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A Report on Workmen's Co-operative Societies, made by the Labour Department of the Board of Trade, shows that the total capital of these bodies at the end of 1899 was £22,282,473, of which £18,925,270 was share capital, £2,516,691 loans and deposits, and £840,512 reserve and insurance funds. The average rate of dividend has for several years past been about 2s. 8d. per £1 share. The Report describes in great detail the various kinds of societies, wholesale, retail and manufacturing, and is an exhaustive official handbook on the entire subject of co-operation throughout Great Britain. The following is from Mr. H. Llwellyn Smith's memorandum on the Report:

There are, as will be seen, several distinct classes of industrial co-operative societies, organised for the purposes of distribution or production, which are described in detail, while certain other forms of association of a more or less

co-operative character e.g., building societies, co-operative credit societies, &c. - receive some notice in a later section of the Report.

The progress made by co-operation in the United Kingdom in recent years has been continuous and remarkable. Between 1874 and 1899 the recorded membership of all classes of co-operative societies increased from 403,010 to 1,681,342, the percentage which co-operators formed of the population of the United Kingdom rising from 12 to 4.1. The increase of the value of the total yearly transactions of these societies has been still more rapid than that of their membership, the aggregate business for 1874 being valued at about 15 millions sterling, while that for 1899 amounted to over 68 millions, exclusive of the banking transactions of the English Wholesale Society.

The majority of co-operative societies (1,446 out of 1,858) are associations established primarily for retail distribution, and these embrace more than ninetenths of the total membership, and account for two-thirds of the total transactions of co-operative societies as stated above. The value, however, of the commodities produced by co-operative societies of various classes is very considerable, amounting in 1899 to nearly 11 millions sterling, of which rather more than a third is produced by the workshops attached to societies for retail distribution,

a third by the "wholesale" societies, by which the retail stores are largely supplied, and the remainder by independent societies established expressly for production, including under the last heading the corn-milling societies, the output of which was valued in 1899 at over a million sterling. It is interesting to note the progress made by co-operative associations established primarily for production since 1882, the first year for which figures are given in the Tables appended to the present Report. Excluding corn mills,

returns for 1882 are available for 16 such societies, with sales amounting to £137,848, while in 1899 the number of societies was 259, with sales valued at £2,191,785. Over four-fifths of this production is accounted for by the following trades in order of importance :-Dairying, baking, textile, boots and shoes, and printing. Most societies of this class allot a share of profits to their employés.

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CROFTERS' COMMISSION [Cd. 554].

The Report of the Crofters' Commissio for the year 1900 describes the nature of the work done under the Acts and summarises the results as follows:

As to our proceedings since the commencement of the Act, we may remark that the number of Crofting Parishes remains the same as at the corresponding date last year. There are 163 Civil

Parishes in the seven Counties mentioned in the Act. Of these, we have determined that 151 are Crofting Parishes in the sense of Section 34; while as regards the remaining twelve the information hitherto brought under our notice has not been sufficient to enable us to determine whether they come within the scope of the Act or not. With reference to our labours in the Crofting Parishes, it may be added that we have received 20,120 applications to fix fair rents, 3,239 applications for enlargement of holdings, 328 miscellaneous cases, and 1,190 appeals. We have disposed of 19,958 fair rent applications, 3,037 enlargement applications, 307 miscellaneous cases, and 1,189 appeals under the Delegation of Powers Act, or in all, 24,491. The number of inspections made before disposal of these various cases was 18,270. We have dealt with 92 applications to sist proceedings for removal in respect of non-payment of rent, 706 applications to prohibit the sale of effects on the holding also in respect of non-payment of rent, and 207 applications under the Crofters' Common Grazings Regulation Act. The extent of

land dealt with in Fair Rent Applications was 195,840 acres in individual occupancy, and 1,284,998 acres in common occupancy. We have assigned 46,035 acres in enlargement of crofters' holdings. The old rents with which we dealt in Fair Rent Applications and applications for re-valuation of holdings amounted to £82,185, and we fixed the Fair Rents at £60,665, or an annual reduction of £21,520. The arrears with which we dealt amounted to £184,345. Of these we cancelled £123,929, and ordered the balance of £60,415 to be paid.

