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called upon to contribute, the cheapest materials would be
used the footways repaired merely, and the work carried out
in the most economical manner possible. After further consideration
the Board abandoned its intention and passed a
resolution to the effect that no further steps be taken to pave
Nelson Square until the freeholders consent to dedicate it to
the public as a public highway.
SCHOOL BOARD EXPENDITURE.
A copy of a letter addressed to the School Board for
London in August, 1895, protesting against the enormous and
constantly increasing demands of that body and urging it to
exercise greater economy, was contained in the last Annual
Report. Copies of such letter were sent to the School Board
for London, the Committee of Council on Education, Mr.
Causton, the Member of Parliament for Southwark, and
the other Boards of Works and Vestries of the Metropolis,
and elicited replies from many of the authorities named,
expressing concurrence with the views of this Board in the
matter—one only of the twenty who replied to the circular
dissenting. The answer of the School Board—deferred until
March, 1896-was laconic in the extreme, and merely alleged
that the decision upon the matters referred to lay within the
competence of the ratepayers. Meanwhile the rate has gone
on increasing by leaps and bounds; the precept of the School
Board for the half-year to 25th March, 1897, demanding
of this Board no less a sum than £9,515 7s. l1d., being
£1,136 17s. 4d. in excess of that for the previous half-year,
the total amount for the year being £17,893 18s. 6d. It
would seem that appeal to the School Board is useless, and
that the only effectual means of putting a stop to the increase
would be a statutory limitation to the rate. In October, 1895,
this Board, at the request of the Vestry of Paddington,
appointed delegates, viz., Mr. F. Baxter, J.P., Mr. Henry J.
Coles and Mr. H. J. Fry, to attend a proposed conference of
rating and administrative authorities on the subject, and
about the same time, the Vestry of St. Mary Abbotts, Kensington,
made a similar proposal. Ultimately the former
Vestry abandoned its intention in favour of Kensington, this
Board authorising its delegates to attend the conference
there. Such conference took place at the Town Hall, Kensington,
on the 28th November, 1895, and the following
resolutions were passed :—
1. (a) "That this Conference of Delegates, representing
twenty-four of the Rating Authorities of the Metropolis,
as defined by the Elementary Education Act, 1870, whilst
recognising the valuable work performed by the School