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15
The triennial election of the School Board took place on
the 26th November, when the ratepayers, roused by the
prospects of a still increasing rate, languidly took some
little interest in the event, with the result that a majority
pledged to economy was returned to the Board on the
Victoria-embankment. In order to bring home to the
ratepayers of the parish that the election afforded the only
opportunity for three years of expressing a decided opinion
upon the proceedings of the Board in past years, the Vestry
posted the following circular to every householder in the
parish rated above £20:—
"ST. MARGARET AND ST. JOHN, WESTMINSTER.
Vestry Offices:—Town Hall, Westminster, S.W.,
1891.
This Vestry, as the rating authority required by law to levy and
collect in this parish the sums demanded by the School Board
for London, deem it their duty to impress upon the ratepayers
the importance of making a special effort to record their votes
at the ensuing election (which is appointed to take place on
the 26th November), in favour of those candidates who will
pledge themselves, not merely to the advocacy of " economy "
in general and indefinite terms, but to specific reforms in the
interests of the ratepayers.
The sum to be raised in this parish for School Board purposes
during the current year is £'37,113, or Is. O^d. in the £; and,
inasmuch as the spending powers of the Board are unlimited,
further increases may be expected year by year, unless the
ratepayers of the metropolis apply an effectual check by the
judicious exercise of their voting power on the day of election.
'The following extract from the Financial Statement made in
June last by Sir Richard Temple, Chairman of the Finance Committee
of the School Board, shews the necessity for greater
practical interest in the election of Members:—
" Nor does there appear to be any security whatever that
the rate will not go on rising. Whether the coming triennial
election at the end of this year may cause any
difference is quite uncertain. If it does not, then no
financial estimator reckoning future figures on the known
figures of the past and present could say anything else
than this—that the rate will go on rising. For the three
years since the 25th March, 1889, it has risen from 7-97d.
to ll'Old. in the pound, which, as I have shown, means a