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On the motion of Lord Avebury a Select Committee of the House of Lords was appointed (1901) to inquire into the length of the hours of labour in shops, and whether any, and if so what, steps should be taken to diminish them. The Committee reported that in many places shops were open from eighty to ninety hours per week-involving labour injurious to health, particularly to that of women. The Committee say :

The evils of late closing press with especial severity on the owners of small shops, and although it is undoubtedly more difficult to ascertain the views of the very small shopkeepers than of those who are more fully organised we were assured by the large majority of witnesses conversant with the facts that the small tradesmen were as anxious as, or even more anxious than, the richer shopkeepers for some legislation which would enable them to shorten hours. No Act which merely regulated the hours of labour of shop assistants would benefit or satisfy them. This evidence is amply supported by the petitions we have received during the sittings of the Committee.

They conclude with the following recommendation:

The evidence has convinced us that earlier closing would be an immense boon to the shopkeeping community, to shopkeepers and shop assistants alike, that the present hours are grievously injurious to health, especially in the case of women, and under these circumstances we recommend that town councils should be authorised to pass Provisional Orders, making such regulations in respect to the closing of shops as may seem to them to be necessary for the areas under their jurisdiction; and these Provisional Orders should be submitted to Parliament in the usual manner before acquiring the force of law. Special enactments for restraining the outlay involved, and providing for its discharge, may be necessary.

EDUCATION.

Report of the Board 1900-1901 [Cd. 756]. The Report reviews the proceedings of the Board of Education up to June, 1901. It shows that there were 20,100 day schools in England and Wales under inspection, with accommodation for 6,509,611 scholars. There were 5,686,114 on the registers, and 4,666,130 in average attendance-or 82 06 per cent. With our present population

there should be 6,418,381 on the registers.

The Annual Grants paid to public elementary day schools in the year ending the 31st August, 1900, amounted to £4,911,269 and the Fee Grants paid in the same period to £2,317,464. These figures show an increase of £76,214 in Annual Grant, and of £14,891 in Fee Grant over the corresponding figures for the previous year.

The Annual Government Grant (exclusive of fee and aid grants) per day scholar in actual average attendance was £1 1s. Od., as compared with £1 0s. 10d. in the previous year. This is an increase of 24d. per scholar.

In Board Schools the grant earned by each scholar in average attendance was £1 1s. 51d., showing an increase for the year of itd., and in Voluntary Schools the grant was £1 Os. 83d., showing an increase of 34d.

Dealing with Free Education, the Report says:

There are now in England and Wales 17,349 free public elementary day schools, and 5,036,793 free scholars. There remain only 91 schools (the same number as in the previous year) which refuse the feegrant. The number of schools which, while receiving the fee-grant, continue to charge such fees as the law allows, has fallen from 2,725, to 2,660. The number of fee-paying scholars in all classes of public elementary day schools has declined from 670,282 in 1899 to 649,321 in 1900.

Coming to Cost of Maintenance and Voluntary Contributions there is the following passage:—

The cost of "maintenance" has again risen both in Board and in Voluntary Schools. For the year 1900 it was in Board Schools £2 17s. 74d. per child in average attendance, an increase of 28. 0}d. for the year; and in Voluntary Schools £2 6s. 4d., an increase of 1s. 31d. The increase in the previous year had been 1s. 9 d. in Board Schools, and 2s. 8d. in Voluntary Schools. In London the cost per child in average attendance in Board Schools has risen from £3 15s. 9 d. to £3 17s. 1 d., an increase of 1s. 44d. as compared with 2s. 91d. in the preceding year.

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The total of the contributions from rates for "maintenance in Board Schools has risen in the year from £2,581,533 to £2,809,666, an increase of £228,133. This total is equivalent to a payment per child of £1 5s. 6d., showing an increase of 1s. 83d. for the year.

The Voluntary contributions have increased in the year from £772,489 to £801,202, or by £28,713. This represents a payment per child in average attendance in Voluntary Schools of 6s. 43d., an increase of 2d. for the year.

The Voluntary Schools Act has continued to produce satisfactory results, and the work of the Associations formed under the Act has done much to promote the growth of a wider interest in the schools, as a part of the general educational system. The expenditure of Voluntary Schools upon books and apparatus though £43,000 less than in 1899, is still nearly £130,000 in excess of 1897; on the other hand the Miscellaneous expenditure shows an increase of £41,000 over 1899. The very large sums which have thus been applied to the improvement of the school equipment of Voluntary Schools cannot fail to produce a corresponding advance in the quality of the education, and in our opinion the expenditure constitutes a most satisfactory feature in the distribution of the Aid Grant.

