Compulsory education is now the law of the land, but it must be administered with great tenderness. "The argument as to its being an infringement of British freedom melts into thin air":

One great characteristic of this new system which has been introduced among us is that of compulsion. You are aware that the legislation of 1870 has been supplemented by the legislation of 1876, and that, though it is not the case as yet, there is a complete system of compulsion extending throughout the whole country, yet a very near approach is now made to it, and the Legislature has thought it wise to say that every person who is entrusted by God with the precious gift of children should see that their children are properly instructed. It is very true that we must apply this principle of compulsion with great tenderness. While the argument as to this being an infringement of British freedom melts into thin air, there are thousands of families who have to make so severe a struggle for life, that the parent, perhaps some poor widow, is generally dependent on the industry of her child, and the temptation is strong to hurry the child to such laborious pursuits for maintenance as will interfere with the possibility of its receiving a good education. There is no doubt that great tenderness should be used in administering this system of compulsion in such cases, and every school board will act wisely which makes such arrangements as that a child may partly work at some trade and partly be receiving education.

His Grace trusted, in conclusion, that the result of this legislation would be to indoctrinate the whole country with the love of education :—

There is one other point to which I wish to advert. I have said elsewhere that I trusted that compulsion in the matter of education would only be necessary for a short time, because if education is what we believe it to be it will, in the course of a short time, so indoctrinate those who have been subject to its instruction as that they will require nothing more, when they themselves become fathers of families, than that their children should receive the same blessings which they have learned so highly to prize. I believe that there is a good hope of this nation of ours, with its vastly extended system of education, that in the course of a short time we may, under the blessing of Almighty God, see a remarkable change in the views of even the lowest class of the community on this subject of education. There are other countries which have enjoyed this blessing, in a more primitive state of society, for a long time, in which men, even in the lowest class of society, knowing the boon conferred upon themselves by a Christian education, desire the same blessing for their children; and I believe that if we persevere in a charitable and kindly spirit, making education a bond of union and not a subject of contention, we may, by God's blessing, in the course of a generation or two, if not in a single generation, so indoctrinate the whole country with the love of education that we shall see a great change and a great improvement in the character of the whole people of this land.

SCHOOL BOARDS FOR THE MONTH.

HE recent school board election at Bridgewater has resulted in the return of three Congregationalists, one Unitarian, and three Churchmen. The Leeds School Board consists of five Churchmen, two Roman Catholics, and eight unsectarian members. Mrs. Buckton, author of " Health in the House," was at the head of the poll. The following paragraph appears in the report of the proceedings of the Sheffield School Board for November 22nd:-

CORPORAL PUNISHMENT.

A communication was received from the Certificated Teachers' Association, enclosing the following resolution: "That this association sympathises with Mr. James Robinson, of Neepsend National School, under the circumstances in which his name

has recently been prominently before the public, and congratulates him on the honourable manner in which his character remains untouched by the unfounded accusation of undue severity in the Neepsend National School, published without the slightest warrant for the same, and this association desires to call the attention of the members of the school board to the seriousness of allowing any communications affecting the character of any teacher to appear in the newspapers, and relies upon their sense of justice not to allow anything of the kind to be repeated."

The Bishop of Carlisle has addressed a letter to the chairman of every school board in his diocese, suggesting that a scheme for the examination of board schools in religious knowledge should be agreed to. It was decided to defer the consideration of the letter until after the election of another board.

At Frith, owing to an outbreak of infection, the medical officer to the local board has recommended the following precautions to be taken in the schools:

With a view to the prevention of diseases which may assume the form of an epidemic, I would recommend that every master and mistress, in the case of absence of any child, should immediately find out the cause of absence, and if it be from disease, what the disease is. If the disease be either small-pox, typhus fever, scarlatina, measles, or diphtheria, any other children in the house to be kept from school. If chickenpox, typhoid fever, or whooping cough, the child affected to be kept from school. No child to be allowed to return after such affection without a certificate from a medical man or the sanction of the school managers. No child excluded from one school through these regulations shall be admitted to any other school; and each teacher shall notify the names of children so excluded to the board's attendance officer.

The election for the Nottingham School Board has resulted in the return of seven undenominational, and six denominational members.

