TRAXSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 



.205 



the baclign'ound, i.* a better way than punishment if only it he a possible -way ; and 

 Mr. Mitcliell has .shown that it is possible in (ilasgow, whate^•er may be the truth 

 witli regard to other great cities which ha\n acted more strictly. Half the country 

 comes now, for the first time, under compulsory laws ; and we may hope at least to 

 disseminate education as widely as in Glasgo^^" by the same wise and benevolent 

 effort among a willing people. 



Compulsion co.-ts far le.ss in ]iropoition in (ilafgow than in Liverpool— about 

 Is. 2d. per head cf the average attendance, in.'-tead of Is. (kl. in London and os. in 

 Liverpool. The amount, which is £-2400 instead of £o700 per annum for Liverpool, 

 is con.siderab]e, but it is less than that incurred by more stringent action. The pro- 

 cess has so far been equally eii'ectual, and it cannot fail to leave the poorer classes 

 in favour of, whereas the otlier mode of action may, one fears, leave tliem hostile to, 

 education. The author in conclusion said : — 



Tliere are few presentations of statistics to which some objection may net be 

 taken, and the educational statistics of the large towns under school boards, and of 

 the country so far as it is under the official cognizance of the Privy Council, can 

 form no exception. Some private adventure schools for the classes that need ele- 

 mentary education still survive, and a few of them may be efficient. It would 

 scarcely affect my figures, the main value of which is comparative, if I attempted 

 to estimate these" additional elements in the problem on the inadequate data which 

 are alone accessible. If we confine ourselves to the broad general conclusions whicli 

 lie on the surface of the figures I have given, I think we cannot go very far wrong. 

 I throw together the results for the five cities : — 



I have not taken into accoimt the educational position of the great towns at the 

 beginning of the compulsory era, and that is undoubtedly an element (and a consi- 

 derable element) in the problem. But there is none of them in which there was not 

 room for very great advances, and in most of them ample room is still left for in- 

 creasing both the amount and the regularity of attendance. The population of Manches- 

 ter, for Instance, is 8000 more t hau that of Birmingham ; but the average attendance there 

 is only 32,000, against 09,000 in Birmingham. The London a-\erage attendance would 

 need to be something like ^'80,000 instead of 306,000 to reach tlie Birmingham level. 

 The Glasgow attendance still remains very far below the point which it may be ex- 

 ])ected to reach. I have contented myself with recording the rate of ad\ance from 

 a po,sition far behind that which the great cities have now reached to one distinctly 

 behind that to which they will probably soon attain. 



There is another point to which I have adverted already. The Scotch act does 

 not, like the English act, suggest and authorize the making of bye-laws requiring so 

 many attendances out of the whole number possible. The sheriff of Lanarkshire 

 might refuse to recognize any standard the Glasgow board inclined to set up. But 

 the bye-laws regulating the' amount of attendance with which the English boards 

 wiU be satisfied are permissive and at their own discretion, and if they choose they 

 may dispense ; and Mr. Hughes, a leading member of the Manchester School Board, 

 seems to think that they ought to dispense with such bye-laws. These rules multiply 



