TEACHERS' ASSOCIATIONS.

NATIONAL UNION OF ELEMENTARY TEACHERS.

THE PROVIDENT SOCIETY.

THE General Board of Management of the Provident Society held a meeting on July 18th, at which Mr. J. R. Langler, B.A., occupied the chair, and the following members were present: Messrs. Greenwood, Hamilton, Morgan, Pink, C. Smith, T. H. Smith, Wells, and Heller (secretary). After the minutes of the last meeting had been read, the Secretary reported that he had seen the registrar in reference to the report on the rules of the society, but that no definite decision had been given by him as to the suggested alterations. The Secretary then presented a comparative statement of the rates of premium recommended by the actuary and by the secretary, and also those adopted by the Post Office, the Hampshire Friendly Society, the Western Provident Association, the Mutual Provident Alliance, and other societies. The consideration of these tables occupied a considerable amount of time, after which it was resolved to adopt Table I. prepared by the actuary. It was agreed to refer Table II. to the actuary for reconsideration, and for the preparation of another table, under which three-fourths of the premiums may be returnable if death take place before the annuity becomes payable. It was also decided that, if possible, a meeting of the board should be convened to consult the actuary with reference to the tables, and that the meeting should be held the following week. A vote of thanks was given to the chairman.

The board again met on Thursday, July 26th, when the chair was taken by Mr. T. N. Day, and the following members attended: Messrs. Hamilton, Langler, and Heller (secretary). The minutes of the meeting of July 18th having been read and signed, the Secretary reported that he had twice seen the registrar in reference to the rules and the proposed amendments. He stated that the registrar had explained that he could not consent to inserting in the rules any power of veto to be exercised by a foreign body, but that anything showing the connection of the society with the National Union of Elementary Teachers might be embodied in a "preface" or "introduction." The verbal alterations would not be insisted on provided the spirit of the alteration was retained in each case. Mr. Heller further stated that the registrar received him most courteously, and had invited him to confer with him if any further difficulty should arise. It was agreed to instruct the secretary to revise the rules in accordance with the recommendations of the registrar, and to submit proof copies at the next meeting of the General Board of Management, and that a sufficient number of copies of the revised rules should be printed for their use. The Secretary reported that Mr. Griffith Davis, the actuary, could not attend an evening meeting of the board, nor did he think his attendance was at all necessary. Mr. Heller had carefully gone into the tables with him, and the actuary desired him to make the following statements: (1) That he could not recommend any material alteration of the annuity tables, but would consent to lowering some of the early age premiums. (2) That he could not recommend the plan of "annuities" with premiums returnable at death, if that should occur before the annuity becomes payable. (3) That full tables up to the age of 50 should be computed. (4) That he would undertake to prepare the full tables for pensions, and would charge a moderate additional fee. A long discussion followed, in which the whole of the points were taken up. It was agreed on all sides that the society could by its cheapness of management, its choice of members, and its investment of funds, offer better terms to its members than offered by the Post Office annuity tables; and it was also agreed that the actuary should be requested to prepare full tables providing for the return of three-fourths of premiums in case of death occurring before the annuity becomes payable, to complete the tables already submitted, and to reconsider the rates, so as to relieve, if possible, the charges of members who enter under the age of 30 or 35. A vote of thanks to Mr. Day closed the proceedings.

DOMESTIC ECONOMY CONGRESS.

METHODS OF TEACHING DOMESTIC ECONOMY.

SIR HENRY COLE, C. B., read a paper on "The Practical Development of Elementary Education through Domestic Economy." In the course of it he said that the arts of reading, writing, and arithmetic were the three principle instruments for drawing forth the faculties which God had given to the child, and were of necessity the basis of any system of public elementary education. These arts could be taught, but they could not be properly cultivated or well preserved without constant and intelligent use. What our State machinery has up to this time been able to effect in instilling a knowledge of the three arts was shown by the report of the Committee of Council on Education for 1876-7. He would avoid statistics as far as possible, but he could not give an idea of what was done for nearly the two millions expenditure spent yearly, without a few general figures. In 1876

