110 Teclinical Education in AgricuUure. 
the ratepayers' money, to submit to tlie Board the wliole of its 
scheme in connection with education, and show all the facilities 
it possesses for giving agricultural instruction. 
The Act^ of 1890, which places the various sums of money 
at the disposal of the County Councils, says that the Council 
of any County or County Borough may contribute such sum or 
any part of such sum " for the purposes of technical education 
within the meaning of the Technical Instruction Act, 1889, and 
may make that contribution over and above any sum that may 
be raised by rate under that Act." It does not say " must ; " it 
says "may" — but it is believed that County Councils which 
disburse the money in this direction will have established a 
sufficiently good claim to its becoming an annual grant in aid 
of technical instruction. The Technical Instruction Act, 1889 
[52 and 53 Vict. ch. 76J, contains the subjoined clause : — 
The expression " technical instruction " shall mean instruction in the 
principles of science and art applicable to industries, and in the application 
of special branches of science and art to specific industries or employments. 
It shall not include teaching the practice of any trade or industry or employ- 
ment, but, save as aforesaid, shall include instruction in the branches of 
science and art, with respect to which grants are for the time being made by 
the Department of Science and Art, and any other form of instruction (in- 
cluding modern languages and commercial and agricultural subjects) which 
may for the time being be sanctioned by that Department by a minute laid 
before Parliament, and made on the representation of a local authority, that 
such a form of instruction is required by the circumstances of its district. 
These two clauses, taken together, afford a tolerably clear 
indication as to what the Government desires with regard to 
these sums of money. More than this, however, the Chancellor 
of the Exchequer (Mr. Goschen), in reply to a question by the 
Marquis of Hartington in the House of Commons, on Decembei'4, 
1890, said : " If County Councils set themselves heartily to 
work to utilise the grants for important educational purposes, it 
will probably be difficult for any Minister to persuade Parliament 
to divert them." And Lord Hartington, who presided at a 
Conference convened by the National Association for the Pro- 
motion of Technical and Secondary Education, on December 5 
last, said : — 
Perhaps I may be allowed to supplement the answer of the Chancellor of 
the Exchequer by a consideration which 1 think of an itu])ortant character. 
It is desirable to remember tlie source from which these grants come. They 
proceed from .an additional tax placed upon spirits and boer. It is quite 
possible that a stale of things might arise under which these articles would 
not bear the additional duty, and it would then become a question wliether 
the grant should not bo made up from some other source arising from the 
' Local Taxation (Customs and Excise) Act, 1890. [53 and 54 Vict. ch.60.] 
