The London School Board Budget, which was produced this week,
was a rather alarming document. It threatens London immediately with an education rate of 411-d. in the pound, and the rate shows so rapid an increase of late years, that it is difficult to think of 40. as the limit, and easy to conceive it soon reaching a limit that would be at least twice as high. The deficiency on the current year would be £69,245, and in order to cover that deficiency, the sum to be raised in 1876-7 would be £398,576, implying, as we said, a 4id. rate. A great part of the deficiency in the current year (namely, £53,056 out of £69,245) was due to in creased expenses of maintenance, and of this almost all was absorbed in increase of teachers' salaries. It is fair to remember that the Board will have to provide accommodation for an increase in attendance of more than 22,000 children over the number of attendances of the current year. This, however, explains only a small part of the in- crease. But for the deficiency in the current year the estimate would have been £329,621, as compared with an estimate of £229,878 for last year ; but even that shows a frightful proportion of increase, not very much short of 50 per cent. It seems that each child's education, which was estimated a year ago to cost £12s. 9d., is now estimated to cost £1 lls. 3d., i.e., has increased from about 50. a week to about 70. a week. To keep education even tolerably popular with the ratepayers, we must keep it cheap, and the prospect of so keeping it does not appear to be brilliant..
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