More are carried into effect. The proportion of children unable to read easy narratives is decreasing from 39 64 per cent., in 1851, to 33 11 this year. The other numbers remain nearly unchanged. This statistical statement, however, gives but an imperfect view of the actual progress of the children. Some elements cannot be taken into account, or represented in numbers. The accuracy and facility of the reading, and the appearance of intelligence and interest in the children, are matters which call for especial notice in each school, but cannot enter into this general summary of results. over the per-centage is materially affected this year by the additional infant and mixed schools which have come under inspection; and some alterations in the forms of report filled up by the Inspectors render it difficult to appreciate the exact meaning and value of the returns. I always devote a considerable portion of the time allowed for the inspection of schools to the reading lessons; if possible, I hear all the children read; but, under all circumstances, I invariably hear a sufficient number in each division to enable me to judge whether the youngest receive a due share of attention and are taught upon an effective system, whether the middle division (being that which generally requires peculiar care) is making satisfactory progress, and whether the elder boys and girls read with fluency and intelligence. This practice, continued during many years, enables me to state confidently that children learn to read in our best schools within a reasonable time; if they attend regularly from the age of five or six years they acquire the rudiments in six or seven months, when they are able to read very easy narratives, and in two years they can generally read the New Testament, or books of general information if written in a tolerably simple style. But, while I claim a fair amount of success for the systems adopted in the best schools, I feel it but right to assert that the waste of time, owing partly to inefficient methods and partly to carelessness in the teachers, is excessive in a large proportion of the elementary schools under inspection. That any system can be devised which will materially affect the progress of children I do not believe; they learn to read fluently and correctly under zealous teachers at present; and they will continue to read inaccurately and unintelligently whenever the teacher neglects his duty. I have taken considerable pains to ascertain the rate of progress in various parts of Germany, where the phonic system is universally adopted, and I find that it corresponds very nearly with the general results in my own district. The mixed system practised in most of our training schools now produces satisfactory results, and the only means of extending the Penman ship. Arithmetic. benefits of that system will be the careful training of pupilteachers, and the increasing zeal and intelligence of the masters and mistresses. At present 43.32 per cent. of the boys and girls write on paper. Considering that very nearly the same proportion, viz. 43 34, are under eight years of age, it is evident that the managers of schools must be duly impressed with the importance of this attainment. I find that the total number of boys and girls writing on paper, in 1844, did not exceed 26 per cent. This is a considerable increase; but the improvement in quality is greater than the increase in quantity. Nearly all the elder boys and girls are now in the habit of writing abstracts of lessons in unlined books; and many of them produce the substance of what they have heard and read at school in the hours of recreation. Much work that was formerly done on slates in a careless and inaccurate manner is now written on paper, to the great benefit of the children. I have, however, had frequently occasion to call the attention of teachers to defects in the writing lessons. The children are often placed in awkward and constrained positions; their accommodation at the desks is often insufficient, owing to the want of a good system in the arrangement of lessons. Masters of considerable ability are apt to undervalue what they regard as a merely mechanical attainment; and there is certainly some danger lest the art of penmanship, upon which the success of many youths materially depends, should suffer from the introduction of new subjects of intellectual education, unless the school managers insist that a fair proportion of time, and constant pains, should be devoted to its cultivation. Arithmetic is now taught on a practical and intelligent system. The statistical results give a very inadequate view of the amount of instruction in the higher rules, and are scarcely to be depended upon as regards the lower. There are two tendencies to be guarded against by school teachers. On the one hand they are apt to give sums to be worked without previously taking care that the pupils understand the principles of the rule or the mode of its application, on the other hand they sometimes occupy all the time devoted to this subject in oral explanations and questions. The former was the more prevalent fault a few years since; it left the children apathetic and unintelligent, but not without a certain amount of mechanical dexterity in elementary rules, which are of great practical utility to persons in their station of life. The latter is the more usual defect at present; if not carefully watched and checked, it is to be feared that many boys who give the visitors of schools most satisfaction by their rapid and intel ligent answers, and appear to be conversant with abstruse principles, will leave school without having acquired the habit of careful and independent calculation, or the ability to make out accurate accounts. A just mixture of intelligent explanation and practical application ought to be insisted upon by school-managers, and in the course of this year's inspection I have kept this point steadily in view. I am glad to say that most girls in the upper divisions of good national schools can keep the accounts of a household or retail business, and that a large proportion of the boys can make accurate estimates of the quantity and expense of the different kinds of work in which they are likely to be engaged. The increased number of certificated teachers, the improve- General ment of pupil-teachers, and, in conjunction with these, the subjects. facility of procuring a large supply of good text books on all subjects have produced the most striking effects upon the intellectual development and general information of the boys and girls. This improvement cannot be estimated by the per-centage given in the tables. It is not merely that English history, geography, and grammar are universally taught to some extent, but the collective lessons given by well trained teachers, and the miscellaneous reading books which are abundantly supplied in most schools, bring the elements of natural history and questions of social, moral, and intellectual