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184
Commons in the month of March to consider the law relating to
the control over telegraph, telephone, and other wires, and
the Vestry will continue to give the subject attention.
SCHOOL BOARD FOR LONDON.
In view of the considerable increase in the expenditure of
the School Board, which was shadowed forth in the debates
of the Board on the Estimates for the year 1885, as reported
in the public press, the "Vestry appointed a Committee on
the 12th February, to consider the best means of making the
ratepayers acquainted with the subject in its bearing on the
rates. The Vestry are at great pains to administer with
economy the funds under their control, and it is disheartening
to find that while expenditure for strictly local purposes is
actually diminishing, the Vestry are compelled to increase
the rates to meet the growing demands of central Boards
over whose expenditure or administration they possess no
control.
A statement was prepared by the Committee and
circulated among the various rating authorities of the Metropolis,
the following extracts from which may prove of special
interest to the ratepayers of St. James's:—
The total expenditure of the Board, including cost of administration
and payment of interest and instalments of principal of loans,
but excluding payments in respect of Industrial Schools and
charges defrayed from loans, such as purchase of sites and erection
of buildings, was £1,070,267 7s. 10d. for the twelve months
ended the 25th March, 1884. The number of scholars in average
attendance is not given in the accounts subsequently to September,
1883, but, taking the average for the twelve months at
250,000, the gross actual cost per child on this basis would be
£4 6s. 1d. per child. This expenditure was met by Government
Grants, £166,125 6s. 7d.; School Fees, £109,430 10s. 10d.;
Rates, £762,834 17s. 3d.; and from other sources, £4,485 3s. 11d.
It will thus be seen that the Eates bore nearly 75 per cent. of the