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the Bill has passed the House of Commons, and is now before the
Lords.
Improvements
The improvement in Red Cross Place, mentioned in the last
Annual Report of this Board, has been completed, and, as the
result of further negotiations with Mr. Thomas Pink, a similar
improvement is now being carried out in Adam's Place, in the
same locality, whereby the thoroughfare will be enlarged from a
narrow pathway to a street 25 feet in width. The cost of this
improvement, exclusive of any drainage works that may be
required, and of making good the pavements, will be £350, towards
which it is expected that the Metropolitan Board of Works will
contribute one-half. An improvement has also been effected by
setting back the line of frontage of premises belonging to Mr.
Richard White, on the south side of Stoney Street, Borough
Market, at a cost of £71, towards which the Metropolitan Board
have contributed a moiety.
School Board
Expenditure.
From time to time during the course of the year communications
have been received from local authorities protesting against the
increased expenditure of the School Board for London, and, in
April last, a letter was received from the Yestry of St. James,
Westminster, forwarding printed copies of a Statement compiled
under their direction, in which the various items of expenditure
were critically examined and compared with the cost of education
in other parts of the country, and requesting this Board to appoint
delegates to attend a conference which it was proposed to hold at
the Mansion House, in the City of London, on the 27th of that
month. The Board appointed Messrs. Rider, Baxter, and Haggis
as their representatives accordingly, and at the meeting, which
was held on the 27th April, under the presidency of the Lord
Mayor, the following Resolutions were passed:—
1.—" That in the opinion of this Conference the administration of
the School Board for London has not produced results commensurate
with the vast expenditure of the Board; that the present cost of maintenance
of the London Board Schools is excessive, whether compared
with the rate of expenditure by the Board in 1873, or with the expenditure
of other Boards in England and Wales, or with the expenditure
of the managers of Voluntary Schools in London; that in the cost of