legal requirements as to staffing and equipments will gradually pass over to the control of the local authorities. To some extent this transfer has already taken place, as indicated by the fact that the 518 new public schools reported in 1903 comprised 28 schools that had been turned over to the councils by private managers. Of this number, 10 were Church of England schools and 3 Wesleyan. Since the report was rendered the tendency to such action has apparently increased.

In some districts the disturbance caused by the favor shown to parochial schools has interfered with school attendance, but the statistics show on the whole continued increase in the number of enrolled children. The total enrollment rose from 5,881,278 in 1901-2 to 5,975,127 in 1903. In 1890 the school enrollment was 16.3 per cent of the population; in 1902, 18 per cent (population census of 1901). The classification of the pupils by age periods (Table II, p. 806) shows that the increase in recent years (1900-1903) has been greatest in the group of children above 11 years of age, a result attributed to recent legislation restricting more rigidly the employment of children (law of 1899) a and to the provisions of the education law of 1900 empowering local authorities to extend the upper limit of compulsory school attendance from the thirteenth to the fourteenth year of age.

The development of the compulsory principle in English school legislation is an impressive evidence of its importance, since in no country are parental authority and right of parental control more carefully guarded. The education law of 1870 gave optional power to school boards to make by-laws requiring the attendance at school of children of "not less than five nor more than thirteen years" of age. By reference to the chronological epitome of school legislation (p. 820) it will be seen that this permissive provision has been so extended by succeeding laws that local authorities are now required to make bylaws enforcing school attendance (laws of 1876 and 1880); the age for partial or total exemption from school attendance under local by-laws has been raised as to its lower limit from 11 to 12 years (law of 1899), the candidate for exemption being required to pass an examination in a grade not lower than the fourth (fixed by law of 1893); and local authorities are authorized to extend the upper limit of compulsory school attendance from the thirteenth to the fourteenth year of age (law of 1900). It is interesting to compare the gradual development of this policy in England with the early adoption of compulsion in Scotland. The law of 1872 organizing the present system of education in the northern division of the Kingdom made education compulsory for all children between the ages of 5 and 13; in 1883 the upper age limit was raised to 14. As in England, exemption from school attendance, partial or total, is allowed at 12 years of age under

By a clerical error the date of this law is given as 1889 instead of 1899 on page 806, near the foot.

certain conditions, but in Scotland applicants for exemption must be able to pass examination in the studies of the fifth grade (law of 1878, see pp. 820-821).

The statistics with respect to the teaching force in English elementary schools show a steady increase in the proportion of adult teachers. They formed 90 per cent of the entire force in 1899-1900 and 95 per cent in 1902-3. The increase in the proportion of certificated teachers is also noticeable. In 1876 they comprised 39 per cent of the entire body of teachers. In 1899 the proportion had risen to 50.9 per cent and in 1902-3 to 53.2 per cent.

The adjustment of teachers' salaries is one of the most serious problems with which the local councils have to deal. In London and other great industrial cities there is an actual dearth of teachers, attributed in the main to the superior salary inducements offered by other careers; in the rural districts the meager salaries offered, combined with certain limitations growing out of the relation of teachers to private managers (the majority of the rural schools are parochial), make it difficult to secure well-qualified teachers. The average salaries increase steadily, as shown in Table VII (p. 809), but the average is affected by the increase in the number of higher positions in the chief cities and conceals wide divergencies from a fair living income.

The current expenditure for elementary schools so far as reported amounted for the year 1902-3 to £16,462,456 ($82,312,280). Of this amount £6,243,692 ($31,218,460) was derived from local taxes, applicable at that time to public (board) schools only; £876,360 ($4,381,800) was derived from subscriptions (parochial schools chiefly), and £9,339,404 ($46,697,020) from Government grants.

The Government grants for elementary schools have been modified and augmented from time to time since 1870 in ways that make it difficult to convey a clear idea of the actual increase in this source of income. From Table IX (p. 810) it appears that what is called the annual grant, because the amount is annually determined, has increased tenfold. From 1870 to 1896 the greater part of this grant was distributed to the schools at a certain rate per capita of the pupils passing the Government examinations, but since that date at a certain rate per capita of average attendance. Estimated on the basis of average attendance the per capita rate has more than doubled. In 1870 it was equivalent to 9s. 7d., in 1876 to 13s. 2.8d., in 1890 to 17s. 10.6d., in 1900 to 21s., and in 1902 to 22s. The total Government grant for public elementary education amounted in 1902-3 to £9,339,404 ($46,697,020). This includes several grants besides the so-called annual grant, of which the principal are the fee grant (for schools remitting fees, law of 1891) and the special grant in aid of "voluntary schools' (law of 1897). These two laws indicated the growing interest of the Government in measures for the promotion of a system of free schools sup

ported by public funds, which was one of the motives urged for the passage of the law of 1902.

The latest code or body of regulations for elementary public schools, passing into effect July 31, 1905, is cited as to its main provisions in Chapter XII. It marks a distinct advance over all previous regulations in respect to the treatment of the course of study, a matter in which the present secretary of the board of education, Mr. R. L. Morant, has shown deep personal interest. Formerly the subjects of instruction were comprised in two groups, one including obligatory subjects, the other subjects which might be taught under appropriate circumstances. The endeavor is now made to combine these subjects in one coherent whole, with directions as to maximum and minimum requirements. The introduction to the code sets forth a high but eminently practical ideal of the purpose which should control the work of elementary schools.

In addition to the provisions respecting the course of study the code prescribes the minimum requirements with respect to the number of teachers, and the conditions of the school buildings, premises, and equipment, that must be met for a school to share in the Government grant.