interest, in an attractive and intelligible form, to bear upon the minds of children. In order to judge of what is attempted and accomplished with various degrees of success in many good schools, it would suffice to pass a day in the model schools of St. Mark's Chelsea, of Highbury, Whitelands, or the Home and Colonial Institution. Objections which imply that religious instruction in its existing form impedes intellectual education proceed either from invincible prejudice or from ignorance of the actual condition of our schools. It is true that a large proportion of our population are uneducated, but this is owing to the small number of such schools as a liberal expenditure, judiciously applied, might establish in every district, without any material change in the organization or methods now successfully applied. In the course of last year I visited a considerable number of schools in those parts of Germany which have effected most for the education of the people; and I had also the advantage of conferring with inspectors from France, Germany, and Ireland, who visited several schools with me in the metropolitan district. I feel entitled to assert that boys at the same age in our best schools are more advanced in elementary subjects, read, write, and cipher better, and possess a larger amount of general information, than in either of those count Age of children. tries. The fact is that, while a large number of schools are deficient in every respect,-ill supplied with books and apparatus, in wretched order, and under incompetent teachers, -those which have derived the full benefit from the Minutes of 1846 are superior in these points to those which the children of the poor have access to in most lands. What is required is extension, not subversion; increased diligence in carrying out methods, rather than novel methods; increased facilities of purchasing books, procuring teachers, and defraying current expenses, rather than the introduction of new and untried systems. I trust, my Lords, that I may be justified in speaking strongly upon a subject which lies so near to my heart, to which my attention has been directed during many years, and with reference to which I have sought every opportunity of acquiring information, and comparing conclusions with experienced and competent inquirers. In estimating the average age of the children on the books, allowance must be made for 48 infant schools, containing about 5,000 children under 7 years of age. Last year 11.28 per cent. of the total number were above 12 years of age; this year the result is more satisfactory, viz., 13:43. This seems to indicate a check to that tendency which I have often mentioned and deplored. It does appear that the improving condition and rising reputation of our schools either induce parents to allow their children to remain longer, or attract children of rather a higher grade. In the schools where I have had opportunities of looking closely into these circumstances both causes have operated concurrently. That no advantages of education will act upon ignorant and prejudiced parents with sufficient power to induce them to forego the pecuniary earnings of their children has been proved by the universal experience both of agricultural and manufacturing districts; but as the parents improve, as their minds become open to higher influences, there is reason to hope that they will be able to take the future prospects of their children into calculation, and to make some sacrifices in order to give them the benefits of a more complete and practical course of instruction. The system of mixed schools, in which some children are admitted either gratuitously or at a low rate of payment, while a weekly fee, ranging from 4d. to 8d. is charged to others, is adopted in many schools both in London and in the country. The local managers speak strongly in its favour. The yeomen, and in some instances the shopkeepers, feel that the evil which they apprehend from an intercourse with the children of peasants is more than counterbalanced by the efficient and practical teaching which is thus brought on easy terms within their reach. The writings of the Dean of Hereford, and the example which he set in the King Somborne's school, have made a deep impression upon the country; on the one hand they have demonstrated the possibility of conducting such schools without injury to the poor or offence to the farmers; on the other they have effectively counteracted the tendency to a mere eleemosynary system of popular education. schools. It should be observed that the proportion of income derived Income of from school fees, voluntary contributions, and other sources is less satisfactory at first sight than might have been expected from the returns of last year; but this is owing to the increased number of schools conducted on a less efficient system, and not receiving annual grants, which have been inspected by myself and my colleagues. Next year it will be advisable to separate these schools into classes; and I shall be much mistaken if it does not then appear that the weekly fees, as well as the average age of the pupils, are much higher in those which derive the greatest benefit from payments to certificated masters and pupil-teachers. ture on The annual payment for the salaries of the 276 teachers Expendiamounts to 18,208., a large and liberal expenditure, which, teachers' not including the augmentation paid by your Lordships, gives salaries. an average of 65l. to 66l. It is evident from this, that, if the supply of well trained and highly certificated teachers were sufficient, they would not be precluded from obtaining situations in my district by the penuriousness of school managers. It would be a great advantage if an office were opened at which every schoolmaster wanting an appointment might deposit his address, with references and testimonials; this might be done by the National Society, but, as it would involve no interference, it might also be carried into effect upon a large and comprehensive system under the authority of your Lordships. stationery. The expenditure for books and stationery in schools is not Books and sufficient; it bears this year very nearly the same proportion to the total expenditure that it bore last year, viz., about one twelfth. The greatest benefit has been derived from the liberal grants made by your Lordships; but it would certainly extend the advantages of this assistance if the arrangements proposed by the Dean of Hereford were adopted, and the managers were able to purchase as many books as they require, at the reduced prices, without a special application for a pecuniary grant. It is also much to be regretted that a vast number of good educational books lately published are not yet added to the list. It appears reasonable to allow managers to select any books published by the educational institutions recognized by your Lordships. The difficulty of procuring just and satisfactory reports upon the vast number of works |