Mr. Fraser, himself a country clergyman, complains that in part at least it is caused by the negligence of absentee proprietors. With regard to residents he says:

The school is a picturesque feature on the outskirts of the park; it is an expected feature—one which visitors will like to see and will be sure to ask after- in the village adjacent to the hall; and there, of course, it stands, tolerably cared for and duly admired. But rare indeed are the instances of landowners who, wherever they have property, seem to feel it a first duty to do something for the social and moral elevation of the people.

For our part we should not have ventured on such a criticism as this, which attributes to English absentee landed proprietors a flagrant neglect of duty, and even ascribes the support of a school near the proprietor's residence to an inferior, if not wrong, motive. We still venture to think that the genuine charitable motive is not so rare amongst English landed proprietors as Mr. Fraser seems to suppose; if it be, there is more unsoundness than we have fancied in the hearts of English country gentlemen.

There can be no doubt that the building and maintenance of a school in a sparsely-populated country parish must cost more per child than in a town; this is the necessity of the case, apart from any system, and must be so under every system; and does not this suggest the necessity of modifying the Government regulations according to the circumstances of each case? It is not merely in poor country parishes belonging to absentee proprietors where a difficulty is felt in meeting the regulations of Government; but in very many instances, even in large and populous parishes, the poor Catholics resident there find it impossible to meet the rigid and inelastic Government requirements; and consequently, the Government aid is too often refused where it is most needed. If the requirements of a freehold site, of a school building upon a certain expensive plan, of a certificated teacher, of a boarded floor, &c., had not been so rigidly insisted upon, might not schools have been established and kept in existence in many country parishes and many poor Catholic districts which have hitherto been deprived of Government aid because they were unable to comply with the Government requirements? Has not the difficulty been thus in many instances created by Government itself? We have even heard it insinuated that this has, through some agency or other in the Government office, been done purposely, in order to pave the way for a secular national system. We do not believe such a thing; but the obstructive results of some of the Government regulations may have naturally tended to give rise to such a suspicion. If Government had somewhat accommodated its rules to the local and personal circumstances of each case, might not much more good have been done? It may be said, that if this

disposition to relax rules had been shown at first, local and personal efforts would have been relaxed also, instead of being stimulated, and what has in some places, with extreme efforts, been done, would have been left undone. But has not the time arrived when Government may conclude that all that can be got has been got out of the willing horse; that voluntary efforts have been stimulated as far as they can be stimulated by Government rules; that in many poor parishes, and amongst many poor persons, it is simply impossible to comply with all the present Government requirements; and that therefore, in such cases and with such persons, the local and personal circumstances may be duly considered, and Government requirements and Government aid be accommodated to actual necessity, so as much more to assist in the establishment and maintenance of small, and possibly, in a material sense, inferior schools, and yet often as good as may at once be practicable? Now that so many schools have been founded in the more populous parts of the country and by more wealthy people, there is less danger from Government condescending to bend to the necessities of the poor. Some remarks of Mr. Matthew Arnold on the country schools of France suggest a pattern for imitation. He says:

In the country districts the school buildings will not bear comparison, for completeness and architectural decoration, with those in the country districts in England. Buildings are very commonly adapted to school purposes instead of being expressly erected for them; but these schoolrooms are quite good enough to be exceedingly useful, and by condescending to use them, an education system can carry its schools and teachers into poor and remote communes which must else have remained strangers to them. I am bound to say that great good sense seemed to me to characterize French administration, both in its requirements and in its forbearance when dealing with schools to take the much-disputed article of boarded floors, for instance, recommended generally in all schools, these have never been inflexibly required but for infant schools. Perhaps we may one day take a lesson from France in some of these respects. Not without doing violence to some crotchets, not without lopping off some elegant but superfluous branches of expenditure, will the plaything of philanthropists be converted into the machine of a nation.

One essential question was how far the existing system approaches to a sufficient provision for the education of the poor of England. The answer given by the Commissioners was, on the whole, satisfactory.

They state (vol. i. p. 293) "the population of England and Wales in 1858 as 19,523,103, and the number of children then on the school-books as 2,535,462, whilst 2,655,767 ought to have been on the books; thus, as they say, "leaving 120,305 children without any school instruction whatever." This last remark, however, is not quite consistent with another statement which they

make at vol. i. p. 178, that "the name of almost every child is, at some time or other, on the books of some school at which it attends with more or less regularity"; and it is obvious that, as some who at any given time were in attendance may afterwards be absent, whilst others who were then absent afterwards attend, the probability is, not that the above 120,305 are without any school instruction whatever, but that a larger number do not attend with sufficient regularity to be properly instructed.

The Commissioners proceed:" The proportion, therefore, of scholars in weekly schools of all kinds to the entire population was 1 in 7.7, or 12.99 per cent. Looking, therefore, at mere numbers as indicating the state of popular education in England and Wales, the proportion of children receiving instruction to the whole population is, in our opinion, nearly as high as can be reasonably expected. In Prussia, where it is compulsory, it is 1 in 6-27, in England and Wales, 1 in 7-7, in Holland 1 in 8-11, in France 1 in 9.0."

They also advert to "the surprisingly rapid progress of elementary education in this country since the beginning of the century," and quote returns in 1818, 1833, and 1851, showing the proportion of day scholars to the whole population to have been at those respective periods 1 in 174, 1 in 114, and 1 in 8.36, "while in 1858, according to our returns, they have risen to 1 in 7-7."

