4IO Parliamentary Publications. 



18,853. The Corporation of London received ^^"18,444 

 grain duty. 



The expenditure, not defrayed out of loans, includes a sum 

 of ;£4 1,420 under the Contagious Diseases (Animals) Acts ;, 

 this was more than in the two preceding years, but less than 

 in 1892-4. Sewerage and sewage disposal works cost 

 ;£i,434,3o6 ; markets and fairs, ;£3 50,308 ; bridges and ferries, 



1 99,3 1 5 ; slaughter-houses, 2 1,750 ; expenditure under the 

 Sale of Food and Drugs Acts, ^19,717; expenses under the 

 Small Holdings Act, ;^i,070. 



Rents of allotments amounted to ;^36,835 ; the expenses 

 under this head to ^^50,969. Most of the transactions con- 

 cerning these allotments w^ere in the hands of parish 

 councils ; the receipts of these bodies (including parish 

 meetings) from this source amounting in the year under 

 review to £22,ggS, and their expenses to ;^24,826; the corre- 

 sponding receipts in 1895-6 having been £9^506^ and the 

 expenditure ^ 12,000. The various urban authorities spent 

 £21^22^ on allotments in 1896-7. In addition to these 

 expenses, there was raised during the year a sum of 



1 2,627 loans (over two-thirds by town councils) for this 

 purpose. 



It may be noted that the total amount of loans raised 

 during 1896-7 by all local authorities for all purposes was 

 ;£i 3,340,2 17, approximately the average of the four preceding- 

 year^ ; the total amount outstanding at the end of the year 

 was ;f 2 5 2, 1 3 5, 5 74, this indebtedness having steadily increased 

 during the past ten years. 



Irelafid. — Final Report of the Commission on Manual and 

 Practical Instruction iji Primary Schools under the Board 

 of Natio7ial Education y Ireland. [C — 8923.] Price y^d. 



In referring to agriculture as one of the various branches 

 of manual and practical instruction in primary schools, the 

 Commissioners observe that they do not think that agricul- 

 ture as an art is a subject that properly belongs to elementary 

 education. At present the study of the theory of agriculture 

 is compulsory for boys in all rural schools, but inquiry has 



