110 



THE RURAL PROBLEM 



For the last 80 years there has been a gradual increase in 

 the amount of the grants in aid. Mr. Sidney Webb has 

 estimated them as follows : In 1830, under £100,000 ; 1840, 

 under £500,000 ; 1850, about £750,000 ; 1860, over 

 £1,000,000 ; 1870, nearly £2,000,000 ; 1880, nearly 

 £5,000,000; 1890, nearly £12,000,000; 1900, nearly 

 £16,000,000 ; 1911-12, about £30,000,000 (or 18 per cent, 

 of the national revenue).* 



These grants amount to a reduction of the rates on the 

 average by 2s. 4d. in the pound. 



The proportion of the expenses of the various departments 

 of local government borne by the national and local ex- 

 chequers was as follows in 1908-9| : — 



But these figures represent the total result only; the grants 

 do not really operate in this cut-and-dried fashion. 



The rates in the pound paid for the relief of the poor, for 

 instance, are in some Unions over 12 times greater than in 



* See Appendix M. 



j- See Memorandum by County Councils' Association to Depart- 

 mental Committee on Local Taxation, Cd. 6303, II. On January 6th, 

 1913, the President of the Local Government Board, in reply to a 

 question in the House of Commons, gave the following table, snowing 

 the amount of expenditure on the five services named, which in Eng- 

 land and Wales fell on rates and Exchequer grants respectively in the 

 year ending March, 1911 : 



