Page:A Few Words on the Future of Westminster School.djvu/17

 the affluence of the parents or from their living in the neighbourhood, or owing to ill-health, it may not be an object to have sons competing for 'college,' to whom, at the same time, the honour of winning ultimately the election to Christ Church or Trinity would be a great stimulus. Besides, the effect of excluding all but collegers from the competition for Christ Church or Trinity has been to withdraw one great inducement from that class of boys, half-boarders and home-boarders, whose presence it is the interest of the School most of all to encourage.

(b) As regards 'college,' the existing system requires a year's residence in the School previous to eligibility for the foundation. The tendency of this is undoubtedly to narrow the field of competition. Two other courses are open: (1) On the supposition of the conversion of Westminster into a day-school of the same type as the City of London School and King's College School, to annul 'college' and to convert the fund at present devoted to its maintenance into exhibitions tenable at home; (2) Retaining 'college,' to open the candidature to all comers with or without previous residence in the school, as at Eton and Winchester.

As regards (1), apart from the question of converting Westminster into a day-school pure and simple, which does not seem necessary, the tendency of exhibitions tenable at home would be really, in the case of a prize—shown by the similar cases of Eton and Winchester to be one greatly valued by parents—to narrow the competition to boys who happened to live within such a