April 17, 1902] 



NATURE 



565 



Authority. Accordingly the conference adopted the 

 following resolutions : — 



(12) That it be exceptionally permitted to some boroughs 

 and urban districts in the neighbourhood of county boroughs 

 to link themselves for educational purposes with the said county 

 borough by mutual agreement instead of directly with their 

 proper county. 



(I2a, .supplementary to 12) Any Borough or District Council 

 with general rating power shall be empowered to levy an 

 additional rate for education in its own boundaries over and 

 above that demanded by county authority from the entire area 

 of which it forms a part ; but this rale shall not be expended 

 by the Borough or District Council until its recommendations 

 have been submitted to, and approved by, the Education 

 Authority in whose area it is situated. 



The Government Bill solves the difficulty in a 

 somewhat analogous but still more liberal manner 

 — some think an over-liberal and unwise manner;— the 

 Borough Council itself, when it represents more than a 

 certain population, is constituted the local Education 

 Authority, but it is given the option, not only of sharing, 

 but actually of transferring, the responsibility, either the 

 whole or a part, to a County Council, provided the latter 

 is willing to take it, and at the same time its independent 

 rating power for education higher than elementary is 

 preserved. 



It is to be hoped that the power of amalgamation 

 between neighbouring counties, boroughs, and urban 

 districts will be exercised ; for this question of the size of 

 an administrative area is really a very important one. 

 Many eminent persons hold that an area the size of a 

 Province would be in many ways better and ni"re 

 dignified than the present area of an administrative 

 county : a return, as it has been called, to the heptarchy, 

 the natural provinces of which were marked out by 

 physical features, and have always retained a certain set 

 of common interests. These ancient provinces are large 

 enough to support highly dignified governing bodies, to 

 which a great part of the local government still at present 

 cumbersomely and expensively administered at West- 

 minster could with propriety be transferred, thereby set- 

 ting free the time of Parliament for Imperial purposes, 

 and leaving local questions connected with locomotion, 

 drainage and the like to be dealt with by the localities 

 which most thoroughly understand them. It is just pos- 

 sible that amalgamation for educational purposes might 

 form the beginning of this much-tobe-desired result. 



Returning now to the business arrangements which 

 must be made by an education committee, it is mani- 

 festly desirable that the authority for a large area shall 

 not attempt actually to manage the schools in its area, 

 but shall operate on them through Managers more imme- 

 diately in contact with each school, such a board of 

 managers being in most places already in existence, 

 and being therefore conveniently continued, though with 

 some modification. 



The following resolutions were adopted by the con- 

 ference, and similar provisions are included in the 

 Bill :— 



(13) That the Education Authority, though having control over 

 all schools dependent on public funds, shall not constitute itself 

 a board of management for any school ; but shall provide 

 that managers be appointed or continued for every school or 

 group of schools within its area, according to some scheme 

 approved by the Board of Education. 



(15) In order to establish and maintain connection between 

 the managing bodies and the local Education Authority, the 

 latter shall nominate one or more persons to serve on each 

 managing board or governing body concerned with any school 

 or group of schools deriving financial benefit from rates or 

 taxes. 



(16) That in order to facilitate connection with and repre- 

 sentation from the local authority, existing non-elected manag- 

 ing bodies be combined with one another for purposes of 



NO. 1694, VOL. 65] 



administration, on lines similar to those in use under the Aid 

 Grant Act of 1897. 



But it is desirable that those specially appointed 

 managers who represent the controlling body shall re- 

 port to that body regularly. Otherwise the control 

 might gradually cease to be effective. 



I have omitted No. 14, which had to do with the 

 future of the more efficient .School Boards — those which 

 had done good work and had gained the confidence of 

 the community, and which it seemed undesirable to sup- 

 press. It was a very difficult point, and no satisfactory 

 solution was arrived at. The resolution may be quoted, 

 in order to emphasise the difficulty ; and it was drawn in 

 vague terms in order to cover, not only .School Boards, 

 but the boards of all other schools which are to be affected 

 by the Act. 



(14) That existing administrative educational bodies, wherever 

 they have shown themselves efficient, be continued in their 

 office and function as managing boards, and in such dependence 

 on popular vote as already exists, and with their present at- 

 tendance authority, but without rating power, and subject to 

 the control, as hereafter defined, of the local Education 

 .Vuthority. 



What the Bill proposes, however, is not this poor com- 

 promise ; it proposes to leave it optional with each 

 locality, at any rate for a time, to decide whether the 

 existing School Board shall continue to take control as 

 heretofore of primary education, or whether it shall be at 

 once superseded by the new and comprehensive authority. 

 Perpetuating the School Board system in places will have 

 the effect of perpetuating there the undesirable disloca- 

 tion between primary and secondary education ; but, on 

 the other hand, it will avoid introducing sudden dis- 

 turbances ; it will allow the present conditions, wherever 

 efficient, to persist for a time ; it will allow business to 

 continue during alterations, and it will pave the way for 

 a gradual change on to the new lines when time and 

 experience are ripe. Hence it appears to me that this 

 optional clause, permitting the transfer of primary con- 

 trol to be locally delayed for a time, is to be distinctly 

 welcomed as affording an easy and elastic means for in- 

 troducing the provisions of the Bill with the consent of 

 each community, rather than forcing them to accept them 

 prematurely. Ultimately it is to be hoped that but little 

 conflict will arise between School Boards and County 

 Councils on this matter, because no County Council 

 would be foolish enough to overlook the advantage of 

 nominating the prominent and efficient members of 

 School Boards on to the new Education Authority, thereby 

 continuing to reap the benefit of their wisdom and ex- 

 perience, just as they will continue the Board officials in 

 practically their present office and function. 



Those who advocate the abrogation of this optional 

 clause, and the compulsory forcing on each County 

 Council of full and immediate responsibility for primary 

 as well as for secondary education, would do well to 

 remember that voluntaryism is the essence of local 

 government in England ; and that if a body is over- 

 weighted, or prematurely loaded, people of judgment 

 may decline to serve on it. Coinpulsory adoption of 

 the Act would logically involve a measure to enforce 

 service on a County Council. 



The vexed question of how to improve and give rate 

 aid to the schools provided by religious denominations, 

 and of what special privileges can be conferred on such 

 schools in return for certain pecuniary sacrifices made 

 by the denominations interested in them, has excited, and 

 will no doubt continue to excite, much controversy ; but, as 

 it seems to me, controversy of a belated kind, more noisy 

 than effective, and largely maintained by those who have 

 lived through the sectarian controversies of 1870 To the 

 younger men these sectarian difficulties loom very small : 



