The Education vote for the year was £1,910,000, an increase
of 1203,774 on the estimate for last year. During the year, the number of public elementary schools in England and Wales had been increased by 1,056, and had risen to 14,273, the total accommodation afforded being now for 3,426,000 children,— or for 280,000 more than last year. If the schools were but in the right places, this would be an adequate supply for the educational wants of the whole country.; but unfortunately they are often in places where the children are not, and the children in places where the schools are not. 460 new Board Schools had been opened in the year, supplying accommodation for 170,000 additional children, while 580 (on an average, smaller) voluntary schools had been opened, supplying accommodation for 110,000 additional children. Since 1870, 1,600 Board Schools had been established (including, that is, 600 voluntary schools transferred to Boards), which accommodate in all 556,000 children ; while in the same time, 5,000 voluntary public and elementary schools have been established, accommodat- ing in all 1,100,000 additional children. About nineteen millions sterling had been sunk in schools by the country,—that is, £4,427,000 by Boards, and £13,000,000 by voluntary effort, supplemented by a grant of £1,750,000 by the Government, which comes to rather over £19,000,000 in all. In relation to- attendance, there had been an increase of 150,000 in the average attendance, and of 200,000 in the numbers on the books. On the whole, this cannot be called anything but a reassuring budget of figures. The country is at last doing its work, and doing it in earnest.
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