 



Reading the Act with this desire to understand 

 it, I find that its provisions may be classified, as 

 might naturally be expected, under two heads : 

 the one set relating to the subject-matter of 

 education ; the other to the establishment, main- 

 tenance, and administration of the schools in 

 which that education is to be conducted. 



Now it is a most important circumstance, that 

 all the sections of the Act, except four, belong to 

 the latter division ; that is, they refer to mere 

 matters of administration. The four sections in 

 question are the seventh, the fourteenth, the 

 sixteenth, and the ninety-seventh. Of these, the 

 seventh, the fourteenth, and the ninety-seventh 

 deal with the subject-matter of education, while 

 the sixteenth defines the nature of the relations 

 which are to exist between the " Education 

 Department" (an euphemism for the future 

 Minister of Education) and the School Boards. 

 It is the sixteenth clause which is the most 

 important, and, in some respects, the most remark- 

 able of all. It runs thus : 



" If the School Board do, or permit, any act in contraven- 

 tion of, or fail to comply with, the regulations, according to 

 which a school provided by them is required by this Act to be 

 conducted, the Education Department may declare the School 



