EVOLUTION OF THE A.O.S. 117 



clause 33 of the Friendly Societies Act, and (c) priority of 

 claims against the estates of officers, as per clause 35 of the 

 Friendly Societies Act. All three proposals were acceded to 

 by the Treasury. 



BOARD OF EDUCATION AND COUNTY COUNCILS. 



Indirectly, a certain degree of State-aid was obtained in 

 1902 through an important concession by the Board of 

 Education. 



As the result of several conferences between Mr. C. G. 

 Watkins, secretary to the Education Committee of the Bucks 

 County Council and the A. O. S., a representation was made 

 to the Board of Education, on behalf of the Agricultural 

 Sub-Committee of the County Council in question, that 

 instruction in the " Principles and Practice of Agricultural 

 Co-operation " which subject was not included in the 

 branches of science and art with respect to which grants were 

 then being made by the Board of Education under the 

 Technical Instruction Act of 1889 was required by the 

 circumstances of the district. 



Mr. Yerburgh also waited specially on the then Permanent 

 Secretary to the Board of Education, Sir George Kekewich, 

 in respect to this application, and there was reason to believe 

 that the representations he made had much to do with the 

 granting of the desired concession by the Board. Following 

 thereon, the Education Committee of the Bucks County 

 Council employed, for three months, one of the organisers of 

 the A. O. S. to give instruction in the methods of agricultural 

 organisation, a society being formed as the result of his 

 labours. A circular letter was issued by the Board of 

 Agriculture to the County Councils of England and Wales, 

 bringing the concession under their notice, and several 

 councils, obtaining like sanction, utilised the services of 

 the Society or took other steps to promote the teaching 

 of the principles and practice of agricultural co-operation. 



In Wales, where the interest in the movement had, by this 

 time, become exceptionally keen, the County Councils of 



