Intermediate Education in Ireland.

Thames Star, Volume IX, Issue 3027, 28 October 1878, Page 1

Intermediate Education in Ireland.

(from the tikes.)

Seldom has any Bill been received with a more unbroken chorus of approbation than the measure on intermediate education in Ireland introduced by the Government into the House of Lords. Every I one is ready to praise it. Catholics and Protestants, official Liberals or.such as have been official, and Conservatives who have not entered within the official ring and are never likely to do so, are all of the same mind in blessing this legislative venture. Such unanimity is rare—so rare as to be almost necessarily suspicious. What can have brought about agreement where agreement is almost unknown P The appropriation of a million sterling out of the surplus of the Irish Church funds is, no doubt, a powerful argument in favor of contentment until the money has been definitely appropriated, but even this is scarcely sufficient to explain the consensus of opinion exhibited on Friday night among > the Lords. We find, for example, that several. Peers joined in thinking that the conscience clause proposed in the Ministerial measure should not be enforced with any stringency, if, indeed, it might not be abandoned alto- . gether ;■ and among those who thus declared themselves must be named Lord MiddletonandLordßelmore, and—though this, seems somewhat doubtful — Lord Orarimore. How are we to account for men like these cheerfully proposing to dispense with a conscience clause as a condition of subsidizing the intermediate schools for Ireland P The gift of a million of money could not reduce them to silence; especially as the schools they would naturally, regard with the greatest favour will receive the smallest part of the appropriation. Not many years since these Peers would have been foremost in denounoing any'- diversion of any part of the funds of the Irish Church to the development of secular 'education as something tod evil to be discussed; and now they approve the project, and suggest that we should not too curiously inquire into the Bomanish character of the seminaries where this education will be given. We are driven to the not unpleasant con- ! elusion that there has been a great deve--1 lopment of liberality of opinion in relation to the Government of Ireland. The disestablishment of the Irish Church.has borne its fruits. The judgment of Protestants is no longer warped; their action is no longer controlled by the thought that the Irish establishment exists, and must above all' things be maintained. That, singular institution has become a thing of the past; the members of its communion take their place side by, side with the other inhabitants of Ireland as the members of a voluntary religious society; and the result is a greater freedom of thought, and a more cordial 1 recognition of the rights of the votaries of other creeds.

The plan of the Government for resuscitating intermediate education in Ireland is simplicity itself. Annual examinations will be held throughout the island, much like those local examinations which have been instituted in' England by the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge; and exhibitions will be given to the best in the competition. First-year students —i.e., lads under 16—will be eligible to receive exhibitions of £20 a-year for three years, second-year students to exhibitions of £30 a year for two years, i and,thirdryear.students prizes of. £60, subject as first and second year lads to the condition that they come up annually and pass good examinations as long as they hold exhibitions. Besides this,, the managers of schools are to obtain for all lads who, having kept 100 attendances in the preceding year, pass the examinations in two or . more subjects result fees varying from £3 to £10; so that if a school-master can send 50 boys creaitably through the examination, he may get £200 or £300 a year as the reward of their passing. No one can doubt that this will stimulate a great competition for: prizes, and result fees among the masters of intermediate schools in Ireland, and a corresponding amendment of their deficiencies may: be expected. Lord O'Hagan's'speech of Friday night would lead us to the belief that all the prizes that can be got will be got; but it must . be remarked of his speech that it quite ' unintentionally proved that there was no necessity for assisting intermediate education in Ireland at all. He told the Peers that England had 72i per cent, of the population of the United Kingdom, Ireland 17 per cent.,, and Scotland 10| per cent; but in the competition for open. places in the Customs and Excise the; competitors were 11 per cent. Scotch. 46 English, and 43 Irish; and the successful candidates were 6 per cent. Scotch, and 38 English, 66 Irish. The Irish, unassisted by endowments or prizes, beat all competitors, thus supporting Mr Lowe's view of the injurious effects of endowments, and proving that the Government scheme is not required and may be pernicious. We do not, however, wish to, hold Lord, O'Hagan to his figures or his reasoning, and are prepared to approve the Ministerial measure, in defiance of them. There is, indeed, a most fair prospect that the Bill, late.as it was in appearing, may bedome law this Session. The support of the Lords is secured, and Mr Butt has issued a hortatory epistle in its favour. If there is any difficulty, it will arise out of the conscience clause which > so many of the Peers will throw over. It is possible that this may be dropped in the House of Lords, and in any case a , motion to reject it may be expected in the House of Commons, where, however, not : a few will be disposed to think that it ought to be stoutly maintained.' The clause provides that result fees shall not be paid to any school unless it be shown -, that no pupil is'permitted \a) remain during religious instruction which his parents or guardians have not sanctioned, andun-

less the time of religious instruction is so fixed that a pupil not attending it loses none of the other advantages of the school. We do not now propose to j discuss the phraseology of this clause, about which much may be said; but must the clause be retained in any shape? It is urged that there ia no such thing as mixed education in intermediate schools in Ireland; but if this is true, the clause will be inoperative, and may be harmlessly retained. The assertion as to the absence of. mixed education is, however, much too broad, and the State should certainly countenance rather than discountenance schools where the education is mixed. The clause may be modified so as to be oppressive to none, while at the same time operating as a safeguard in defence of minorities, which exist in Ireland no less than elsewhere. The doubtful part of the Bill is the machinery proposed to be instituted by it. There is to be a Board of" seven members, with two Assistant Commissioners receiving salaries not exceeding £1000 each, and other officers such as the Board, the Lord Lieutenant and the Treasury may agree upon It may be presumed that the Assistant Commissioners will be appointed according to Irish usage —one Catholic and one Protestant—for the purpose of WatchingV one another,; but has not the time come when a practice objectionable because wasteful, and for far more serious reasons, should be abandoned P The cost of organizing the Government scheme will be unduly large, as may be easily tested by a comparison of it with the cost of working the local examinations institutad by the two Universities. But, indeed, this new scheme ought to be connected with the work of the National Board in superintending the system of national education in Ireland;: and the Government would, doubtless, have recommended this were they not afraid of touching the existing organization. If everybody is satisfied, they may say, why complain because something better still might have been suggested? Let us rather rejoice at the rare spectacle of Irishmen dwelling together- in unity, and lifting up their voices with one consent to praise a project a Government has devised.