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153
Sheweth as follows:—
That your petitioners are the Sanitary Authority for the Parish of Rotherhithe.
That the Parish of Rotherhithe has a population of over 40,000 people, with a
ratable value of £210,858.
That, in the year 1871, a School Board District was formed under the
Elementary Education Act of 1870 for the Parish of Rotherhithe.
That at the time the Elementary Education Act of 1870 was passed into law by
your Honourable House, the country at large was assured by Her Majesty's Ministers
that it would be unnecessary to levy in the vast majority of "cases a rate to meet the
deficiency in the school fund of a larger sum than threepence in the pound.
That the Right Hon. W. E. Forster, the Vice-President of the Council on
Education, stated, with regard to the rate,—
"I know when I talk of rates I am touching very delicate ground, and I do not
"for a moment dispute that the whole system and principle of rating is one of the
"questions which urgently demand the consideration of this House. I trust,
"however, that no reasonable Member present will wish to keep the children
" throughout England untaught until that question is solved. After all, it is but a
"very small matter as regards the rate. An Education Rate would save the Prison
"Rate and the Pauper Rate. It would not be a special rate, but a charge on the
"Poor Rate; but should it exceed threepence in the pound, and I do not believe
"that it will amount to anything like that sum in the vast majority of cases, then
"there is a clause in the Bill which stipulates that there shall be a very considerable
"extra grant out of the Parliamentary votes." The Right Hon. Gentleman
"further stated that "Practically the Bill provides for a rate not exceeding threepence
"in the pound, in order to carry out the requirements of the Act. That amount
"of rate would very rarely be exceeded, indeed in my opinion a smaller levy would
"be quite sufficient to work the Act."
That the said clause referred to is of no practical value as a means of relief in the
present circumstances of the case, seeing that as against millions raised by local
taxation in those districts where the rate is threepence in the pound and upwards, only
a sum of about £18,000 is applicable in relief under the provisions thereof.
That the financial results of working the Elementary Education Act of 1870
and the successive legislation passed since that date, have imposed a charge upon the
ratepayers at large, which in your Petitioners' opinion is unjust and inequitable, as no