The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1870-11-26 00:00:00

I am, Mr. Editor,
A FRIEND OF EDUCATION.

A SCHOOL BOARD FOR BTOURBRIDGE.

16 the Editer of the " Obserrer."

Um—To work the Elementary Education Act effi-
ciently will note...gray involve the imposition of increased
rates. At this announcement ratepayer' will shako their
heads and shrug their shoulders, in instant protest. Nor
do I wonder that they should, when I consider the heavy
burdens of taxation the people of this country bear. An
" Economist," I feel atrongly that a measure entailing
increased expenditure requires the weightiest reasons to
justify it. How stands the Education Act in this respect?
Taxed heavily already for imperial and local purposes,
why should I willingly submit to an increase of taxa.
tion

As an " Economist " I am bound to consider this ques-
tion from • ratepayer's point of view; and, after having
so considered it, I MU of opinion that in the interests of
economy itself the ratepayer ought unhesitatingly to con-
sent to any increased expenditure that may be necessary
to bring the neglected children of our lanes and courts
under the humanising influences of a useful education.
Suppose A and B are partners in • firm. A devotes
himself to business ; is steady, persevering, frugal; and,
in consequence, the concern prospers. Bis idle, waste.
ful—" consumes "largely, " produces "nothing "—his
demands upon profits that he bas done nothing to earn,
but everything to diminish, annually increasing. A can-
not dissolve the partnership—it is indissoluble; nor stop
the supplies, the partnership involving unlimited liabi-
lity. Would not A, under these circumstances, gladly
adopt any course that seemed likely to render B a less
costly if not a more useful partner in future, even al-
though the effort involved an additional present outlay?
Now, such is the position in which ,the ratepayer is
placed. lie is • partner in A very extensive firm—his
liabilities unlimited. Associated with him, and depend-
ent upon him, in part preying upon him, is a host of the
idle and the depraved. Pauperism and crime are eating
him up. He is willing to meet the fair claims of desti-
tution, even without inquiring very searchingly auto how
it was caused. But the demands of destitution multiply ;
and though his efforts to protect himself against crime
are most costly, the criminal ravens upon him. On the
let of January last, the number of persons in England
and Wales receiving relief from the poor rate was
1,083,532, against 1,016,569 in 1869; showing an abso-
lute increase on the year of 36,963. One in every 20 of
the entire population is • pauper. During the parochial
1868-9 (the report for 1869-70 is not yet published) the
sum of £7,673,100 was expended for the relief of the
poor; being an increase on the preceding year of
£175,039. The cost of the maintensmice of the poor,
exclusive of private charities and of varionscharges upon
the rates iudirectly connected with relief, has now
reached the sum of 7s Old per head of the entire popu-
lation, against 6. in 1865, and 5s 62 in 1860.
As to crime, it is as impossible to calculate the amount
abstracted front the national wealth by the criminal class
as it would be to estimate the Kim given every year in
charity. The ascertainable costs of crime, however, are
sufficiently suggestive. In the public accounts for Eng-
land and Wales, for the year ending September 29,1669
(the latest published) the one item of police and constab-
ulary alone amounts to £2,116,881. The maintenance
referred
derretti4e
ic
f (front
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certain
nui
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Magistrates, tughcdbtoiveow nnn is
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de9 madet
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a;
i:t orfyo which hd iecdh.
deductions
ow.
se
lens titan
to. we estimate it at .C 3,500,000. Our anneal expeudi•
ture for relief of the poor and for the repression of crime
together amount IA) more than £11,000,000, or over 10s
per head .if the entire population.
costly
With
and still-increasing outlay!
ratepiatyhecruurilas andask wasteful,eannothing be done to reduce
plartnewiurstriyo.hi: m, the