MANCHESTER AND SALFORD EDUCATION COMMITTEE. (Hansard, 29 March 1852)

§ MR. KERSHAW
then moved, that the Select Committee on the Manchester and Salford Education Bill should consist of sixteen Members, and that the name of Mr. Pilkington should be added to it. He did it on the ground that the friends of voluntary education were not represented on the Committee in the manner to which they had a right, considering their importance as a body, and their exertions in the cause of education.

§ MR. WALPOLE
said, he must oppose the Motion, on the ground that it was quite unusual to have sixteen Members on such a Committee, and that if the Motion were carried, it would materially alter the constitution of the Committee, which had been settled with great care, and that too in such a way that no report made by the Committee could then give satisfaction.

§ SIR WILLIAM CLAY
would support the Motion. There was at present only one Member on the Committee who could be said distinctly to represent the opinions of the friends of voluntary education, and he did not think that was a fair representation of the body on a Committee connected with the subject of education, in which they had taken so prominent a part. He did not think that the report of the Committee as then constituted could give satisfaction.

§ MR. WILSON PATTEN
said, that he 342 thought the friends of the voluntary system should have a voice on the Committee; but he bad been instructed by those parties who had taken great pains in bringing this Bill before Parliament, and who had devoted time and attention to the subject for years past, to remonstrate against the constitution of this Committee on their Bill, in which there were only four Members who represented their opinions. There were certainly ten Members out of fifteen on the Committee who were known to be decidedly hostile to the Bill the merits of which were to be investigated. He was instructed, if the Motion of the hon. Member for Stockport (Mr. Kershaw) should be carried, to move as an Amendment that the Committee should consist of seventeen Members, and that at least one Member more should be added to the Committee, who should endeavour to do justice to the Bill. The promoters of the Bill felt that they had so little chance before a Committee so largely constituted of opponents, that they were almost inclined to withdraw the Bill.

§ MR. KERSHAW
should have no objection that the Committee should consist of seventeen Members. He had not objected to a single name on the Committee; all he wanted was, that the important body to which he had referred should be fairly represented there.

§ MR. MILNER GIBSON
said, he could confirm what had been said by the right hon. Secretary of State for the Home Department, with respect to the difficulty of constituting the Committee as now proposed to the House. He, to a considerable extent, represented a great body who were in favour of secular education, and on their behalf he had also to complain of their not being quite fairly represented on the Committee. That body were supported by a petition signed by not fewer than 60,000 inhabitants of the district, and they had expended large sums in supporting their views, and in gaining public support. He quite agreed that the supporters of the voluntary system should be fairly represented, and his own individual opinion was not adverse to having another Gentleman of those views on the Committee; but having agreed with the right hon. Gentleman the Secretary of the Home Department as to the constitution of the Committee, he felt bound to stand by that agreement. He 343 thought that the interests of all parties would be consulted by not disturbing it.