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consult with the sewing mistress as to the best plan of work, and to visit the school occasionally for the purpose of overlooking it. It is not enough to permit the children to do any sewing or knitting which the parents may choose to send. Some cotton or linen should be provided, to be used whenever a child fails to bring suitable material from home; and it should be remembered that the proper office of the school is to teach, and not to perform for parents the work required for home use, except in so far as that work may be helpful for the purpose of instruction. On this point many mistakes are often made; and much valuable time is consequently wasted. There are some remarks on pp. 337-39 of the Council Report for 1868, which direct attention to an evil often found to exist in the mixed schools of the Yorkshire district, and to the precautions which should be taken against it.

MANAGEMENT.-The whole of the present system of administering the Parliamentary grant pre-supposes the existence in each school of a bona fide committee, to represent the voluntary subscribers, to control the expenditure, to engage and dismiss all the teachers, and generally to manage the affairs of the school. This committee should hold periodical meetings, at which reports of progress should be received from the master or mistress; the log-book, and the school registers should be inspected; and the purchase of all needful school material should be sanctioned. A treasurer should be appointed to receive all the school fees and other moneys, to pay the teacher and his assistants, and to keep the accounts. In some schools it has been proposed to farm the school to the teacher, and to let him receive all the income, and make all the payments. But when this is done the management of the school by a committee is only nominal, and the conditions on which State aid is offered for educational purposes are not fulfilled. Public grants are not intended to be made to private adventure or self-supporting schools, but to public institutions, controlled and partly sustained by responsible committees, who undertake to co-operate with the Government in the work of education, and to see that certain funds are properly applied for this purpose. There are returns of attendance required in each year, which cannot be duly made unless three of the managers at least are prepared to examine the school registers with some care, and to verify the figures extracted from them. Three managers also should be appointed to sign the receipt for the annual grant.

The grant is expressly voted by Parliament "to promote the education of children belonging to the classes who support themselves by manual labour." If other children are admitted into the school, they should be classed and examined with the rest, but the occupation of their parents should be specified in the Examination Schedule. A special reason should be assigned in writing, in every case in which the parent, though not strictly one of the labouring class, is "of the same means and social level;” and in which, therefore, the managers believe that, according to the spirit of Art. 4, they are justified in claiming a grant.

It is evident that duties of this kind cannot be adequately discharged by the teacher alone; and the inspector is instructed, at each of his visits, to ascertain that the various accounts, registers, and returns have been duly kept and verified, under the direction of the Managing Committee.

ST. LEONARDS BRITISH AND INFANT SCHOOLS.

F.

THESE Schools were formally opened on November 23, 1868. The want which they are intended to supply has long been felt, and the committee may be congratulated on the success which has attended their commendable undertaking.

The inaugural proceedings commenced with a public breakfast, at which the mayor and corporation, F. North and T. Brassey, Esqs., the borough members, and other influential residents were present. The chair was taken by Thomas Spalding, Esq., and after breakfast he began the proceedings with an appropriate speech. He remarked that while they had to regret the absence of their esteemed friends, Samuel Morley, Esq.,

M.P., and Charles Reed, Esq., M.P., they had to congratulate themselves on the presence of the mayor and several other members of the corporation, and he felt much gratification in having their countenance and support. He was happy to say that the house in which they were assembled was literally a house founded on a rock, and he hoped that was indicative of their future work. When they did the right thing in the right way, they might feel sure they were on a good foundation. They had undertaken the work with faith in God's providence, and faith also in the inhabitants of the borough, who, he believed, would support the work generously. He earnestly hoped the school would be conducted on the most catholic principle imaginable. The chairman then dwelt on the importance of a right training for the young, and pointed out how much their happiness in after life depended on it; and, in conclusion, he reminded his hearers that if they laboured with faith and hope they might expect a Divine blessing to rest on their exertions.

The Mayor, W. Scrivens, Esq., said that it was his wish and his duty, during his year of office, to give his support to every good work within the borough, and possibly no better work would occur than the opening of the St. Leonards' British Schools. He was delighted to see the establishment of schools in which there was an absence of anything like sectarianism; schools which were open to children of every denomination, but in which the great truths of Christianity were taught.

Mr. North, M.P., said that it was with sincere pleasure that he assisted in the admirable work they had initiated. He was quite sure that the establishment of these schools would tend very much to benefit the population. Without sufficient education they could not expect a diminution of crime, and he was sure that, looking at the matter in that point of view, it was very desirable that the people should be educated. To one particular point in these schools he must declare his strong adherence, and that was an entire absence of religious differences. Religion ought to be grounded on the broad principles of Christianity, and, to whatever sect they belonged, they ought to join together in one great effort to educate the humbler classes. Considerable improvement also was needed in the schools for the higher orders, and he hoped now to see an enlarged view with regard to education, and much higher results.

