220 REPORT— 1872. 



urged, that many local charges should, in part at least, be defrayed out of the 

 Consolidated Fund. Without now attempting to decide whether such a proposal 

 ought to be carried out, it should bs remembered that two very serious dangers 

 are associated with it, which ought certainly to be most carefully guarded against. 

 In the first place, local authorities think that public money is no one's money, and 

 consequently localities would vie with each other in getting as much out of the 

 Consolidated Fund as possible. He had felt it his duty, on more than one occa- 

 sion, to warn people against supposing, as they sometimes seem to do, that the 

 Consolidated Fund is a great source of wealth, kept perennially supplied by the 

 spontaneous bounty of nature. The Consolidated Fund represents taxation. If 

 more money is obtained from tlie Consolidated Fund for local purposes, what new 

 taxes is it proposed to levy ? or which of the existing taxes is it proposed to 

 increase? This question will be answered by the electors, the majority of whom 

 are not the payers of income-tax. They have been encouraged by what has been 

 done in the past to throw the whole extra charge on the income-tax; and the 

 income-tax would fall with the greatest inequality upon the possessors of small 

 fixed incomes, who are placed in the most unfavourable position by the general 

 economic circumstances of the country. Allusion has already been made to a 

 remarkable rise of prices which is going on at the present time. So far as the 

 increasing dearness of commodities is due to such natural causes as the demands of 

 a larger population, it would be neither possible nor desirable to attempt to control 

 it. Indications, however, are not wanting that the cost of producing many com- 

 modities may be artificially augmented by the incessant demands which are con- 

 stantly being put forward for mischievous legislative interference with industry. 

 If we had time to examine the various measures that were introduced into Parlia- 

 ment last year, and the various measures with which we are threatened next 

 Session, it would not be difficult to show that, unless we are very careful, industry 

 will be hampered by State interference much in the same way as a machine would 

 be if sand were thrown among its wheels. Such lessening of industrial efficiency 

 ■would increase the cost of producing commodities, and the great mass of the people 

 would have greater difficulty than they have now in obtaining either a sufficiency 

 of the necessaries or an adequate supply of the comforts of life. 



Oil the. Pollution of Rivers. 

 By Major-Gcneral Sir James E. Alexander, F.Ii.S.E. 



Statistics regardinrf tlie Attendance and Education of Girls in the Elementary 

 Schools of Manchester*. By Lydia E. Beckek. 



In a recent speech at Willis's Rooms, the Bishop of London is reported to have 

 said, "In the lower classes the girls were as well provided for in the matter of 

 education as the boys." This statement appears to be one of those comfortable 

 delusions by which men, who do not care to discuss what are called women's 

 rights, blind themselves to the actual condition of the feminine portion of the com- 

 munity. The education and remuneration of the teachers of girls prescribed 

 by the code of the Education department are inferior to those of the teacliers of 

 boys, and consequently an inferior quality of instruction is the natural result. 

 Besides these disadvantages, which operate uniformly over the land, there are 

 others which may vary according to the character of the population and of the 

 district. There is a general belief that education is less desirable for girls than for 

 boys. More scliools are provided for boys tlian for girls. Girls are more frequently 

 kept at home to attend to nursing or household labour than boys. The operation 

 of these causes is strikingly shown in the experience of the School Board of Man- 

 cliester. The number of children to be provided with school accommodation in 

 the district of Manchester is (according to the calculation adopted by the Educa- 

 tion department, namely one sixth of the population) 58,557, consisting of 



* Printed m cxfenso in the ' Englishman's Review,' October 1872. 



