Local Education Authorities have been fluttered by a circular froM
the PreSident of the Board in regard to financial"changes. Lord Eustace Percy has come to the conclusion that grants should no longer be made in pro- portion to the expenditure whiCh local authorities levy on themselves and their neighbours. That was the system developed by Mr. Fisher. Instead, block grants will be made calCulated at present to entail practically no increase of rates. We see here a hint of what we have called a " rationing " system to be applied by the Treasury to the Departments, and an analogous treatment of local authorities by Departments. Lord Eustace is as enthusiastic as anyone in the cause of education all round, but we sec in his utterances a tendency to con- centrate ;more on higher education. If economies are made they will probably be at the bottom. There is much to be said for-looking after babies in school for part of the day, but that is not the " education " for which teachers are expensively trained. It is good for children's health and training in orderly. and cleanly habits, but it is the " education ".that ideally a mother ought to give. -There is to be a reduction otthe.grants for children under five, to be met perhaps by half-time attendance. - If one result of. the changes will be that local authorities will have more freedom, they are -to the good. The proposalsH-for such they are, not " decisions " as they were at first called—have, however, excited much criticism,-,and opportunities will have to be given for .their amendment. .
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