The maintenance of Voluntary Subscriptions has received our continued attention. Our expectation expressed in last year's Report has been realised and the Voluntary Contributions (in day Voluntary Schools) increased to £800,602 in 1900 as against £771,964 in the previous year. We look with confidence to a further improvement in the current year, and are glad to record that in many Associations the amount of the Voluntary contributions is actually higher than it was before the passing of the Act.

As to Evening Continuation Schools they numbered 5,263, with 509,251 scholars319,741 men and boys and 189,510 girls and

women.

The number of scholars in average attendance was 206,335, as compared with 201,855 in 1899, which shows an increase of 4,480, or 2.2 per cent.

The number of scholars who paid no fees for their instruction was 252,701, or 49.6 per cent. of the total number, as compared with 237,272, or 500 per cent. of the corresponding total in 1899.

Of the total number of scholars on the registers 160,681, or 31.5 per cent., were under 15 years of age, and 348,570, or 68.5 per cent. over 15. Those over 16 numbered 263,460, or 51.4 per cent.; those over 18, 140,398, or 29.6 per cent., and those over 21, 79,325, or 15.6 per cent. In the preceding year the percentage of scholars over 16 was 49-7, and of those over 21, 11.4.

The elementary subjects reading, writing, and arithmetic-are more taught than any other subject in the evening schools. In 1900, 107,461 scholars qualified for grant in arithmetic, 63,933 in writing and composition, 58,635 in reading and writing combined, and 29,468 in reading and recitation. This shows how many of the scholars still come to night schools in order to rub up or improve their knowledge of the elementary subjects. Of the other subjects for which grants are paid in these schools, needlework is the most popular. Last year 71,883 girls and women received instruction in this subject. Next came shorthand, which was taken up by 53,351 scholars. Next, vocal music which was studied by 38,454 scholars. Next geography, which was taken up by 35,640. Bookkeeping, commercial arithmetic, mensuration, commercial geography, and domestic economy follow in the order named. This indicates the practical turn which is being given to the studies of the evening schools. French, ambulance work, history, "the science of common things," commercial correspondence, English, algebra, home nursing, chemistry," the life and duties of the citizen," human physiology, elementary physiography, elementary physics and chemistry, magnetism and electricity, hygiene, commercial history, agriculture, Euclid, horticulture, German and mechanics come next in popularity, and in the order given. A comparatively small number of scholars took up Welsh, domestic science, sound, light and heat, botany, Latin or navigation. The number of scholars taking from two to four subjects has slightly increased, but fewer have taken five subjects, which is the maximum number recognised for a grant, than in the previous year.

The total grants paid by the Board of Education to Evening Continuation Schools was £199,451 3s. 4d. in 1900, as compared with £184,271 11s. 3d. in 1899. This is at the rate of 19s. 4d. per scholar in average attendance, as compared with 18s. 3d. in 1899.

Law of School Attendance.-The Report comments on the changes introduced by the Elementary Education Act, 1900, as to sohool attendance:

The Act enabled school authorities to extend their bye-laws so as to include children up to the age of 14, raised the penalties that could be inflicted on parents from 5s. to 20s., and increased the number of attendances required for exemption by the Elementary Education Act, 1876, from 250 to 350. The law of school attendance under the Elementary Education Acts, as it now stands, may be summarised as follows: :

(1.) If the bye-laws contain a special provision to this effect children may be

employed in agriculture at the age of 11, provided that they attend school 250 times a year up to the age of 13.

(2.) With this exception no child, subject to the bye-laws, can obtain either partial or total exemption under the age of 12.

(3.) A child between 12 and 13, or (if the bye-laws are extended) between 12 and 14, can only obtain total or partial exemption on the conditions prescribed by the bye-laws.

(4.) In districts where the bye-laws are still restricted to children of 13 years of age, a child between 13 and 14 can obtain total exemption either on passing the Fourth Standard, or on making 350 previous attendances after five years of age in not more than two schools during each year for five years.

(5.) A child between 12 and 14 may claim partial exemption on making 300 previous attendances, but in the view of the Board this exemption can only be claimed in cases where the bye-laws themselves contain a provision for partial exemption.

Since the passing of the Act school authorities have been actively engaged in revising their existing bye-laws, and some 1,300 new sets of bye-laws have been either finally or provisionally approved by the Board. In all these cases the Board has secured the adoption of at least the Fifth Standard for total exemption, and with a very few exceptions of at least the Fourth Standard for partial exemption. The Local Authorities have, as a rule, availed themselves of the power to extend the age limit to 14, only some 150 having up to the present time declined to do so.

