moters of new schools. He has also visited four places for the purpose of originating and maturing school movements. The movements for the establishment of new schools are very numerous and important. There are about twenty schools in course of erection, and several of them are on a large scale. Education is one of the principal movements in the district; and the want of schools is so strongly felt, that even places that had been for years manifesting culpable indifference are now in a state of activity. The main difficulty is paucity of teachers, and it is to be hoped that the New Minute will do much to remove this drawback. New schools have been opened at Aberystwith, Llangloffan, Llangwyryfon, Reynoldston, Swansea, and Thornton.

CONWIL.-The annual examination and tea meeting of this well-conducted and efficient school was held in the Calvinistic Methodist Chapel. The children were examined in reading, spelling, slate and mental arithmetic, English grammar, geography, and the Scriptures. As on former occasions, there was a large audience, and the children acquitted themselves to the satisfaction of all present. In the evening Mr. Williams, who had attended to conduct the examination, delivered a lecture on education to a crowded audience. The chair was occupied by the Rev. Arthur Evans. Votes of thanks brought to a close the proceedings of a pleasant. day. This school is worthy of a better room, and it is confidently hoped that a suitable one will be erected in the course of this year.

CAERMARTHEN.-The first public examination of these large and flourishing schools was held in the boys' schoolroom, which had been very tastefully decorated for the occasion. The children were examined by Mr. Williams and Mr. Penna in reading, spelling, mental arithmetic, geography, English grammar, and the Scriptures, and acquitted themselves admirably. The rapidity and accuracy with which many really difficult questions were answered called forth several bursts of applause from a large and respectable audience, who seemed highly delighted with the proceedings of the evening. Several school songs were given with much taste. The examination being over, several gentlemen addressed the audience. The boys' school, under Mr. Penna's very able superintendence, is fast increasing, both in numbers and efficiency.

BETHLEHEM. The public examination of this school took place on Tuesday, the 12th day of February, in the presence of several of the parents and supporters. The children conducted themselves with great propriety, and acquitted themselves remarkably well. Their reading, writing from dictation, and arithmetic were very creditable, and gave full satisfaction. The examination was conducted by Mr. Williams, the Society's agent, assisted by the Rev. D. Jones and W. R. Davies. The condition of the school is very creditable to the teacher.

TESTIMONIAL TO MR. ROBERT SAUNDERS.*

A LARGE meeting of British School teachers was held December 7th, 1866, in the schoolroom of Bloomsbury Chapel, in order to offer to Mr. * Unintentionally omitted from the January number of the Educational Record.

Saunders, of the Borough Road, some expression of their estimation of his character and labours. The resignation by Mr. Saunders of his office of Secretary to the "British Teachers' Association" was selected as a suitable occasion for the presentation of a testimonial, which consisted of a silver tea service, costing £70.

Mr. Thomas Ryder, who occupied the chair, referred to the fact that he was the oldest teacher present. His recollections went back thirty-five years, when he and Mr. Saunders were fellow-students, when there was no Normal College, but only a Central School, whither they went for three months, and were in that time taught "the System." Mr. Ryder summed up his estimate of Mr. Saunders's character in the motto above his head, viz., “THE TEACHER'S FRIEND."

Mr. T. Turner, the secretary of the Testimonial Committee, then read the text of an elaborately written and framed address, presenting at the same time, in the name of those teachers who were present, and of many others who could not meet with them, a silver tea service, which he hoped would long and often be used by Mr. Saunders and his wife.

Mr. Saunders, in acknowledgment, referred with much feeling to his early history, giving a brief sketch of his career as a scholar, master, and examiner of schools. In his first school, at Plymouth, he remained nine years. When he went there were gathered about 50 boys in the large school, nearly as large as the great school in the Borough Road. During three previous years there had been seven masters, and three of them had been challenged to single combat by some of the boys. He had no occasion to fight with the big boys; and at the close of his mastership he left 300 boys in the school, and his more successful successor had raised the number to 800. After some further details of his course since his settlement at the Borough Road, Mr. Saunders thanked the teachers for their ready confidence in him, and assured them that he should always treasure the tokens of their affection which they had given him that night.

Messrs. Edmead, Langton, Roberts, Sheppard, and several other teachers, gave expression in strong terms to the valuable service Mr. Saunders had rendered to the cause of education, and to the great regard they entertained for him personally.

