The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 1906. THE LORDS AND THE EDUCATION BILL.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVII, Issue 258, 5 November 1906, Page 4

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo.

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 1906. THE LORDS AND THE EDUCATION BILL.

For the cause thai loefc-s assistance. For the wrong that needs resistance, For the future in the distance. And the pood that we can do.

Tdpi-p has never been much doubt tha.t the Hou=e of Commons, as now :onstituted, would pass Mr. Birrell's Education Bill. But ill the House of Lords the position is very different. 7he presence ut the "Lords Spiritual" in the I'pprr Chamber is in itself a juaranlof of strong opposition to such i measure; and the tone, taken about the Bill by the Primate and other distinguished churchmen has shown 2]early enough that the party in the douse whuh approved of Mr. Balfour's Education Act is prepared to resist any Tiodih'ration of it to the last gasp. The 'sacerdotal' , section di the Anglican Church is wll represented ajnong the Lord?, and the generally Conservative character of the peers has encouraged the opponents of the new Education Bill ;o hope great things from the I'ppev liou-e. And this confidence has been fully justified by the event. Last week we learned that the House of Lords by largo majorities had adopted amendments proposed by the Archbishop of Canterbury to allow of distinct forms of sectarian religious teaching, and to "prevent the unjust stifling of denominational rights.' . Now we find that the Lord?, by a majority of nearly three to one, have decided in favour of an amendment that practically brings "distinctive" reiigious inst ruction within the ordinary school syllabus every day. These amendments are. of course, iirectly opposed to the spirit, as well as the letter, of the Birrell Bill. The large Liberal majority in the Lower House has resolved to maintain the great constitutional principle that money voted for education shall not be expended for sectarian purposes, and that compulsory religious instruction shall find no place n British schools. And so we find the House of Lords arrayed in direct opnosition to the Commons on the most mportant public question of the day. The situation, as we have said, has not come upon us unforeseen; but our readers will observe that its most serious significance is not limited to the possible fate of the Education Bill. What is really at stake her:; is not so much the question of denomina tionalism or secularism, but the right of the Upper House to obstruct the declaration of the popular will, and its translation into legislative form. The Last elections were fought largely on the Pklucation question, and the results of the polls prove conclusively that the great majority of the electors are opposed to the system which the Lords are now bent upon upholding. This means a pitched battle between Ihe people as a body and the small privileged class represented in the House of Lords; and ii.--torr tells us how such conflicts must .nevitably be decided. Under a. constitutional system such as that which Engand enjoys, the will of the people must prevail; and the only serious question that can arise is as to the form that ihe struggle may take, and the consequences that may ensue. The outcry >gainst the conservatism and obstruc.iveness of the House of Lords has been freely voiced by political reformers at Home in recent years. But they have never yet had so effective an argument o point their moral as the opposition to the Education Bill in the Upper House now supplies. The knowledge that this ?reat reform is being blocked by the Lords will vaslly intensify the vehonence of the popular demand that the Upper Chamber must be ''mended or ?nded"; and ibis is a contingency that -he Lords spiritual as well as the Lords temporal will do well to face at once. :o far as the Education Bill is concern?d, the Liberal leaders have said releatedly that the only alternative to -he Birrell Bill is tL.n-oughgoing secularism. And they have warned the Anjlican Church that obstinate rejection it all reasonable compromises will lead straight to disestablishment. The Bisiops should ponder these facts carefully K'foro committing themselves irrevoclbly against the Bill; and the Lords ■lioiild reflect, while yet there is time, hat in obstinately defying the will of the nation, they are arming their en> imies will] the weapon best adapted •ithcr to transform or to destroy the ,'pper. Chamber.