Sir R. Temple on Thursday produced the half-yearly Budget of
the London School Board, covering the half-year from March to September, 1891. He expects to spend £958,000, an increase of £60,000 over the corresponding half of the present year. This is equivalent for the year to a rate of 11d. in the pound, although the assessment of the Metropolitan area has risen to thirty-one millions. This is heavy taxation, considering that we were promised, when the Act passed, an education-rate of only 3d. in the pound ; but it will be paid without too much grumbling, if only there is no waste. It is the certainty of waste—waste in salaries, in buildings, and in fads—which exasperates the taxpayers. It should be noted that the receipt from fees is falling, the Board, which expects a Free Education Bill, being increasingly unwilling to use its powers of compulsion.
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