The
saying is attributed to him that according to the Act of Parliament
Technical Education could be defined as any education above elementary
except Greek and Theology, and the Board under his chairmanship--he was
chairman for eight years--did much to bring secondary and university
education within the reach of the working people of London. From 1892
onwards there was always a group of Fabians on the London County
Council, working in close alliance with the "Labour Bench," the Trade
Unionists who then formed a group of the Progressive Party under the
leadership of John Burns. Under this silent but effective influence the
policy of the Progressives was largely identical with the immediate
municipal policy of the Society itself, and the members of the Society
took a keen and continuous interest in the triennial elections and the
work of the Council.
* * * * *
All this concern in local administration did not interfere with the
interest taken by the Society in parliamentary politics, and one
illustration of this may be mentioned. The Liberal Party has a
traditional feud with Landlordism, and at this period its favourite
panacea was Leasehold Enfranchisement, that is, the enactment of a law
empowering leaseholders of houses built on land let for ninety-nine
years, the common practice in London, to purchase the freehold at a
valuation.
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