Now it is a melancholy fact that parents belonging to the various British religious bodies concerned, parents we understood to be so passionately eager to see their children taught only their own tested and certified brand of truth that this compromise was made, have shown themselves indisposed to make any effort to pay even honestly, far less generously, for the spiritual advantages secured to them. A recent inquiry has directed attention to a very alarming state of affairs in these schools--of which altogether there are about twelve thousand in England and Wales--claiming to educate a million and a third children. A large proportion of them, we discover, have become badly decayed. They are described as “ill-ventilated, ill-lighted, with insufficient or worn-out sanitary, cloakroom, and lavatory accommodation.” “A number of schools”--I quote the Leslie report--“are noted as having been condemned by the Board of Education before the war, but as being still in full use. The complaint is made that the Board’s inspectors have ceased to mention the condition of these schools in their reports, presumably on instructions from headquarters, in the supposed interests of economy.” “‘Action would have to be taken with regard to playgrounds, sanitary arrangements, etc.,’ says one authority, ‘had there been any prospect of the requirements being carried out,’ and many others say the same in different words. In one case there has been a sinkage of ground resulting in the breakage of drain-pipes, with the result that the soil is being polluted, but the managers will do nothing. In another case the authority says that ‘both teachers and children are suffering physically and educationally, but the only possible alternative would be new buildings, and the managers have no funds.’” “General complaint is made as to the condition of the playgrounds, usually as being too small and inconvenient to begin with, and many either unusable or dangerous for want of repair. One of the counties, replying, says that out of 131 playgrounds attached to its Voluntary Schools 95 per cent. are in bad condition.” ...