The following singular extract appears in the report of the Walsall School Board for Nov. 22nd. It appears to be the view of the members, with the sanction of the vicar, that the Ten Commandments are not suitable for religious teaching in schools. Doubless in places like Walsall the Ten Commandments are broken more frequently than usual; but this should be the reason why they should be more carefully taught. A Baptist minister was in the chair when this extraordinary resolution was passed. The proposer was a Roman Catholic :

RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION.

A scheme of religious instruction in the board schools was presented by the Religious Knowledge Committee.

The Chairman and the Rev. Dr. McCarten considered that the Ten Commandments should be excluded from the scheme, there being in their opinion difficulties with regard to the explanation to children of the Fourth and Seventh Commandments, and the last-named speaker added that, bearing in mind the different views of his Church (the Roman Catholic) and those he would call non-Catholics with reference to the Commandments, he questioned whether the use of them in the scheme would not be trenching upon denominational ground.

The Rev. W. Allen was of opinion, from his experience of the teaching in Church schools, that the difficulties named would be found to be more imaginary than real; but he did not press for the adoption of the scheme as it stood, and eventually it was agreed to substitute for the Commandments the New Testament passage, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength, and thy neighbour as thyself."

With this alteration the scheme was approved.

At the first meeting of the new London School Board, on December 8th, Sir Charles Reed was elected chairman, and the Rev. John Rogers vice-chairman. Sir Charles Reed, in his speech of acknowledgment, said he regretted to observe a growing tendency on the part of the board to fall into two parties, and to regard two lines of action in a party spirit. He hoped they would have no more of it. A letter from Mr. Watherston, one of the unsuccessful denominational candidates for Westminster, was read, offering a scholarship of £30 a year for three years, which should be devoted to the Westminster division. He thought this would show that he had no wish to retard the great work of national education.

At the second meeting of the London Board, on December 18th, the usual committees were formed. The Rev. G. M. Murphy moved a resolution substituting "private," "British," or "Church" school for the term "voluntary schools," which he considered misleading. The resolution encountered great opposition, and was eventually withdrawn.

At the first meeting of the Birmingham School Board Mr. G. Dixon (late M.P. for Birmingham) was appointed chairman. A vote of condolence was moved to Mrs. Dawson on the death of Mr. G. Dawson. Mr. Chamberlain, M.P. (the late chairman), offered the sum of £500 to found a scholarship in the board schools.

At the Manchester School Board Mr. Herbert Birley was re-elected chairman. Canon Toole complained of his exclusion from the committees, whereupon he was appointed to the Industrial Schools Committee and Office Committee. Miss Becker called attention to the false excuses parents were in the habit of giving for the absence of their children on the plea of illness.

TEACHERS' ASSOCIATIONS.

PUPIL TEACHER EXAMINATION PAPER.-June, 1876,
Continued from page 286.

Arithmetic.

MALES.

Work three questions.

1. Find the simple interest on £270 for 4 years, at 5 per cent. per annum. 2. If 113 gallons of spirit be diluted with 37 gallons of water, what are the percentages of spirit and water?

3. Find the simple interest and amount of £1,277 10s., from the 31st of March till the 4th July of the same year, at 8 per cent. per annum.

4. If the duty on an article be in 5 consecutive years, 19'3, 20, 17'5, 23'1, and 18.6 per cent, what is the average yearly duty per cent?

FEMALES.

1. What is the difference between + and -?

2. Add together 17 yards, 3 yards, and 12 yards, and take the result from 50 yards. 3. A and B can build a boat in 18 days, and with the assistance of C they can build it in 11 days. In what time can C build it by himself?

4. Gunwowder is composed of to sulphur, charcoal, and nitre; how much of each material will be required to make 24 cwt. of gunpowder?

Grammar.

1. Insert proper stops and marks in the following: No said James who was now becoming vexed I will never consent to that But replied I what else can be done.

2. Analyse the following: "Thus it resulted that from being proscribed and a fugitive, he became the most powerful subject in the whole dominions."

3. Parse the words which are in italics.

Geography.

1. Draw a full map of Turkey in Europe, and show, if you can, the position of Montenegro, Servia, and Herzegovina.

2. Describe fully the course of the River St. Lawrence, and the lakes connected with it, 3. Give notes of a lesson on the native tribes of Cape Colony, Australia, and British North America; describing, as to children, the peculiarities of each.

END OF THIRD YEAR.

One hour allowed for Females.

Two hours and a half allowed for Males.

History.