there were nearly three millions of children registered as being under instruction in reading, writing, and arithmetic in England and Wales. One million two hundred thousand "passed" what is called “a satisfactory examination” in these arts, and of this number nearly seven hundred thousand, i.e., about one-fourth, “passed" the prescribed test without failure "in any one of the three subjects." But the Duke of Richmond and Gordon and Lord Sandon reported to the Queen that "they were obliged to repeat the remarks which they used last year, that the results were not satisfactory," and that the “nature of the results attained by many of those examined were meagre.' Their lordships said, "only thirty-eight in every hundred of children above ten years of age were presented in standards appropriate to their age," and not twelve in a hundred presented passed in Standards IV, to VI. Referring to what the education system proposed to do, he said that the little child of an agricultural labourer, of eight or nine years old, was expected, in Standard II., to read with intelligence, to write a sentence from dictation, to know the first four simple rules of arithmetic as far as long division. Besides, it was to "point out the nouns, the definitions, the points of the compass, the form and motion of the earth, and the meaning of a map." The very enumeration of these demands appalled him. How many, even of that audience, would come forth and stand this examination? Who would volunteer to be the examiner except one of Her Majesty's Inspectors. But none of these could be present there. Should they send into those parts of Birmingham, which were shown to Mr. Cross as condemned for removal, and take at haphazard any ten children under thirteen years of age, in tatters of finery, dirty, emaciated perhaps, and see what came actually out of this present system? Should they stand as illustrative specimens in the exhibition? Did he, then, condemn learning grammar, geography, or history? God forbid! But he gravely doubted if the teaching of them took its right place in our present system of State education. Domestic economy for girls was placed by the Code in the tenth_division after nine others, being-(1) English Literature; (2) Mathematics; (3) Latin; (4) French; (5) German; (6) Mechanics; (7) Animal Physiology; (8) Physical Geography; (9) Botany; and (10) Domestic Economy. Would anyone venture to say that a knowledge of health, good food, thrift, and the like was not of much greater value to every one of the three millions of children of the working people (under 13 years of age) than Latin and every other of the subjects he had named? And yet the teaching of domestic economy was discouraged unless the child "parses a simple sentence, and knows the geographical outlines of the colonies." It was his conviction that if the several subjects embraced under domestic economy and none others were connected with reading, writing, and arithmetic, throughout all the six standards, and all other subjects whatever of grammar, geography, and history were made optional and left to night schools, the result of the State system would be much less "meagre" than the Lords of the Education Committee at present deplored that it was. He ventured to suggest that Her Majesty's Government refer this question of the practical value of a knowledge of domestic economy in the cultivation of the three primary arts to a small commission of five persons, two of whom should be women, which might also consider the use and economy of public examinations, and he had no doubt that a result would follow which would commend itself to the judgment of the Government, the Parliament, and the people.

The Rev. E. F. Macarthy opened the discussion, and said he rosej in order to tell the meeting that it was his opinion, from a practical point of view, that Sir Henry Cole had hit upon a very great blot in the present Education Code-a blot which was all the more to be regretted because it first made its appearance only a little more than twelve months ago. One had hoped that such a step as that to which attention had been drawn, would not have been taken without very careful consideration and information derived from a very great variety of causes. A point to which attention had be drawn was the fact that geography, history, and grammar had been taken from their place in the Code among the voluntary subjects, of which there are some ten or twelve, and any one of which could be selected and taught by a special school, according to the attainments or natural bent of the master or peculiarities of the neighbourhood. The Government had taken the subjects just mentioned out of the category of optional subjects, and placed them in such a position in the Code that schools, depending upon the grant, were necessarily led to teach them before they attempted to teach any other subjects, amongst which domestic economy was one that congress took so much interest in. That was error of principle, but there was also an error of detail, which served to point out the absurdity of the principle. The error of detail was that children at the commencement of the study of geography were first to learn the motion and forms of the earth and the meaning of a map. That was to say, that children of eight years of age were to learn the elements of astronomy. He need not say that practical educationists were quite aware that that was beginning at the wrong end of the stick, but as a matter of fact the books in use in elementary schools actually condemned the Government code. Mr. Currie's book on school management, which was taken as a sort of standard by pupil-teachers, strongly condemned as a method the early introduction of astronomical observations into the training and education of the young. He could only attribute this extraordinary exhibition of ignorance of the principles of

education to the fact that some elderly inspector being called upon to draw up a schedule, opened a geography about fifty years old, and found that the first chapter treated of definitions, and so he put them down for the first year. He agreed with the position which grammar held in the Code, but thought that both history and grammar should be left to the discretion of the teachers.

