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The regulations under which the council has attempted to secure its objects by means of grants have been changed from time to time as the work of the polytechnics has developed, but they provide that the council's aid should be partly in the form of a. fixed grant to each institution, partly a share of the salaries of the principal and the permanent teachers, partly a grant on attendance, the scale depending on the subject and character of the instruction, and partly a subsidy (15%) on voluntary contributions. In addition to the annual grants for maintenance, substantial grants for building and equipment are made from time to time.

With a view to a due division of labour, and also to the co-operation of the public bodies concerned, the “London Polytechnic Council” was created in 1894. It was composed of

representatives of the Central Governing Body, the technical education board of the London County Council, and the City and Guilds of London Institute, and its duty was to consult

as to the appropriation of funds, the organization of teaching, the holding of needful examinations, and the supervision of the work generally. After ten years of work the London polytechnic council was dissolved in the summer of 1904 in consequence of the abolition of the technical education board of the London County Council, when the council became responsible for all grades of education. A statement below shows the number and names of the several institutions, and the extent to which they have been severally aided by the Central Governing Body and the London County Council.

The “People's Palace” owes its origin in part to the popularity of a novel by Sir Walter Besant, entitled All Sorts and

Conditions of Men, in which the writer pointed out the sore need of the inhabitants of East London for social improvement and healthy recreation, and set forth an imaginary picture of a “Palace of Delight,” wherein this need might be partly satisfied. Much public interest was awakened, large subscriptions were given, and the Central Governing Body aided the project; but the munificence of the drapers' company in setting aside £7000 a year for its permanent maintenance released the London County Council from any obligation to make a grant. Apart from the social and recreative side of this popular institution, the educational section, under the name of the East London Technical College, steadily increased in numbers and influence under the fostering care of the drapers' company and has now been recognized as a “school” of the university of London under the title of “The East London College” and is being utilized by the London County Council in the same way as other “schools of the university.”

In the above table the grants are given to the nearest pound. Up to July 1907 the total expenditure of the council upon the polytechnics, apart from the day schools, training colleges, &c., conducted in them, was about £525,000, almost exactly the same as that of the Central Governing Body. The voluntary grants from the central governing body include a contribution towards a compassionate fund, and a pension fund based on endowment assurances for all permanent officers of the polytechnics in receipt of salaries of not less than £100 a year.

The grants received from the board of education amount to about £30,000 a year, while the fees of students and members produce about £45,000. Voluntary subscriptions, including those from city companies and other sources of income, produce about £30,000 in addition, so that out of a total expenditure of about £200,000 a year the council now contributes 30%, the Central Governing Body 18%, fees 22½%, the board of education 15% and city companies and other subscribers 15%.