206 REPORT— 1876. 



statutory offences according to an arbitrary definition. They create and, as it 

 were, authorize a recogiiized minimum of attendance. The Birmingham board have 

 no minimiun named, and are therefore much in the same position as the Glasgow 

 board. Their bye-laws require perfectly regular attendance, and they enforce them 

 at their discretion. Perhaps the Glasgow board and the other Scotch boards could 

 not if they had wished have prosecuted as frequently as their neighbours in England. 

 Mr. INEtchell thinks so, and believes that a very great deal of the greater leniency 

 and the smaller amount of prosecution in Scotland is due to the more lenient spirit 

 of the framers of the Scotch act. lie is most probably right ; and one of the main 

 points to which I hope that this discussion may dii-ect the attention of school boards 

 is the policy or impoUcy of Aery numerous and stringent bye-laws. But I must 

 again disclaim any wish to assign credit to individual boards, or to seem to sit in 

 judgment on their conduct. 



I think that my figures conclusively pro^e that the best results, both in increased 

 quantity and regularity of attendance, are not necessarily connected vnih. the 

 strictest working of the compulsory law. Manchester, which seems at present to be 

 strictest, and Liverpool, which is third on the list, are lowest in both respects. Bir- 

 mingham, -which is second in strictness, is highest in increased quantity as well as 

 in actual amomit of education, and third in respect of regidarity of attendance, which 

 has risen there in a remarkable degree. London, which seems most lenient of the 

 four great English cities, has increased education much more rapidly than Manches- 

 ter or Liverpool, though it seems to have now reached very much the same level in 

 respect of quantity. It has a more regidar attendance than either of these cities or 

 than Birmingham. Glasgow, wliich in respect of compidsory action by legal process 

 is almost ludicrously lenient in comparison with the other cities, stands hig-hest in 

 respect of the regidarity of attendance obtained, and second in respect of the in- 

 creased quantity of education. Of course neither Glasgow nor any other board can 

 reap where it has not sowed, and the paucity of legal processes is no sign that the 

 Glasgow board did not spend an indefinite amount of labour in securing the residts 

 it has obtained. I am spealdng only of the last resort to the pains and penalties of 

 law, and I thinli 1 can scarcely be mistaken in saying that my figures almost disprove 

 the theory that the tighter the screw is pressed down in the way of actual punish- 

 ment the more effective must the pressure become. 



I do not care to press the inferences that the facts I ha^'e collated seem to me to 

 establish any further than these conclusions : — • 



1. That the need of the comitry for compidsory education was a cryuig need in 

 1870. 



2. That the success of the experiment which has now been tried in Scotland and 

 in nearly half of England justifies the modest advances that have been made by the 

 gOAcrmnent in the bill of the present year. 



o. That compidsion has been carried out in one great city with perfect efficiency, 

 and with a very trifiing amount of legal process. 



4. That no connexion between stringent Icf/al compidsory action and great educa- 

 tional residt is indicated by the figures. It is almost needless to say that I do not 

 suppose that a school board can safely leave the matter to take care of itself. 



The Valuation of Propertij in Ireland. By Heney jEPnsoN. 



An increasing desire has latterly been CAdnced for the assimilation of the laws of 

 England and Ireland. Amongst those which shoidd be assimilated are the laws on 

 the valuation of property. In England and Scotland the valuation is based upon 

 the rent, in Ireland it is based on the prices of agricidtural produce. Very strong 

 reasons can be adduced for the revaluation of Ireland. Tlie present valuation has 

 practically not been revised since it was made, about twenty-five years ago ; the 

 value of property has, however, changed considerably, and great inequalities exist 

 as to the incidence of taxation. A revaluation being therefore necessary, it is 

 recommended that the English and Scotch system be adopted, for not alone is that 

 system more correct, but by adopting it the principle of valuation of property would 

 be made similar throughout the United Kingdom. By acting on this recommenda- 



