§ THE MARQUESS OF SALISBURYasked the Lord President, Whether the Vice President of the Council is rightly represented to have expressed an intention to bring in a Bill next year to set up School Boards in every parish in England? That seemed to mean in effect that the Government were ready for compulsory education next year, and that in order to carry it out they intended to set up a universal system of school boards. This was a matter which had created considerable anxiety. It was true that Mr. Forster did not use these precise words; but he said he was "prepared to consider" the point—which was the Ministerial equivalent for saying they would probably do so. It was not, however, easy to understand from what Mr. Forster was reported to have said, whether he spoke his own individual opinion only, or that of the Cabinet. It was very desirable that it should be known whether he spoke on behalf of the Cabinet or not. The matter was one of considerable gravity, because when the Education Act was passed Churchmen accepted the Act as a compromise. It contained many things that they did not like, and it was accepted because it gave them the choice of being, by the liberality of their own Church, able to escape from the nuisance of these school boards. He gathered from the observations of the right hon. Gentleman (Mr. Forster) that he imagined that the sole object of Churchmen had reference to the application of the system of school boards and rates throughout rural parishes, and that a school board without a rate would be looked upon as a harmless institution. He (the Marquess of Salisbury) did not agree that this was the case. Throughout the rural districts there was a general desire to escape from those school boards, and the reason was obvious. In a small community, where everyone was known to everyone else, the elections for these boards would have the effect of bringing into discussion topics which all who wished well to the country and to the spread of civilizing influences would wish to see kept in abeyance. A school-board election would light a firebrand in most parishes, and tend to drive still further asunder Church- 487 men and Dissenters. It would excite a religious antagonism which all who felt a real interest in the peace and happiness of the country would earnestly deprecate and deplore. Nor did he think matters would be improved, if it were announced that the object with which school boards were introduced into every parish was the establishment of compulsory education. He would not discuss the latter question on the present occasion; but he thought there were three classes who would object to it—the poor people for whom it was intended, the farmers who would have to pay for it, and the gentry who would have to administer it. If Mr. Forster was in favour of setting up school boards in every parish, he hoped to hear from his noble Friend, that the intentions of his right hon. Colleague were confined to himself and not shared in by the other Members of the Government.
§ THE MARQUESS OF RIPONbelieved that what his right hon. Friend (Mr. Forster said, on the occasion referred to was that—
Speaking for myself personally, I shall be ready for a general compulsory measure next year; and that while I do not think that it is desirable to establish school boards for the purpose of providing schools where sufficient and suitable school accommodation is already provided without a rate, I also think that, in considering how to enforce a general compulsory measure, we shall have to consider the question of the general establishment of school boards."—[See 3 Hansard, ccix. 1429–30.]When his noble Friend asserted that when used by a Minister the words "to consider" had the same meaning as "to adopt," he must entirely dissent from his noble Friend. He had always understood that when a Minister said he would "consider" an application, that form of expression barred the supposition that he made a promise to comply with what was asked. If his impression were wrong, he was afraid he would be liable to very heavy damages by reason of the many claims which he had promised to consider, but which having considered he had felt unable to recognize. He could assure his noble Friend that his right hon. Friend the Vice President had not committed himself to a general establishment of school boards. At present about 100 boards had sent in by-laws to enforce compulsory attendance, which had received the sanction of the Queen in Council. By next year his right hon. 488 Friend and the other Members of the Government would have had considerable experience of school boards, and it would be their bounden duty to consider whether the system of education could remain what it was now—a partially compulsory system—or whether it should be made wholly compulsory; and when they came to consider that question they would have to consider also, whether if the system were made compulsory it should be carried out by school boards throughout the country, or by some other means. But Her Majesty's Government were not in any way pledged to the general establishment of school boards.