Miss Smith, a member of the Oxford School Board, defended the position of the three subjects mentioned, and thought the Code had been much misinterpreted by the last speaker. She believed that she could give a lesson to children of seven years of age on the forms and motions of the earth that would be understood by them.

The Rev. T. J. Hawarth thought that geography and history were quite different to domestic economy, and considered it necessary that boys should be instructed as early as possible in those two subjects. Domestic economy, in his opinion, was more a matter for girls. With respect to the teaching of grammar, they had great difficulties to contend with from the number of text-books and the difference of opinion of the inspectors who had to examine the work. From a very lengthy experience, he could endorse the opinion of an old inspector, that the difficulties connected with grammar were such that he would almost propose that every child should be examined at its birth, and if it showed any tendency to write a grammar it should be at once extinguished. He advocated geography and history, not as sweetmeats but as essentials, in boys' schools, just as he would stand up for needlework and domestic economy in girls' schools.

Sir Henry Cole, in reply, denied that any material difference was necessary in the elementary education of the two sexes up to the age of thirteen. He hoped that would be received as a canon, and be acted upon by the managers of schools. Many of the examinations ought to be conducted by women, for some of the inspectors knew nothing of the work, and were not even qualified for it by marriage. The system of appointing a young wrangler straight from the university to examine national schools was one that ought to be violently put down at once. If the Government were to properly carry out the education of the three millions of children they must do so, not by senior wranglers nor by inspectors such as they had at present, but by three or five competent people, the majority of whom should be women.

The Revds. J. P. Faunthorpe and E. T. Stevens (Banbury) also read papers.

The Rev. E. F. Macarthy next read a paper on "The Mode of Inspection and Administration of the Government Grant for Subjects included under Domestic Economy." He said that all the subjects which the Congress was considering under the heading "Domestic Economy" had already, with one exception (Practical Cookery) a place in the Code, and consequently were at this moment, to a greater or less degree, subjects for which grants might be earned. Of these needlework occupied by far the most prominent position, standing in quite a different category to the others. On Miss Kenrick's representations the Birmingham School Board resolved to memorialise the Education Department, suggesting "that it would be desirable to introduce into the first schedule of the New Code a graduated scheme of examination in needlework for the several years of pupil teachership, and that the plan laid down in the work entitled 'Plain Needlework in Six Standards,' with a slight modification, be recommended as the scheme for pupilteachers under this schedule." Again, as regarded domestic economy, no provision was made that female pupil-teachers should show a progressive knowledge of the subjects classed under that heading in the Code during the several years of their apprenticeship. Supposing that public opinion was found to be ripe for the addition of these practical studies to the curriculum of our schools, and that Parliament had decided to carry out the national will in this matter, and the question_remained--What form should the inspection and examination of these subjects take? It appeared to him that a great gain on all sides would accrue if the work of Her Majesty's Inspectors be confined, as far as examination is concerned, to the ordinary subjects-reading, writing, arithmetic, history, geography, grammar, and the specific subjects of a literary kind, viz., English literature, Latin, French, German, and, in addition, mathematics.

Mr. Charles Critchett (educational officer of the society) read a paper on "The Examination of the Society of Arts in Domestic Economy," and gave a history of the society and its operations since 1861, the date of its commencement.

Miss Smith spoke in advocacy of the appointment of female inspectors, and referred to the beneficial results that had attended the adoption of that system in Italy.

The Rev. J. P. Faunthorpe said that schools were at the present time almost examined to death, and if there were any increase in the number of examinations he did not know what the result would be. Moreover, the country would soon learn that the educational grant of two millions, as recently asked for by Lord Sandon, would not nearly suffice for the purpose. Referring to the appointment of inspectors, he remarked that all inspectors appointed by the London School Board were schoolmasters who had made their mark in connection with national schools, and there was no doubt that such men were infinitely better qualified for the work of inspection than young men who had taken a double first at Oxford, but who had never seen the inside of a national school.

