amongst other matters provide that after the thirty-first day of March, one thousand eight hundred and seventy

one

(1.) Such grant shall not be made in respect of any instruction in religious subjects:

(2.) Such grant shall not for any year exceed the income of the school for that year which was derived from

voluntary contributions, and from school fees, and from any sources other than the parliamentary grant; (2)

but such conditions shall not require that the school shall be in connection with a religious denomination, or that religious instruction shall be given in the school, and shall not give any preference or advantage to any school on the ground that it is or is not provided by a school board:

Provided that where the school board satisfy the Education Department that in any year ending the twentyninth of September the sum required for the purpose of the annual expenses of the school board of any school district, and actually paid to the treasurer of such board by the rating authority, amounted to a sum which would have been raised by a rate of threepence in the pound on the rateable value of such district, and any such rate would have produced less than twenty pounds, or less than seven shillings and sixpence per child of the number of children in average attendance at the public elementary schools provided by such school board, such school board shall be entitled, in addition to the annual parliamentary grant in aid of the public elementary schools provided by them, to such further sum out of moneys provided by Parliament as, when added to the sum actually so paid by the rating authority, would, as the case may be, make up the sum of twenty pounds, or the sum of seven shillings and sixpence for each such child, but no attendance shall be reckoned for the purpose of calculating such average attendance unless it is an attendance as defined in the said minutes : (3)

Provided that no such minute of the Education Department not in force at the time of the passing of this Act shall be deemed to be in force until it has lain for not less than one month on the table of both Houses of Parliament.

(1) The conditions required to be fulfilled in order to obtain an annual parliamentary grant are set forth in Arts. 76-92 of the Code (see p. 517).

(2) So much of this section as is in italics is repealed by the 39 & 40 Vict., c. 79, sec. 19, post, as and from the 31st of March, 1877, and the

following provision is substituted :-"Such grant shall not in any year be reduced by reason of its excess above the income of the school if the grant do not exceed the amount of seventeen shillings and sixpence per child in average attendance at the school during that year, but shall not exceed that amount per child, except by the same sum by which the income of the school, derived from voluntary contributions, rates, school fees, endowments, and any source whatever other than the parliamentary grant, exceeds the said amount per child."

See also sec. 20 of the 39 & 40 Vict., c. 79, and secs. 1 (3), 6, and 7 of the 54 & 55 Vict., c. 56, post.

It is to be borne in mind that the limitation on the amount of the grant only applies to the ordinary grant, and that the special grants authorised by the proviso to this section, sec. 19 (2) of the 39 & 40 Vict., c. 79 and sec. 2 (1) of the 53 & 54 Vict., c. 22, post, are additional grants.

(3) The object of this provision is to give additional aid from the parliamentary grant to districts where the circumstances as regards the charge on the rates are exceptional.

The effect of it appears to be that, when the sum required by the school board in respect of their annual expenses, in any year ending the 29th of September and actually paid by the rating authority amounts to a sum equal to that which would be raised by a rate of 3d. in the pound on the rateable value of the district, and that sum is less than 207., a grant will be made by the Education Department, in addition to the ordinary parliamentary grant, of such amount as will, when added to the sum actually paid by the rating authority, make up the sum of 20%. For instance, when a sum of 20%. has been required during the year, and a rate of 3d. in the pound on the rateable value of the district would only realise 147., and that amount has been actually paid by the rating authority, an additional grant of 67. will be made.

Again, if the sum required by the school board in respect of their annual expenses in any year ending on the 29th of September and actually paid by the rating authority is equal to a sum which would be raised by a rate of 3d. in the pound on the rateable value of the district, and that sum is less than 75. 6d. per head on the average number of children in attendance at the public elementary schools in the district provided by the school board, a grant in addition to the ordinary parliamentary grant is to be made by the Education Department of such amount as will make up the sum of 75. 6d. per head. For instance, when a sum of 75. 6d. per head has been required, and a sum at the rate of 45. 6d. has been all that a rate of 3d. in the pound would realise, and that amount has been paid, a sum at the rate of 35. per head on the average number of children in attendance will be allowed as an extra grant.

As regards the attendances which are to be reckoned for the purpose of calculating the average attendance, see Appendix, pp. 519, 520. The average attendance for any period is found by dividing the total number of attendances made during that period by the total number of times for which the school has met during that period.

It will be observed that this section which provides for an additional grant in the exceptional cases mentioned does not limit the sum which the rating authority are liable to be called upon to pay in any given case to a sum which would be raised by a rate of 3d. in the pound in the school district, but fixes that sum as the minimum to be paid by the rating authority before the school board will be entitled to claim an additional

grant under this section. If in the cases provided for a sum exceeding 201., or exceeding the rate of 75. 6d. per head, is required, the excess must be borne by the district, notwithstanding the payments would exceed the sum that a 3d. rate would realise.