"In

Mr. Pattison reports that," In the autumn of 1855, the writing test applied to the year's levy of the Prussian Landwehr gave the astounding result that only 12 per cent. of the recruits were able to write well. Such returns are now very generally made in the various States; and though I have not been able to procure them, I believe I shall be under the mark if I state the average of recruits unable to write as 50 per cent. on the whole" (vol. iv. p. 234).

There is, then, some reason to say "that the results of the system of compulsion, as seen in Prussia, do not appear to be so much superior to those which have already been attained amongst ourselves by voluntary efforts, as to make us desire an alteration which would be opposed to the feelings, and in some respects to the principles, of this country" (i. p. 300).

Whilst we write (1869) the proportion of scholars to population must be still greater, for the increase has steadily continued. We have not the means of stating in exactly corresponding terms the present proportion, but the number of schools under inspection, and of scholars inspected, has increased year by year, for the Committee of Privy Council, in their last Report, say that "in the last three years (1866-8), an addition at the rate of 52,104 per annum has been made to the average annual number of day scholars attending the schools in receipt of annual grants, and an addition of 83 971 per annum to the number of such scholars present in the

same schools on the day of inspection "; we find also from the excellent "Statistics of Church of England Schools for the Poor in England and Wales," just issued, that the number of scholars in national or parochial week-day schools has increased from 1 in 15·5 in 1857 to 1 in 13 of the whole population in 1867, and we may fairly assume, therefore, that the number of scholars now on the books of all week-day schools in England and Wales very nearly approaches the Prussian proportional figure. The average attendance, of course, is very much less than the number on the books; but we are not alone, nor even the worst, in this irregularity of attendance, for it appears that "in England and Wales the average number of days of attendance in the year of each child in denominational schools is 125 out of the 220 days of which the school year consists, whilst in the United States this average is 106 days."

As to future grants to schools, from public sources, the Commissioners propose :

1. A grant from the public revenue to all schools the building and general management of which are assisted by Her Majesty's Inspectors.

2. Another grant out of the county rate, on condition of the favourable report of an inspector, to be appointed by a proposed Local Board of Education, who is to examine the knowledge of the children.

The chief objection to this is that it does not meet the real evil already exposed by the Report, viz., that some proprietors, chiefly non-residents, wholly neglect to do anything towards the education of the children dependent on themselves. Now, the great object would be to compel these men to take their fair share. And this the proposed assistance from the county rate will not do, as they will only pay to it in the same proportion with their neighbours, who are already supporting schools. Would it not be possible to enable persons interested in education to demand that a school should be founded in districts where the neglect is gross, and that in such cases it should be supported by a local rate, not upon the inhabitants in general, but upon the owners of property in the immediate district?

When there is any considerable number of persons in any district who conscientiously object to the existing schools, it might perhaps be possible to adopt the plan which is found to work well in Canada. The Rev. James Fraser reports (p. 254):-" A Roman Catholic school may be established whenever any number of persons, not less than five, being heads of families and freeholders or householders, within any school section, incorporated village or town, or within any ward of any city or town, and being Roman Catholics, choose to convene a public meeting of persons desiring

to establish a separate school for Roman Catholics in such school section, or ward, for the election of trustees for the management of the same. A majority of the persons present, being freeholders or householders, and Roman Catholics, may elect three persons resident within such school section, or an adjoining section, as trustees; and any person of the age of twenty-one years, being a British subject, may be elected trustee, whether a freeholder or householder or not. Notice of such election of trustees, and of the establishment of such school is to be given to the township reeve or to the chairman of the board of common school trustees. The trustees of a separate school have the same duties and responsibilities as the trustees of a common school. They form a body corporate, and have power to impose, levy, and collect schoolrates or subscriptions upon and from persons sending children to, or subscribing towards, the support of such separate school; and for that purpose are entitled to have a copy of the assessment roll of the municipality. Every person who gives notice in writing to the clerk of his municipality that he is a Roman Catholic, and a supporter of a separate school in the said or a contiguous municipality, shall be exempt from all common school rates in the said municipality so long as he continues to be a supporter of such separate school; but no person shall be deemed auch a supporter unless he resides within three miles, in a direct line, of the site of the schoolhouse."

We have not space to examine in detail the proposed constitution of the local boards of education suggested by the Commissioners. This part of the plan does not seem to have been maturely considered, and would certainly not work, we believe would not be carried, without considerable modification.

One valuable part of the Commissioners' plan is to offer a premium upon any scholar, upon proof of a definite amount of knowledge, not requiring from the school any conditions beyond its being healthy and clean. The effect of this would be to assist many small schools, excluded from the grant by the present rules; and in many cases they would thus be enabled so far to improve their buildings, &c., as to obtain the higher grants. "Thus a school which should obtain £8 or £10 from this examination would receive both an aid and a stimulus, which would induce it to make greater exertions." The premium referred to is thus stated by the Commissioners:-"A sum, varying from 22s. 6d. to 21s. for every child who has attended the school during 140 days in the year preceding the day of examination, and who passes an examination in reading, writing, and arithmetic, and who, if a girl, also passes an examination in plain work." This examination the Commissioners propose to be by a country examiner, to be chosen by the local education board, and who must be "a certificated