1. Tell what you know about the earliest inhabitants of this country.

2. Compare Alfred the Great with Richard Cœur de Lion, and say what you consider the better sovereign,

3. What produced the Hundred Years' War between England and France? Mention, with dates, some of the principal battles fought during its continuance.

Euclid.

1. Describe on a given straight line as diagonal a rhombus, each of whose sides is equal to that line, by the method employed in the first proposition.

2. If one side of a triangle be produced, the exterior angle is greater than either of the interior and opposite angles.

1. What principal should be put out at 3 per cent simple interest for 10 years, to amount to £347 16s.?

2. The circumference of a wheel being 3°14159 times its diameter, what would be the amount of error in calculating the distance in which a wheel, 1 yards across, would turn 1,000 times, if the circumference were taken roughly at three times the diameter?

3. Find the difference between the amount of £250 in two years at 3 per cent per annum, at simple and at compound interest, and divide it among two persons in the ratio of 9 to 5.

4. When a 34 per cent stock is at 93. find what price a 44 per cent stock must be at in order that an investment may be made with equal advantage to either stock.

FEMALES.

1. Multiply together the sum and difference of and, and give the answer in decimals.

2. Divide 3 of 21 by 1'5 of 29°38.

3. If 1875 of a ship cost £273, what is her value?

Grammar.

1. Set down six Latin prepositions with their meanings respectively, and give English words in which each of the prepositions occurs.

2. Analyse the following passage: Believe this, that if I had known that you would

be the judge, I should have no fear.

3. Parse the words which are in italics.

Geography.

1. Draw a full map of the Mediterranean Sea, with its islands.

2. Name in order the great rivers of Asia, and describe briefly the general character of each.

3. Give notes of a lesson on the climate of India.

END OF FOURTH YEAR.

One hour allowed for Females.
Two hours and a half allowed for Males.
History.

1. How did the wars of the Roses end? and what was the condition of the country at that time?

2. Compare Queen Elizabeth with Queen Anne; and mention under the reign of each

quadrilateral is greater than half the perimeter of the quadrilateral.

2. In any right angled triangle, the square which is described upon the right angle, is equal to the squares described upon the sides which angle.

Algebra.

I, Find the G. C. M. of 9 ax2 y2 and 15 a2 xz; also of 3 x5

- 20 x

1. A bankrupt surrenders his property, worth £366, to three cred owes respectively £450, £560, and £670. Divide the property fairly amo 2. Selling goods at 15 per cent above cost price, I find that I can dis stock in 4 months, but, if I ask 20 per cent, I take 6 months to dispos the more profitable plan, and what proportion do the profits bear to each 3. A man inheriting money spends on the first day 19s., twice that and 19s. additional every day till he exhausts his fortune by spending on What had he to start with?

4. Two women in the habit of buying between them 120 oranges a da and selling them at five for twopence; club together, and one taking them at 2 a penny, the other selling the remainder at 3 a penny. На better off at the end of six days' traffic, and what percentage of increa make by the latter plan?

FEMALES.

1. At what rate per cent per annum must £365 be lent for 95 d

£369 155.

2. If a capital of £250 gain £23 in four months, what will a capital 3 months?

3. What will £200 amount to in 3 years at 4 per cent per annum com

Grammar.

1. Give a brief account of the English language and English writers be and 1350 A.D.

2. Analyse the following lines

The voice I hear this pasing night was heard
In ancient times by emperor and clown.

3. Parse the words which are in italics

Geography.

1. Draw a map of the West coast of Africa.

2. Settlements were founded in America by Spain, by Portugal, Holland; but no European Power, except Great Britain, now retains a possession on that continent; and, even in her case, the territory lost by greater than what she has gained by conquest." Explain and illustrate this 3. Give notes of a lesson on the islands of the Pacific Ocean.

END OF FIFTH YEAR.

One hour allowed for Females.
Two Hours and a half allowed for Males.

History.

Answer two questions. Female Pupil Teachers may answer more thar 1. Mention the chief causes of the rebellion of 1642, or the revolution o 2. When and how did the North American colonies obtain independen 3. Describe some historical events connected with Calais, Gibraltar, an Euclid.

1. Divide a given straight line into two parts, so that the square on on double of the square on the other.

2. If a straight line be divided into two equal parts, and also into two the rectangle contained by the unequal parts, together with the square on th the points of section, is equal to the square on half the line.