of
contingencies, many of which the layman might never have thought of or
foreseen. Travelling expenses for Council, Boards, and Committees,
casual vacancies thereon, a short title for the Act, and a seal for the
Department, definitions, which show how little we know of our own
language, and a host of kindred matters are included. In this miscellany
appears the following little clause:--

For the purpose of co-ordinating educational administration there
shall be established a Consultative Committee consisting of the
following members:--

(a.) The Vice-President of the Department, who shall be chairman
thereof;

(b.) One person to be appointed by the Commissioners of National
Education;

(c.) One person to be appointed by the Intermediate Education
Board;

(d.) One person to be appointed by the Agricultural Board; and

(e.) One person to be appointed by the Board of Technical
Instruction.

Now the real value of this clause, and in this I think it shows a
consumate statesmanship, lies not in what it says, but in what it
suggests. The Committee, it will be observed, has an immensely important
function, but no power beyond such authority as its representative
character may afford. Any attempt to deal with a large educational
problem by a clause in a measure of this kind would have alarmed the
whole force of unco-ordinated pedagogy, and perhaps have wrecked the
Bill. The clause as it stands is in harmony with the whole spirit of the
new movement and of the legislation provided for its advancement. The
Committee may be very useful in suggesting improvements in educational
administration which will prevent unnecessary overlapping and lead to
co-operation between the systems concerned. Indeed it has already made
suggestions of far-reaching importance, which have been acted upon by
the educational authorities represented upon it. As I have said in an
earlier chapter when discussing Irish education from the practical
point of view, I have great faith in the efficacy of the economic factor
in educational controversy, and this Committee is certainly in a
position to watch and pronounce on any defects in our educational system
which the new efforts to deal practically with our industrial and
commercial problems may disclose.

There remains to be explained only one feature of the new administrative
machinery, and it is a very important one. The Recess Committee h