The Master of Balliol sent an interesting letter to Thursday's
Times on the claims of the great town Colleges to share in the Education Grant. His argument is that these Colleges,—like the Liverpool, Bristol, and Nottingham University Colleges,— do not at present attract private munificence ; that they cannot pay their way by students' fees without excluding those who most need the instruction by charging too high fees ; and that the principle has been already conceded in the State, and grants given to Welsh, Irish, and Scotch Colleges. Also, he thinks that a grant for higher education of something like 2 per cent. on that given to elementary education would be enough,—say, in England alone, some £60,000. All these argu- ments are strong ; but, on the other side, there is the rapid and almost alarming growth of the public expenditure, the especial tendency of education votes to grow in an ever-increasing ratio, and the obvious tendency of State grants to undermine private munificence. Owens College is all the more influential now for having struck its roots deep into the justifiable local pride of Manchester, and we cannot help thinking that urgent pres- sure would be better applied to the deficient local feeling of our great towns, than to the lavishness of Parliamentary expen- diture.
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