Table VI (p. 808), examined in connection with Article XII of the code (p. 814), shows that at present the schools as a whole have not reached the standard in respect to the proportion of pupils to each certificated or adult teacher required by the Government. The rate of grant and the basis of allotment are shown in articles 25-34 (pp. 816, 817).

Chaper VI of the code (pp. 817, 818) relates to "higher elementary" schools, which are now carefully distinguished from the ordinary elementary schools. The higher elementary schools have gradually developed through an extension of the elementary school curriculum, and in the large cities have come into competition with the secondary schools (endowed, proprietary, and private schools). The purpose of the present regulations is to provide, for pupils who can continue their studies up to 15 years of age, a four years' course of study, in which science shall predominate, and which shall be so correlated with the course of the elementary schools that pupils who have passed the fourth grade in the latter may be transferred to the higher grade school.

By reference to the brief conspectus of the system of public education in Scotland (pp. 820, 821) it will be seen that in this division of the Kingdom secondary schools were recognized by the law of 1872 and have been kept in pretty close relation with the elementary schools, thus avoiding the overlapping of schools and the friction between them which has disturbed England.

Chapter XII also includes a brief survey of the system of national education in Ireland, with an epitome of the results of recent investigations ordered by the Government with a view to devising plans for the better coordination and liberal support of the different classes of schools fostered and supervised by the Government (see pp. 825-827).

The physical condition of the poorer classes in England and Scotland has become a subject of great public interest in the last few years. Chapter XII presents a brief account of three special investigations ordered by the Government with a view to ascertaining the causes of physical deterioration and suggesting means of remedying this evil. The Royal Commission on Physical Training in Scotland, appointed in 1902, produced startling evidence of the low physical condition of school children in the classes, where food is scanty and the living conditions bad. The report of the commission led to the appointment of a special committee by the education department of Scotland to investigate the systems of physical training in use in schools and to draw up a model course of physical exercises suitable for children of school age. These efforts in Scotland were among the causes that led to the appointment in September, 1903, of a Government committee to inquire into the cause of "the alleged deterioration of certain classes of the population in England." The results of the three investigations referred to, as far as they relate to school life, are summarized in Chapter XII. Extensive citations are made from the report of the English committee relative to the existing agencies for supplying food to underfed children (see pp. 828-832).

Education in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.-Chapter I (pp. 1-23) presents a brief survey of education in the British provinces of Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Full expositions of the systems of public instruction in these divisions of the British Empire have been given in previous Reports (see references, p. 11). In the present Report emphasis is placed upon the particulars in which these systems differ from those of our own States.

In Canada the traditional regard for parochial schools is manifested by the special recognition accorded them in the chief Provinces, Quebec and Ontario. In Quebec the schools are distinctively sectarian— that is, either Protestant or Roman Catholic-and are organized in two systems separately administered, although under the general direction of a single chief, the superintendent of public instruction. In Ontario the claims of the religious minority are recognized by a provision of separate schools where desired. The privilege is, however, seldom claimed excepting by adherents of the Roman Catholic Church and not invariably by them; although this denomination comprises about 18 per cent of the population, the enrollment in the Roman Catholic separate schools is 9 per cent of the total school enrollment (in 1902 45,960 pupils in a total of 454,088). The

right to establish separate schools was also granted in 1875 by the Dominion Parliament to the Northwest Territories. Since the chapter here considered was in press the establishment of two new Provinces out of portions of the Northwest Territories has been under consideration by the government. Great agitation has been excited throughout Canada by the proposition to provide by constitutional enactment that separate schools for Roman Catholics shall be maintained in the two Provinces. The proposition has been vigorously opposed on the ground that all legislation on school matters by the act of 1867, under which the union was constituted, is left to the provincial legislatures. The reopening of this question revived the bitterness of feeling that was manifested over the similar proposal in 1875, when this section was organized as a Territory, but recent elections seem to indicate that the measure finally proposed by the premier, Sir Wilfred Laurier, is regarded with much favor. In the present form the proposition is that in separate schools, whether Catholic or Protestant, the clergy shall have no voice or part in matters pertaining to secular education from 9 o'clock in the morning until 3.30 in the afternoon, but may then be admitted for half an hour to give such religious instruction as shall be approved by the local elected trustees.

The free school policy has been adopted in all the Provinces excepting Quebec, where it is very generally advocated. In Ontario fees are charged in the high schools, but may be and often are remitted.

The support of the schools in all the Provinces, not excepting Quebec, where the income from fees is small, is derived from provincial grants, local (city and township) appropriations, and local school taxes. The mode of appropriating the legislative grant differs in the different Provinces, but in all there is apparent the purpose to make this grant a means of stimulating local effort in behalf of the schools (see pp. 2-3).

In view of the attention awakened throughout the United States. in the matter of teachers' salaries, the detailed statements respecting salaries paid in the several Provinces of Canada, which make up the larger part of the chapter, are of special interest (pp. 5-7).

The statistics of illiteracy for the entire Dominion (pp. 10, 11) show that whereas in 1891 in every group of 100 persons there were 17.5 illiterates over 5 years of age, in 1901 there were only 12.6 illiterates, or a decrease of 4.8 illiterates, over 5 years in every group of 100. The smallest proportion of illiterates over 5 years of age is in Ontario, viz, 7.8 in every group of 100 persons. This is a decrease since 1891 of 2.3 per each group.

Australia and New Zealand.-Under the act of 1900 constituting the Commonwealth of Australia the educational systems of the six

ED 1904 M- -III