(b) A variable grant of 28., 48., or 68. per capita of average attendance, according to the inspector's report of the general condition of the school.

(c) A grant for needlework of 18. per capita, estimated upon the aver age attendance of girls only, unless the boys share in the instruction. (d) If the boys, instead of needlework, are satisfactorily taught drawing, a grant of 1s. may be made, based upon their average attendance. (e) A grant for singing of 18. or 6d. per capita of average attendance. 2. Schools for older scholars.-(a) Principal grant of 12s. 6d., or 148. per capita of average attendance according to the inspector's report as to the accuracy and general intelligence of the scholars in the elementary subjects.

(b) A grant for discipline and organization of 1s. or 1s. 6d. per capita of average attendance.

(c) A grant for needlework of 18. per capita of the average attendance of girls.

(d) A graut for singing of 18. or 6d. per capita of average attendance. (e) A grant on examination in class subjects of 18. or of 28. per capita of average attendance, for each subject taken.

(f) A grant on the inspector's report of the examination of individual scholars in specific subjects amounting to 4s. for each scholar passing in any subject.

(9) A grant for cookery amounting to 4s. for each girl passing the examination under specified conditions.

(h) A grant of 28. on account of each girl passing the examination in laundry-work under specified conditions.

3. Special grants to day schools.-(a) Grants for pupil-teachers: A grant of £1, £2, or £3 for each pupil-teacher required to make up the minimum staff, who passes the inspector's examination. Grant of £1 or £5 for each pupil-teacher who, during the last year of the engage ment, successfully passes the examination for admission to a training college.

(b) Grants for assistant teachers: A grant of £10 or £15 for each assistant teacher who, under specified conditions, passes successfully the examination for a certificate.

(c) Grants for rural schools in sparsely-settled regions of £10 or £15, according to population.

4. Evening schools.—(a) A fixed grant of 48. or 68. per capita.

(b) A grant on the examination of individual scholars in any class or specific subjects of 28. for each scholar passing in any one subject.

(c) A grant of 28. for each girl presented in Standard IV, or any higher standard, who has received instruction in cookery.

The total annual grant, exclusive of any special grant to rural schools, may not exceed the greater of the two following sums:

(a) A sum equal to 17s. 6d for each unit of average attendance.

(b) The total income of the school from all sources whatever other than the grant.

Reduction of grant.-The annual grant, exclusive of the fixed grants may be reduced at the rate of not more than 108. per annum for every unit of annual average attendance above the number for which the school staff is sufficient.

Grant summary.-Omitting special grants for teachers and to rural. schools, this arrangement allows to infant schools a fixed minimum. grant of 98. and a possible maximum grant of 178. per capita of average attendance; to schools for older scholars, a fixed minimum grant of 13s. 6d., and a possible maximum grant of 178. per capita of aver age attendance, omitting grants for cookery and laundry work, and of 48. for each pass in a specific subject.

The average grant claimed by schools for older scholars for 1889-90 amounted to 18s. 44d. per capita of average attendance.

TRAINING COLLEGES.

Provision for the training of teachers antedates the education act by nearly fifty years, having been one of the special objects of the societies that were devoted to the work of educating the people. Training colleges, as they were called, received government aid in 1843; the act of 1870 merely extended their resources and defined more exactly the conditions entitling them to Government support.

The training colleges for teachers recognized by the department are of two classes, residential and day.

Residential training colleges are boarding schools, but they may receive day students. A practice school is a required adjunct.

These schools are voluntary, and, with a single exception, belong to some religious denomination or to some one of the religious societies. devoted to educational work.

The housing, equipment, staffing, etc., are left entirely to the managers, but there must always be a resident physician,

The following are the specific provisions as to the establishment of training colleges and the conditions of admission to them set forth in the code for 1890:

A day training college must be attached to some university or college of university rank.

The authorities of a day training college must be a local committee who will be held responsible for the discipline and moral supervision of the students, and for their regular attendance at professional or other lectures.

No grant is made to a training college unless the department are satisfied with the premises, management, staff, curriculum, and general arrangements, and recognize it as a training college.

The recognized students in a training college are called Queen's scholars.

The authorities of a training college may propose to the department for admission as Queen's scholar

(a) Any candidate who has obtained a place in the first or second class at the Queen's scholarship examination;

(b) Without examination, any person who has passed the first year's examination for a certificate and who wishes to enter the college for a year's training in the course prescribed for students of the second year.

Before candidates are admitted

(a) The medical officer of the college must certify that the state of their health is satisfactory and that they are free from serious bodily defect or deformity; and

(b) They must sign a declaration that they intend bona fide to adopt and follow the profession of teacher in a public elementary school or training college or in the army or navy or (within Great Britain) in poor law schools, certified industrial or day industrial schools, or certified reformatories.

In other respects the authorities of each college settle their own terms of admission. The period of training is ordinarily two years. An additional year's training may, in any case, be allowed on the application of the authorities of the college and with the consent of the department.

Students who are Queen's scholars and are qualified to attend the examinations for certificates, are required to attend both that in first year's and that in second year's papers, unless prevented by illness or other cause approved by the department.

Course of study in training colleges.-The course of study in training colleges has hitherto been determined by the subjects included in the syllabus of the Government examinations for teachers' certificates. These subjects are reading, recitation, penmanship, school management, English grammar, composition and rhetoric, geography, English history, arithmetic, algebra and mensuration, geometry, political economy for men, domestic economy and sewing for women, vocal music, and drawing. Candidates may also be examined in one or two of the following languages: Latin, Greek, French, German; and in branches of science prescribed in the syllabus of the science and art department.