The National Schoolmaster.

SUMMARY.

HE Social Science Congress was commenced at Aberdeen on
Wednesday, September 19th. The introductory address was

delivered by Lord Aberdeen. In the educational department, which was opened on Thursday, the special question for the day was, "What are the merits and defects of the present system of competitive examinations for public appointments?" It was stated in the course of discussion that in 1875 the Civil Service Commissioners examined nearly 4,000 candidates, competing for more than 1,000 appointments. Vacancies in the Foreign Office, Diplomatic Service, and Cadetship in the Royal Navy are not filled up by competition, and it was contended that under a modified system they ought to be. Professor Bain argued that languages were not a proper subject for competition with a view to professional appointments. On Friday, September 21st, the opening address on Education was given by Lord Young, who remarked that teachers in Scotland were better paid than in England, which was "the only case in which Scotch officials were better paid than the corresponding officials in England." The average salary of the Scotch teachers is £131, that of the English teachers is only £112.

On September 21st the Chancellor of the Exchequer delivered what is called "an address" on educational topics, at the opening of the winter session of the Exeter Literary Society. We believe Sir Stafford is one of the Lords of the Committee of Council, but his strong point is finance, not education. There is a good deal of padding in the address, and no one can use this material better than the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Reduced to common-sense proportions, the matter of the speech was this: Education and the world generally have made enormous progress during the last fifty years. Unfortunately, a good deal No. 83.-October, 1877.

that has been done, including wars, is movement in the wrong direction. Because we have not penetrated to the North Pole, nor found out how to check the potato disease, we should keep in a humble frame of mind. There are two great evils in the present day-first, the tendency to excitement; secondly, the growth of vanity. In expounding the second of these subjects, Sir Stafford made an attack on some individual not mentioned, whom we suppose to be Mr. Whalley:

One man, whose name is very familiar to us, but I will not mention it, is a man undoubtedly of considerable ability, and takes very great pains in what he does; but he is a man of such childish vanity and such unreasonable conceit that he would rather make himself conspicuous by doing the most absurd thing than not be noticed at all. He reminds me sometimes of a man who, seeing a great painter at work, determines that, though he cannot paint himself, he will at all events spoil the painter's work by shaking his easel whilst he is painting.

Sir Thomas Bazley has discussed in the Nineteenth Century the question "Shall Manchester have a university?" We hope and trust that it will. We see from a statement in the Medical Press and Circular that as surely as this claim is pressed on the attention of the Government, so surely will the flourishing Yorkshire College of Science at Leeds also put in a claim." We do not see how that affects the matter. If the Government think it right to concede both claims let them do so. If they cannot satisfy both Manchester and Leeds they surely need not reject the claims of Manchester to keep Leeds in good humour.

On Wednesday, September 19th, Mr. Gladstone presented the prizes to the successful students at Hawarden Grammar School. The report states that "Mr. Webb, the master, entered at some little length into the early history of the school, incidentally observing that during the two years he had had the pleasure of presiding over the Hawarden Grammar School he had not found it once necessary to inflict corporal punishment upon any of the pupils." Mr. Gladstone, in the opening of his speech, told a story of his own childhood:

When I was myself a very small child I went with my mother to visit a person very famous in her day, and of known excellence-Mrs. Hannah More. I believe I was four years old at the time, and I remember that she presented me with one of her little books, not uninteresting for children, and that she told me she gave me the gift because I had just come into the world and she was just going out. She was then very old, and the feeling which comes upon people who are advanced in years is that they really wish they could say something to enable you, who are now very young, to realise in your own minds-to get practical hold in your own minds-of many truths that you will learn in the course of experience, in order that the learning of them may be the more easy and the less bitter.

At the school Mr. Gladstone attended, 66 we were all taught to be very much alike one another but that was a sleepy method gentleman exhorted the scholars to

of pursuit." The right hon. sympathise with their teacher :