Mr. Brassey, M.P., expressed the great interest he felt in the building, not only as a resident in the community, but also on account of the extremely gratifying personal compliment which they had been pleased to pay him at the time the foundation stone was laid. There were two great difficulties which he presumed they would have to encounter in promoting the work of education. The first was that which must always exist in the case of those with whom there was a struggle for the provision of the bare necessaries of life. In such cases, which, unhappily, were far too numerous, the temptation to draw the child from school just at the time when the mind was opening, and was ready to accept education in the highest sense, was too often yielded to, and thus children were withdrawn at a time when the teacher was deriving the greatest pleasure, and enjoying the greatest amount of hope in the progress of the pupil. There was another difficulty, which, in the present constitution of our educational arrangements, as under the patronage of Government, was also very great, and it was this, that it was just in those districts which were the poorest,

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and in which the masses were unenlightened, that there was the smallest development and expansion of the means of education. How the difficulty was to be overcome he was not prepared to say. He did not think they were quite prepared to make attendance at school compulsory, but Government might, to a certain extent, and under certain conditions, provide the means of education for those neglected places, so that, although it should not be compulsory for children to attend, yet they should have the opportunity, should parents think fit, to avail themselves of the means provided. For such communities as their own he had no fear. There were, he was happy to say, many among them who appreciated the responsibility of their position, and who were at all times ready to forward every good work.

Mr. Bourne, who attended as a deputation from the British and Foreign School Society, spoke of the influence which such an institution was likely to exercise throughout the town, and congratulated the committee that it was built on the rock on which the British and Foreign School Society stood. The one great principle of that Society was that all the children should be educated in the Scriptures; they gave them all possible instruction in secular subjects, but they gave them the Scriptures. They felt bound to differ from the supporters of secular education on the one hand, and the supporters of denominational education on the other. They differed from those who were in favour of secular education only on the ground that in proportion as they sharpened the instrument they made it powerful to act either rightly or wrongly. As they sharpened the wits of children, they made them clever in all those things which would bring them, unfortunately, before his worship the mayor and those associated with him, or they gave them an amount of power which they could exert for the good of the community. They desired that the children should not only have their wits sharpened and powers increased, but that they should have a right direction given to their wits by having implanted in their minds the firm and unalterable principles of the Word of God. On the other hand, they were anxious to enter something of a protest against denominational teaching. As the children grew up there would be plenty of agencies at work to direct them into certain channels. If the effort was made from early years, and they had denominational teaching, they were likely to mix it up with the truth itself, and to be so guided as to move in a denominational direction. He believed that every man ought to have a place in connection with some religious denomination, but he thought it was very important that the denominational bias should not be given to children. The Society maintained that education should be religious and scriptural, but without any particular denominational bias.

Several other gentlemen addressed the meeting, and expressed their sympathy with the institution.

CORRESPONDENCE.

* The British and Foreign School Society, while inviting correspondence and anxious to make the Record a medium of communication between teachers, and a vehicle by which they may make their thoughts known, is in no way responsible for the sentiments expressed.

SIR,-Permit me to say a few words on a letter that appeared in your last, signed by "A Certificated Master." Like the writer of that letter, I am glad that sundry improvements are being made in the Society's paper; and like him, too, believe that a good educational magazine at a reasonable price will be heartily welcomed by most of us. But there are

other opinions and statements of his with which I do not agree.

For instance, he complains that "we have not, as a class, had that influence which we ought" on matters of a "politico-educational kind." We have not, it is true, been at the head of educational movements; nor does the simple possession of a certificate warrant our being placed in the front rank of educationalists; yet, at the same time, our influence has been anything but unfelt. For wherever a teacher has shown himself to be well up in school details and their bearings on society, neither “schoolmanagers nor men of property "have been slow to avail themselves of his opinions, and, in a great measure, to be guided by them. Let a teacher make the character of his school, rather than his own political influence, his chief solicitude, and he may rest assured that influence, with all its coveted blessings, will come in good time, and all the more solid and substantial because unsought. Public opinion, in the long run, is tolerably just, notwithstanding its shortcomings.

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"The path of duty is the way to glory;
He that walks it, only thirsting

For the right, and learns to deaden
Love of self, before his journey closes,
He shall find the stubborn thistle bursting
Into glossy purples, which out-redden
All voluptuous garden-roses."

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He also states that we have been charged with systematic dishonesty, and are thought unworthy to have any personal communication with Mr. Lingen and his subordinates." This dishonesty in our ranks, instead of being a matter for repudiation, is rather one for deep regret; for, say what we will, we cannot hide the fact that most flagrant cases of dishonesty, as well as of double-dealing, are being constantly detected in members of our profession. Let any one read the Blue Books, or speak with those who visit our schools, and he will soon learn that, while there are many teachers of whose characters we may justly be proud, there is still a large number of black sheep," who are no better than they should be." And it is toler

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ably certain that until these are weeded out, and a very sensible improvement in the matter of sterling integrity takes place, our influence as a class will go for very little with either the Committee of Council or the public. With regard to our corresponding with "Mr. Lingen and his subordinates," it may be a matter of opinion, but still I think that were any one who chose to do so allowed to correspond with the office, "Mr. Lingen and his subordinates" would find their hands more full than they are at present. If "A Certificated Master" likes statistics, let him calculate the results of

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