The following is a copy of the address presented:

"To Robert Saunders, Esq., from the British Teachers of England and Wales.

66

Dear Sir,-It is with the greatest pleasure that we see you amongst us to-day, and that we have thus the opportunity afforded us of testifying. our high appreciation of your long-continued and most valuable services. in the great and important work of Christian education.

During the many years in which you have been engaged at the Normal College of the British and Foreign School Society, the influence which you have exerted on the students in training there has left upon them the most lively and abiding impression. Ample evidence has appeared, in the letters received from teachers in connection with this meeting, of the care which you have taken of the moral and religious character of those committed to your charge, of the sound scriptural teaching which it has been your greatest pleasure to give, and of the earnest and catholic character of the devotional exercises to which all have had free access and a ready welcome.

"Your intercourse with us has been marked by kind, cheerful, and cordial sympathy. Always ready to advise and help, you have gained the love and deep respect of those who have had the good fortune to come under your care.

"As an inspector of schools, you have at all times exhibited the same hearty sympathy with the peculiar difficulties of teachers, and the same earnest desire to aid in improving the moral tone and intellectual advancement of the schools under your inspection.

"As a token of our appreciation of your many admirable qualities, and of gratitude for the benefits which we have received at your hands, we beg your acceptance of a silver tea service. May you be spared for many years to enjoy the blessings which we trust will surround you, and at last hear the glad welcome, 'Well done, good and faithful servant: enter thou into the joy of thy Lord!'

"December 7, 1866."

THE PROPOSED NEW EDUCATIONAL MINUTE.

IT has for some time been understood that the heads of the Educational Department contemplated some modification of existing plans for aiding elementary schools, having especial reference to the further assistance of small schools, and to the great diminution of pupil-teachers. So seriously has the latter point been felt in the supply of students to the Training Colleges, that without intervention in some form the whole system would shortly have become imperilled. With an increased demand for certificated teachers the supply has gradually but surely been diminishing, in some colleges to the vanishing point.

Mr. Corry, the new Vice-President of the Committee of Council on Education, laid upon the table of the House of Commons, on February 28th, the proposed New Minute. By the regulations of the Department and of the House of Commons it has to lie on the table of the House for one month before it can be regarded as accepted. We are unwilling to defer, even in the absence of the printed Minute, some explanation of its provisions, so far as at present understood, through the medium of the statements made upon the occasion referred to. The Vice-President, in offering some introductory and explanatory remarks upon the nature, the objects, and the reasons which had induced the Government to submit the proposed Minute to the approval of Parliament, is reported to have said that

"He was anxious in the first place that the House should understand that the Minute contained nothing at variance with the principles of the Revised Code. On the contrary, its object was, in the strictest conformity with the spirit of that Code, to render it more perfect; for it could be no reproach, either to the Code or its authors, that after the lapse of some years experience should have suggested some amendments in a measure at once so original in its conception and so comprehensive in its results. The Minute which he had laid upon the table would not cancel a single article of the Revised Code, but would be entirely supplementary to it. When it became his duty to direct his special attention to the operation of our present system of education, it appeared to him that it was defective in three material respects. In the first place, in instances far too

numerous, the smaller schools continued unable to fulfil the conditions which would entitle them to share in the public grants. In the second place, there was a tendency to limit the education given in the schools to the three elementary subjects of reading, writing, and arithmetic, and even with regard to these subjects the results were not altogether satisfactory. In the third place, there was such a diminution in the number of pupilteachers as not only unduly impaired the teaching power in the schools, but also limited the supply of candidates for certificates, the certificate being the very foundation upon which the whole superstructure was raised. If these defects were inherent in the system, the House would admit that the subject was worthy of consideration. With respect to the first defect, namely, the exclusion of schools, he would say that that, at all events, was a matter deserving of the attention of Parliament. In the speech of his right hon. friend, the member for Calne, when explaining the Revised Code in 1862, after having enumerated 964 parishes, in fiv counties only, having a population of less than 600, which derived no assistance from the State, he said, 'These districts contribute to the revenue equally with others, and it is exceedingly desirable, on the ground both of justice and policy, that they should receive back some share of the money.' In that remark he entirely concurred. They were all aware, not only that these small schools did not participate in the public grants, but also that the proportionate expense that must be incurred to maintain them was greater than for the larger schools. The Commissioners recognized that fact in the most distinct manner, because in their report of 1861 they said,

"The expense of a small school efficiently conducted is far greater in proportion than the expense of a large one, and it has always been considered a fault of the present (1861) system that it does not touch the districts which most require it.'

