Abstract
THE allocation of public money to County Councils under the Local Taxation (Customs and Excise) Act of 1890 has now been in progress for half-a-dozen years. It was understood, though not expressly stipulated, that this money—the proceeds of an additional tax placed upon beer and spirits—should be devoted to the furtherance of technical education, and in the case of most County Councils it is to this object that the money has been applied. With reference to the permanency of the grant, the Duke of Devonshire (then Lord Hartington), addressing a meeting on December 5, 1890, said: “The best way of securing the fund will be to see that it is used for the purpose for which it was originally granted.” And on the previous day, in the House of Commons, Mr. Goschen, at that time Chancellor of the Exchequer, said, in reply to a question: “If County Councils set themselves heartily to work to utilise the grants for important educational purposes, it will probably be difficult for any Minister to persuade Parliament to divert them.” Excepting in a few cases where some or all of the grant has been applied to the relief of local rates, the County Councils appear to have loyally adhered to the understanding in accordance with which the money was originally directed into the new channel. The particular form of “important educational purposes” to which aid has been extended has necessarily varied somewhat in different localities, but, on account of the universal pursuit of the industry, agriculture perhaps has received more wide-spread recognition than any other art. The result has been the establishment within recent years of new agricultural colleges and schools, or the grafting of an agricultural department upon educational institutions already in existence. To a third group may be assigned various organisations which were in operation before the days of County Councils, but to which these latter have felt it right to hold out a helping hand. To what extent these different bodies are carrying out the objects for which they were instituted, is a fair subject of inquiry.
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County Councils and Agriculture. Nature 54, 368–369 (1896). https://doi.org/10.1038/054368a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/054368a0