§ Of course, one cannot accomplish very much with £861,000. The first thing that confronts me is the difficulty of the authorities who have the responsibility and Charge of technical instruction. They undoubtedly have been placed in very considerable difficulty by the diminution in the consumption of whisky, which has injuriously affected their revenue to the extent of £328,000 comparing 1908 with the present year. Of course, there are two factors which should be taken into account on the other side. The first thing is that they received the benefit of the forestalments of 1908, and therefore their revenue was artificially raised. Secondly, even had we not put up the increased duty, there would have been a continuous diminution in the consumption of whisky, and, therefore, the revenue would have been going down, although at a smaller rate. The loss of duty, therefore, to them would not have been £328,000, but not quite £225,000. However, this is a very unsatisfactory position. It is unsatisfactory that the efficiency of education in this country should depend upon the quantity of alcoholic liquors consumed. The same thing applies to policing in Scotland and to other funds which are expended in Ireland out of these Grants. Therefore I think the time has arrived for putting these things on a firmer and more permanent basis. I promised last year that part of the Land Value Duties should be allocated for this purpose. Complaint 1138 was made that that would be inadequate, as half the Land Value Duties only amounted to £245,000, whereas the loss of revenue exceeded £300,000. Another complaint was that it was not quite certain when the land revenue would come in or whether it would reach the total of £245,000 in the first year. Consequently a strong desire was expressed by the local authorities, first of all that whatever offer was made should be a firm offer, and that we should take the risks of the land revenue; and, not only that, but that the amount contributed should be an amount which corresponded with the loss sustained by the local authorities. We have, decided to put this contribution on a permanent basis—on the 1908 basis—which will add £328,000 to the amount in the ordinary course given to the local authorities in England, Scotland and Ireland for technical instruction, policing, and for various other purposes. The proposal that the Land Value Duties should be impounded for that purpose means a loss to revenue in this year of £102,000, and that brings the surplus down to £759,000.