A general system of grants in aid of elementary schools was established in 1882.
Seclusion in a monastery seems first to have been used by the civil power in aid of the spiritual.
It should be mentioned that the act provided that the Treasury might advance a portion of the money required for a line in cases where the council of any county, borough or district had agreed to do the same, and might also make a special advance in aid of a light railway which was certified by the Board of Agriculture to be beneficial to agriculture in any cultivated district, or by the Board of Trade to furnish a means of communication between a fishing-harbour and a market in a district where it would not be constructed without special assistance from the s' ate.
This grant is in lieu of the grants formerly made out of the exchequer grant in aid of local rates, and amounted in1906-1907to £619,489.
A period elapsed before the government of Malta again became self-supporting, during which over £600,000 was contributed by the British exchequer in aid of revenue, and for the importation of food-stuffs.