The Education Department in a circular letter dated the 16th of December 1881, with reference to grants under this section stated as follows: "These grants may be claimed, under certain conditions, in aid of the school fund raised for the service of the board for years ending at Michaelmas, but a claim cannot be considered until the accounts of the board for the year ending at that date have been audited, and a copy of the financial statement forwarded to this Department by the Local Government Board. Some time must be allowed for the examination of the accounts, but it is hoped that the accounts of every board for each year ending at Michaelmas may be audited before Midsummer Day in the following year, at the latest. My Lords have, therefore, determined :— 1. Not to receive any claim for an additional grant, under the 97th section of the Act of 1870, for a year ending at Michaelmas, which is not made to them before the 29th of September in the year next following. 2. In examining these claims for any year, to take into account the returns of the attendance at the individual board schools in the district for schoo years ending on or before the 30th of September in that year."

See also the provisions of sec. 19 of the 39 & 40 Vict., c. 79, post, as to special parliamentary grants in certain cases where the population of the school district in which the school is situate, or the population within two miles, measured according to the nearest road, from the school, is less than three hundred, and the provisions of sec. 2 of the 53 & 54 Vict., c. 22, as to a special grant when the population of a school district in which a public elementary school is situate, or the population within two miles, measured according to the nearest road, from the school is less than 500, and there is no other public elementary school recognised by the Education Department, as available for the children of that district or that population, as the case may be.

See also secs. 1-4 and 6 of the 54 & 55 Vict., c. 56, as to "fee grants." With respect to grants to industrial schools, see secs. 16 and 17 of the 39 & 40 Vict., c. 79, post.

Refusal of Grant to unnecessary Schools.

98. If the managers of any school which is situate in the district of a school board acting under this Act, and is not previously in receipt of an annual parliamentary grant, whether such managers are a school board or not, apply to the Education Department for a parliamentary grant, the Education Department may, if they think that such school is unnecessary, refuse such application. (1)

The Education Department shall cause to be laid before both Houses of Parliament in every year a special report stating the cases in which they have refused a grant under this section during the preceding year, and their reasons for each such refusal. (2)

(1) This section, it will be observed, only refers to schools situate in the districts of school boards. But it will be seen from Art. 80 of the Code, that one of the conditions of a grant to a public elementary school, whether it is provided by a school board or not, is that "the school must not be unnecessary."

In the case of a new voluntary school in the district of a school board for which application is made for a grant it is the practice of the Education Department, before arriving at a decision on the application, to ascertain the views of the school board on the question whether the school is necessary or not.

In a note to Article 80 of the Code it is stated that, "In a district not under a school board a school is not deemed to be unnecessary if at the date of its application for an annual grant it is recognised as a certified efficient school, and has had during the twelve months preceding such application an average attendance of not less than 30 scholars. A school will not be allowed the benefit of this provision if within two miles of it by the nearest road there is another school receiving a special grant" under the provisions of sec. 19 of the 39 & 40 Vict., c. 79, or sec. 2 of the 53 & 54 Vict., c. 22, post.

(2) The annual report of the Education Department gives a statement of the cases in which during the year a grant has been refused. The reason usually assigned for the refusal is to the effect that there is "no deficiency of accommodation in the district."

Power of Schools to take Parliamentary Grants.

99. The managers of every elementary school shall have power to fulfil the conditions required in pursuance of this Act to be fulfilled in order to obtain a parliamentary grant, notwithstanding any provision contained in any instrument regulating the trusts or management of their school, and to apply such grant accordingly.

The conditions to be fulfilled in order to obtain a parliamentary grant, it is provided by sec. 97, ante, shall be those contained in the minutes of the Education Department for the time being in force. The general conditions for annual grants prescribed by the Code are those set forth in Arts. 76-92, see page 517.

See also sec. 97 of the 33 & 34 Vict., c. 75, sec. 19 of the 39 & 40 Vict., c. 79, and sec. 2 (1) of the 53 & 54 Vict., c. 22, as to special grants, and secs. 1-4 and 6 of the 54 & 55 Vict., c. 56, as to fee grants.

REPORT.

Annual Report of Education Department.

100. The Education Department shall in every year cause to be laid before both Houses of Parliament a report of their proceedings under this Act during the preceding year.

1 For definition of "metropolis," and for parishes, districts, and places which are included or are to be deemed to be included in Schedules A, B, and C respectively of the Metropolis Management Act, 1855, se notes to sec. 3.

?As to the Borough of Wenlock, see 37 & 38 Vict., c. 39, post. As to Oxford, see note to sect. 93, of this Act. The City of Oxford is now the school district. The school board is the school board appointed under that section, the local rate is the borough fund or borough rate, and the rating authority is the Council.