^54 



Village Institutes. 



[may, 



lishment of a new communal organisation and to the develop- 

 ment of corporate activities and social institutions in harmony 

 with modern social ideas. The State cannot create a new social 

 spirit ; it can but provide opportunities for its growth and ex- 

 pression. One of the chief of these opportunities is the Village 

 Institute, and the Committee states that it can think of no 

 more profound and far-reaching piece of rural reconstruction 

 than the provision of buildings expressly designed as a focus 

 of the social activities of village communities. Whether such 

 Institutes become active centres of social and educational 

 work will depend largely upon the degree to which voluntary 

 organisations of various kinds co-operate in utilising the 

 opportunities which the Institutes present. It is clear that a 

 Village Institute can never become the mainspring of organised 

 Hfe unless the organised activities of the village centre in the 

 Institute. The success of Village Institutes in the future rests 

 upon an appeal to groups of people with common interests, 

 rather than to individuals. It is because such groups have in 

 recent years begun to flourish that the Committee looks forward 

 hopefully to a vigorous life within the Village Institutes. It 

 may well be that the Women's Institutes, which have taken root 

 in rural districts during the past four years, should in many 

 places provide the social stimulus and basis of social organisation 

 necessary for these continuous and varied activities without 

 which Village Institutes must become moribund. 



State Aid. — The proposal of the Committee is that the State 

 should make a grant-in-aid, as and when the demand arises, to 

 Parish or Rural District Councils, through the County Councils, 

 in respect of capital expenditure, amounting to 90 per cent, of 

 the total cost. The remaining 10 per cent, should be raised 

 locally. The total cost to the State of such a scheme for Great 

 Britain mighj: amount to £5,000,000, or even more. Once 

 the Institutes were established, it should be possible for a 

 Parish Council or Rural Council District, as the case may be, 

 to maintain the activities carried on in them. In the case of 

 societies using the rooms for meetings of classes, a small fee 

 would be charged. Where concerts, plays, public lectures, 

 cinemas, and exhibitions were arranged, they would be a source 

 of income, whether they were initiated under the auspices of 

 some voluntary organisation or movement or by the Parish 

 or Rural District Council. 



The Development of Educational Facilities — The Committee 

 makes a number of recommendations on the development of 

 educational facilities in rural areas. It considers that educa- 



