EDUCATION— GOVERNMENT GRANTS 21 



(including grants to colleges) of the total ex- 

 penditure on education beneficial to agriculture. 

 To put agricultural education on the same footing 

 as general education, the contribution should be 

 50 per cent. In actual figures the counties spend 

 about ,£80,000 a year * in agricultural education ; 

 the Government contributions are £"12,000. To 

 secure a system of agricultural education that 

 is necessary a much larger sum will in time be 

 required ; but it must be a gradual development. 



In addition to the suggestions already made, 

 all possible encouragement should be given to 

 the work of the Workers' Educational Associa- 

 tion in country districts. The spread of education 

 by and among groups of men and women working 

 together in the classes of the Workers' Educa- 

 tional Association will assist the idea and practice 

 of co-operation in other matters, a fact which 

 appears to have been already appreciated by 

 the Agricultural Organisation Society. 



VII. Small Holdings 



While it must be recognised that education 

 must be the basis of rural regeneration, there is 

 no use in raising the educational standard of the 

 rural children unless those who decide to remain 

 have greater opportunities of advancement than 

 they have at present. 



1 Cf. 1909, Cd. 4569. 



