Page:The Annual Register 1899.djvu/74

 66] ENGLISH HISTOEY. [march

should be limited in that way. Under the bill 2,000,000Z. would be placed at the disposal of the Post Office for the development of communication, and London would be the first place where action would be taken. The operations of the department would be extended to smaller municipalities subsequently. With private wires the Post Office had no concern. The system in Switzerland would be copied, and a small subscription of about 3Z. a year would be demanded, and then small fees or tolls would be paid as for telegrams. He believed that the department would attract subscribers from classes which at present made no use of the telephone. Arrangements would be made to utilise the express messenger system in connection with telephone exchanges, and thus anybody, whether a sub- scriber or not, would be able to take advantage of the system. It was also intended to give certain large municipalities power to establish telephone systems, the necessary funds coming from the borough rates. A competing municipality would not have the right to refuse the National Telephone Company way- leaves which it took itself. As much as was useful of the plant laid down by municipalities would be purchased by the Post Office at the end of 1911, and corresponding treatment would he meted out to the Telephone Company.

A bill was subsequently brought in founded on this resolu- tion, but it evoked much opposition, not altogether unprovoked, from the supporters of the National Telephone Company, who had every reason for wishing to preserve their valuable mono- poly intact. Public opinion was not greatly stirred by this obstructive policy, and in the absence of outside support the Government was forced to proceed with the utmost caution, its own supporters being divided in either interest or opinion ; but at length after a prolonged struggle, and by the help of Parlia- mentary stratagem, the bill was ultimately got through its various phases.

The education question, after the long debates of previous sessions, was this year left to pursue its course undisturbed, except by an academic discussion raised by Mr. Lloyd-George (Carnarvon Boroughs), who wished to demonstrate (March 7) that the existing system of primary education in England and Wales inflicted a serious grievance upon a large number of people. He drew a lurid picture of the condition of voluntary schools, of the tyranny of church managers, of the disabilities of Nonconformists wishing to become pupil-teachers or to attend training colleges, and of the unscrupulous proselytising carried on by the clergy. Mr. Yoxall (Nottingham, W.) a Badical, and an educational expert, declined to endorse Mr. Lloyd-George's exaggerated complaints. He maintained on the contrary that "those who knew most about the question from experience were satisfied that the barrier between volun- tary and board schools was of the thinnest description and could easily be removed." Naturally those who supported