Land Problems and National Welfare 



should incite them to try to embody as much 

 of that type of instruction as is compatible 

 with economy, common sense, and the oppor- 

 tunities afforded. 



County Councils have now the practical 

 control of education. Some councils are doing 

 their work most admirably, striving for effici- 

 ency, and avoiding the pitfalls of unwarrantable 

 extravagance on the one hand, and ruinous 

 parsimony on the other; but all County Councils 

 do not work with this wisdom. There are many 

 which, while they own the letter of the law, are 

 dead to the spirit, and it is safe to say that the 

 majority of county councillors are more con- 

 cerned in keeping down the education rate than 

 in developing education. They are content to 

 let the Board of Education set the standard, 

 and only move when that Board compels them. 

 It is right for them to be careful in their 

 trusteeships of public money, but surely it is 

 still more their duty to see that the country 

 gets its money's worth ; and above all, that 

 the instruction given is educating the pupils to 

 be the most useful citizens possible. 



The education of each child costs about 

 ;^3 7s. and if, by wisely spending an extra 5s., 

 los. or 15s. per child. County Councillors can 

 make the original expenditure of ^^3 7s. vastly 

 more effective, will they not be fulfilling the 

 spirit of their trust far more truly than by 



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