One of the most important features of the syllabus is that pertaining to the study of English literature. It requires some masterpiece to be studied throughout the term and that not less than 300 lines shall be committed to memory. The examination syllabus for men differs somewhat from that for women. The mathematics for the former include algebra and geometry in addition to arithmetic, which is the limit for women. Men may be examined in two languages, women in but one. History is less extended in the syllabus for men, and the political economy required for men is much more elementary than the domestic economy assigned to women.

The existing status of the curriculum here described has just been modified as a consequence of the establishment of day training colleges attached to university colleges. The managers of day colleges are free to draw up a curriculum of their own, provided that it is sanctioned by the department and includes some three or four obligatory subjects. If their students pass examinations for degrees, these will be excepted in lieu of the certificate examinations, the department merely requiring that the worked papers shall be submitted to it. This arrangement seemed to discriminate unjustly between the students of the day and those of the residential colleges, since it permitted the former to be examined on questions drawn up by their own instructors, while those for the latter were set by the department. The authorities of the residen

tial colleges were naturally dissatisfied and their representations have brought about a change.

Under the new provisions, students in training colleges who pass any university examination approved by the department will be excused from farther examination in the same subjects or portions of subjects. So far, then, as the provisions go, students of the training colleges may be certificated chiefly on the results of university examinations. There are some difficulties in the way of making this privilege practically available, but it is a very important departure in respect to the training of teachers, opening before them not only a wider range of knowledge, but promising the stimulus of broader and freer views of those subjects.

In addition to the annual examination of persons intending to become teachers by the inspector of the education department, there is also an annual examination by officers of the science and art department, upon the results of which all Government payments for instruction in science are made.

Conduct of the training colleges.-The regimen of the training colleges is generally very strict, and life within them lacks the individual freedom which, under judicious leadership, promotes the development of character. There is also noticeable in these colleges the absence of certain stimulating influences that develop naturally among students, drawn from various social strata and looking forward to diverse

careers.

Among the conditions which tend to narrow the social life of the training colleges must be counted their denominational affiliations. Theoretically, they are nonsectarian, but as a matter of fact the students of a college are drawn in the main from the denomination it represents.

The establishment of day training colleges in touch with the universities is a measure of far-reaching moment promising, as we have indicated, higher and broader intellectual culture and greater freedom in life and thought.

Grant to training colleges.-There are placed to the credit of each college grants of £100 for every master and £70 for every mistress, who, having been trained as a Queen's scholar during two years, completes the prescribed period of probation and receives a certificate as a teacher in a public elementary school, or in a training college, or is reported by the proper department in each case to have completed a like period of good service as an elementary teacher in the army or navy, or (within Great Britain) in poor law schools, certified industrial or day industrial schools, or certified reformatories.

A grant of £20 is made for every master and every mistress who attends as a day Queen's scholar and fulfills the remaining conditions here specified. Teachers who have been trained for one year only may ob tain certificates after probation, or may be reported by the proper de

partment, upon the same terms as others; and grants of half the amounts mentioned above may be placed to the credit of the colleges in which they were trained under special conditions.

The annual grant to each residential college is paid out of the sums standing to its credit at the beginning of the year.

The annual grant to a residential college must not exceed (a) 75 per cent. of the expenditure of the college for the year, approved by the department and certified in such manner as the department may require; (b) £50 for each male, and £35 for each female Queen's scholar in residence, and £10 for each day Queen's scholar enrolled, for continuous training throughout the year for which it is being paid.

In day training colleges a grant will be made annually through the local committee of £25 to each male, and of £20 to each female Queen's scholar, and a grant of £10 to the committee in respect of each Queen's scholar enrolled for continuous training throughout the year.

Financial view of residential training colleges.-The original cost of the buildings belonging to the residential training colleges is $1,987,350. Of this amount 30 per cent. was granted by the Government. The total expenditure for these colleges in 1889 was $850,179, of which the Government furnished 69 per cent., the fees of students 13.44 per cent.; the balance was derived from property and subscriptions. The average annual cost per student in the colleges for men is £59 178, or $300. Of this 37 per cent. is applied to instruction, 49 per cent. to board, and the balance to permanent establishment charges. The average annual cost per student in the colleges for women is £48 10s, or $240.50, the distribution being 51 per cent. for instruction, 37 per cent. for board, and the balance for permanent establishment charges.

Attendance and staff.-The residential colleges are 43 in number, i. e., 17 for men, 25 for women, and 1 for both men and women. Thirty-six of these schools were established before the passage of the education act. They have accommodation for 3,353 students, and in February, 1890, had an attendance of 3,294, of whom all but 9 were Queen's scholars.

The teachers' force comprised 362 persons.

RECAPITULATION OF PRINCIPAL POINTS.

The principal characteristics of the system of elementary education here briefly outlined are seen to be: The union of public and private agencies in the control and maintenance of schools; a limited obligatory curriculum, rigidly enforced and tested; a comparatively wide range of optional subjects; government aid and supervision, exercised exclusively in respect to secular instruction, whether given in board or voluntary schools; denominational schools strengthened by their relation to the government; teachers dependent upon local authorities for appointment and salary, but their qualifications prescribed, and their work tested by government; the employment of pupil-teachers, and the peculiar mode of distributing the government grant generally known as "payment upon results."