The Report shows that the Expenditure of the Board of Education for the financial year 1900-1901 was £9,504,429, made up as follows:

Cost of administration, £133,680; cost of inspection and examination of schools, £251,564; annual grants to elementary day schools, £5,000,618; fee grants to elementary day schools, £2,330,228; annual grants to evening continuation schools, £195,313; annual grants to schools for blind and deaf children, £20,581; grants to school boards (in relief of local taxation), £219,944; aid grants to voluntary elementary schools, £624,223; annual grants to training colleges, £213,623; annual grants to science and art schools and classes,£303,095; pensions to teachers, £49,299; organization of districts, etc. (under E. E. Act, 1870), £656; Royal College of Science, £21,419; Royal College of Art, £10.480; Victoria and Albert Museum, and Circulation, £59,430; Geological Museum, £3,691; Edinburgh Museum of Science and Art, £12,527; Geological Survey, £17,106; works and furniture, £31,978; grants in aid to Solar Physics Committee, £1,000; grants in aid

of purchases for local museums, £1,000; grants in aid of Technical Instruction, Ireland, £3,044-total, £9,504,429.

Employment

of School Children. [Cd. 849.]-An Inter-Departmental Committee of the Home Office was appointed in January, 1901, to inquire into a report upon the employment of school children. The Committee was composed of Mr. H. H. S. Cunynghame, Mr. C. E. Troup, Mr. H. M. Lindsell, Mr. H. E. B. Harrison, and Mr. H. Llewellyn Smith. Their Report shows that in England and Wales a substantial number of children, amounting probably to 50,000, are being worked more than 20 hours a week, in addition to 27 hours at school; that a considerable proportion of this number are being worked to 30 or 40, and some even to 50 hours a week, and that the effect of this work is in many cases detrimental to their health, their morals, and their education, besides being often so unremitting as to deprive them of all reasonable opportunity for recreation. The Committee say:

Our main recommendation is that the overworking of children in those occupations which are still unregulated by law should be prevented by giving to the County and Borough Councils a power to make labour bye-laws; but that these bye-laws, whether applying to all occupations or to particular occupations, should lay down general conditions and general restrictions, and should not distinguish between one child and another, nor between the children of the well-to-do workman and those of the poor or degraded. In the special case of street trading, we think that a system of licensing the individual children may be established; but even in that case the granting of the licence should be regulated by general rules. Further, we suggest that the gaps that may be left by local bye-laws should be filled up by a general prohibition of night labour by children and of labour manifestly injurious to health. So much we recommend in the way of restrictive legislation to deal with the evil of overwork.

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But there are two other points of a more general character, but closely connected with our inquiry, to which we wish to direct attention. One is the absence in the large towns of adequate means of physical recreation for children In Industrial and Reformatory Schools there are generally ample means of physical training and recreation, and often well-organised games. In this respect children of the criminal class or semi-criminal class often fare better than do the children of the honest and respectable workmen in large towns.

The other great want is a widespread system of practical training in manual work. We know that excellent work has been done by many School Boards in establishing Manual Training Centres, but wish that it were possible to provide some such training, perhaps in a simplified form, not merely for a limited number of boys, but for the great mass who are to be the workmen of the next generation. Quite as pressing, according to the evidence which we received, is the need in country districts of giving a more practical direction to the school education. This question has recently received the attention of the Board of Education. It is full of difficulties, and it is not one which we could properly discuss in detail without a new and wide inquiry beyond the range of that on which we have been

engaged. We think it right, however, to refer to it, because the evidence before us pointed to the existence of a widespread belief that the present education in rural schools has often been of a character which tends to make the children indisposed for agricultural pursuits, and to encourage the influx to the towns.

Scotland [Cd. 585]. The Report of the Committee of the Privy Council on Education in Scotland for 1900-1901 shows that there were 756,558 scholars on the registers and that the average number in attendance was 629,039, a percentage of 83-14. Parliamentary Grants to day schools had increased from £677,964 to £698,607.

FINANCIAL STATEMENT (1901-1902).

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The following is a copy of Statement of Revenue and Expenditure as laid before the House by the Chancellor of the Exchequer when opening the Budget."—[C. 128.] TABLE I.-Showing how the Amount issued from the Exchequer to meet the EXPENDITURE in 1900-1901 compares with the ESTIMATED EXPENDITURE, (1) exclusive, and (2) inclusive of War Charges.

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