E.—ld

4

s.—Finance. 1. Local Taxation. —Under the Act of 1889 a local authority can levy a special local tax not exceeding Id. in the pound. More than seventy localities have adopted this method of raising money for technical education, and have thus obtained an annual revenue of at least £50,000. A part of a county can be charged for expenditure for its special benefit. The local authority has power to raise loans. 2. Special Funds. —The greater part of the income at the disposal of the local authorities for technical education is derived from certain Customs and excise duties, which, almost by accident, are devoted to this object. In 1890 new duties were imposed, principally on spirituous liquors, to provide the means of giving compensation for the closing of publichouses. The Bill for the closing of the houses was thrown out; but the duties were imposed. At the suggestion of Mr. Acland, Government proposed that the new revenue should be for the most part applied to technical education. As the Act of 1889 had given the management of technical education into the hands of the local authorities, the Act of 1890 entrusted those authorities with the new income thus obtained. The Act does not absolutely require the local authorities to use this money in the interests of technical education ; but most of it is actually so applied. In 1894 there were forty-nine County Councils; forty-two of them applied to technical education the whole of their share of the special funds, while the remaining seven applied part to this use. Of the sixty-one Borough-County Councils, fifty-one spent the whole in. this way, and nine counties a part. One of these Councils used the whole for other purposes. Many of the counties have proceeded with caution, and gradually developed their plans, reserving part of their income. Usually they have set up a committee to study the question, and to make inquiry as to the best means of promoting technical education in their own district. The Act of 1891 giyes them power to create reserve funds. For England alone the revenue on account of the special duties, in the four years from the Ist of April, 1890, to the 31st of March, 1894, was £2,797,100. Out of this amount, £1,439,321 was expended on technical education, and £632,439 reserved for the same purpose. During the same time the Councils also spent on the same object £572,685, derived from other sources. Thus the total expenditure by the County Councils and Borough-County Councils on technical education in the four years was £2,012,006, and the amount of reserved funds created was £632,439.

PART lI.—THE CENTRAL ADMINISTRATION. Technical education is not centralised under a single administrative body. English institutions in general have a piecemeal character, and frequently overlap. They are the outcome of progessive reforms, and of a process of addition rather than of substitution. The two principal administrative bodies in directing, controlling, and subsidising technical education are the Science and Art Department and the Education Department. Chapter I.—The Science and Art Department. At the head of this department is the Lord President of the Council, assisted by a member of the Privy Council, who is called Vice-President of the Committee of Education. This Vice-President is nominally under the direction of the Lord President, but in reality he acts alone in most cases ; he may be regarded as the English Minister of Public Instruction. The State began to make grants for education in 1837. In 1852—the year following that of the Great Exhibition —a Department of Art was instituted, and to this was added, in 1853, a Department of Science. At first the department was under the Board of Trade. In 1856 the Department of Education was created, and the old department and the new were both put under the control of the Lord President and the Vice-President of the Committee of Council. From 1873 to 1884 both departments were under the same secretary. Assistance is granted by the Science and Art Department in several forms, as follows : (1) Payment to committees of schools and classes according to attendance, and to efficiency, as tested by examination ; (2) certificates, prizes, medals, free tuition, and scholarships ; (3) grants for building; (4) maintenance of institutions of higher education established by the department at South Kensington (London), and in Dublin and Edinburgh; (5) grants to local museums and schools in aid of collections ; (6) grants to the State museums of manufacturing industry in London (at South Kensington and Bethnal Green), Dublin, and Edinburgh ; (7) grants for technical education in Ireland. 1. Grants to Educational Institutions. 1. General Conditions.— -The schools must have been recognised by the department, and must be always open to Government inspection. The qualifications of the teachers must have been recognised by the department. A school that seeks a grant must send in its time-table and a list of the teachers, must make a statement of its income, and furnish in a prescribed form a statistical report for the year just ended. The grants are supplementary to local or private contributions. A school must have local support in the shape of fees, subscriptions, or taxes ; must keep registers of admission and attendance; and must not be carried on for private gain. For every subject taught there must be lessons on at least twenty-eight days in the year. The grants must be devoted exclusively to instruction, and the local committee must provide proper places for teaching and examination, and supply light, fuel, &c. Grants for buildings can be made only if the classes are officially instituted; or if they are evening classes open to the public. The fees must not be unduly reduced for the sole purpose of rivalry. Every school must be under the supervision and direction of a local committee, responsible for the appointment, work, and salary of the teachers, and for all disbursements.