"With the view of meeting this they recommended a higher capitation grant to schools of less than sixty children. Now one of the objects of the Minute was to give these smaller schools some aid. The second defect was that too much attention had been paid to the elementary branches of education in the schools, to the exclusion of the higher, such as history, geography, grammar. Mr. Barry, one of her Majesty's Inspectors, speaking on this subject, said,

"In what are called the higher subjects of instruction (geography, grammar, and history) there has been a decided falling off since the introduction of the New Code.'

"Mr. Meyrick said,

"Geography, grammar, and history, all of them very efficient instruments for opening the mind, have disappeared as objects of study, or, when they exist, are scarcely the ghosts of their old selves.'

"And Mr. Wilkinson said,

666

Last year I reported the grammar, geography, and history as being in abeyance in many of the rural schools in my district; these subjects, if not quite set aside, still continue to be materially curtailed in favour of the paying part of the school system.'

"The House was aware that no payment was made except on the three R's.' He was aware that the first thing was to give the poor man's child a good foundation in reading, writing, and arithmetic, and if

the results in that respect had been satisfactory, he should not have felt it necessary to call attention to the absence of instruction in the higher subjects. But the results with respect to reading, writing, and arithmetic were not satisfactory. He found that in the assisted and inspected schools in England and Wales the scholars in average attendance up to the 31st of August, 1866, were 863,244. The per-centage of infants under six years of age was 25.97 per cent.; above six, but not presented for examination, 8.44 per cent.; presented for examination, 65 59 per cent. ; of these presented in the three lowest standards, 1, 2, 3, 49.79 per cent.; presented in the three higher, 4, 5, 6, 15.80 per cent., or less than a quarter. This was not an accident of ages, for if all above six were grouped by age, the per-centage would be 38.88 in 4, 5, 6, only 35·15 in 1, 2, 3. The pyramid narrowed rapidly towards the top. Of 15-80 per cent.-the three higher-8.58 were in 4, if grouped by age, 11.51; 4·96 in 5, 10.02; and only 2-26 in 6, 17.35. Of the 863,240 there were— under six years of age, 224,230; above six years of age, 639,190; presented for examination, 566,371; passed without failing examination, 364,126. The number who passed in the three lower standards was 284,027, and of those who passed in the three higher standards, 80,099. Of the latter only 40,154 passed in standard 4, 26,884 in standard 5, and no more than 13,161 in standard 6.

"The third object of the Minute was to improve the quality of the education, and perhaps the most important was the maintenance of an adequate supply of pupil-teachers. He was aware that the old system encouraged the employment of too large a number, the State paying the whole of the salary; but he thought the Revised Code went too far in the other direction, for it required no pupil-teacher unless there were 90 children, though it was plainly impossible for a single person to give efficient instruction to anything like that number of scholars. The comparative numbers of pupil-teachers in England and Wales were very important; and he excluded Scotland, on account of its schools being still under the Old Code. The number was 13,393 in 1861, 12,803 in 1862, 11,590 in 1863, 9,907 in 1864, 9,556 in 1865, and 8,970 in 1866; so that the pupil-teachers, who in 1861 numbered 13,393, were now reduced to 8,970, being a diminution in six years of 4,423. Even this did not represent the whole state of the case, because concurrently with that diminution there had been considerable increase in the number of schools and scholars. In 1861 there were 8,494 schools in England and Wales, while in 1866 there were 9,844; and the average attendance of children at day schools, which was 753,444 in 1861, was 863,420 in 1866, showing an increase of 1,350 schools and 109,976 scholars. The ratio, therefore, of pupil-teachers to scholars, which in 1861 was 1 to 56, had become 1 to 96. It was true there had been an increase of 660 in assistant teachers, but this was a very small set-off against a diminution of 4,423 pupil-teachers. This falling off had been noticed with regret by the great majority of the inspectors. Mr. Campbell remarked upon the 'demolition of the pupil-teacher system' in his district. Mr. Arnold said 'the loss had been especially felt in the schools whose attendance averaged from 40 to 90;' and Mr. Moncrieff stated that male pupil-teachers seemed to be rapidly disappearing from all except a very few of the larger schools.' Mr. Robinson said,