THE VALUE OF THE VOLUNTARY SCHOOLS.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.") SEE,—I notice that you state in the Spectator of Septem- ber 27th that the Government, if it applied compulsory purchase to the voluntary schools, would have to pay about 2120,000,000. The amount you name has been dismissed in certain quarters as absurdly high. I think it is too high, but not absurdly so. After considerable thought on the subject, I have come to the conclusion that between 290,000,000 and £100,000,000 would be an equitable price for the govern- ment to pay. There is great difficulty in arriving at the basis of payment, and of course the principle of arbitra- tion laid down in the Expropriation Bill might exclude elements of value that seem to me essential. I arrive at my valuation by the following process. The Government would have to buy about four million voluntary-school seats. At 215 per seat this would amount to 260,000,000, and this sum would fairly represent the initial value of the schools and sites. But school managers would have an equitable right to ask for more than this. It is not a question at all of what the sites and deteriorated buildings would fetch in the open market, though that is obviously the basis on which low estimates, varying from 225,000,000 to 240,000,000 (made by opponents of the voluntary system), are based. The managers, being unwilling to sell, would have a right to ask for the pay- ment to them of all moneys expended by them in structural maintenance during the existence of the school. Clauses to this effect will sometimes be found in conveyances of freehold land, where the vendor retains a right of pre-emption. In addition to this, the managers have a right to ask for con- sideration in respect of two facts. The first is that they have a special article to sell which no one else possesses,— namely, schools in working order. They have, in fact, ready- made school districts with an organisation in full working order. These districts represent in some cases the continuous labour of nearly a century. This must be paid for. Secondly, they have the " goodwill " of these school districts,—and a very valuable "goodwill" it is. It would have to be a condi- tion of expropriation that this " goodwill " was absolutely parted with, and that no voluntary schools were set up with the Government purchase-money for the purpose of at once entering into active competition with the new Government schools. The consideration for these various items I put at an additional 210 per voluntary seat,—an addition, that is to say, of two-thirds on to the initial cost of the schools. This would give 2100,000,000. If the initial cost were reduced to 212 10s. per voluntary seat, the purchase-money would have to be 290.000,000. No Government could pay such a sum, or
anything like it.—I am, Sir, &c., Ecorro !Emus.
.[We admit that our correspondent shows that we have un- wittingly fallen into a considerable exaggeration in our estimate, which we regret, as there have been far too many exaggerations already in this controversy. We hold, however, that he shows that if the owners of the voluntary schools fought their hardest, as they certainly would against enforced ex- propriation, they might be able to make good a claim for something approaching 280,000,000 or even 2100,000,000.—En. Spectator.]
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