4. Art. 59. That no further certificates be granted without examination; that Art. 59 be abolished; and Arts. 59a and 596 modified accordingly.

5. Art. 118. That in Art. 118 all restrictions on the granting of pensions not contained in the original Pension Minutes be omitted.

6. Art. 19, C. 6.-That this article should be abolished, being wrong in principle and unfair in its operation.

7. Third Schedule. That the Needlework Schedule appended to this memorial should be substituted for the Third Schedule of the Code.

8. That the annual endorsement of teachers' certificates is unnecessary, unjust, and productive of much dissatisfaction, and that it is desirable immediately to discontinue the practice.

9. Arts. 156 and 42.--That Art. 155 be so amended as to permit a teacher to act as member or clerk of a school board, provided he be not engaged as a teacher under that board. Art. 17d is regarded as a sufficient check.

B.

10. Art. 19, C. 1.-That this Article be so worded as to show clearly the intention of the department: and that a grant of 2s. per scholar per subject be allowed up to a maximum of three subjects.

11. Art. 19 E.--That the payments under this Article be increased to £3 and £5. and be in some way secured to the teacher.

12. Art. 19 Foot-note.-That after the word "Parliamentary," the word "Vestry, Municipal, or School Board" be inserted. 13. Art, 21 C.-That if the passes in the standard examination (Art. 28) be less than 75 per cent, the grant earned under this Article should not be absolutely forfeited, but should he reduced in proportion to the failures below that point.

14. Art. 21 e.-That this should not apply in cases where there have been changes in teachers 15. Art. 21 f.-That this Article be abolished.

16. Art. 28.-That this Article be amended as follows: "Attendance of boys at Drill and of girls at lessons in practical cookery, may, in a day school, &c., &c."

17. Art. 28. That the grammar, geography, and history standards of examination be re-arranged with a view to better gradation, and to the easing of Standard IV.

18. Art. 28.-That Her Majesty's Inspectors should not have the power of requiring Standard II. to work on paper.

19. Art. 28. That recitation should not be required in Standards V, and VI. for a pass in reading.

20. Art. 54.-That teachers who have passed successfully in first year's papers be allowed to present themselves for examination in the papers of the second year, and that teachers classed in any division lower than the "first" be permitted to raise their class by re-examination.

21. Art. 70 g. That in Article 70 g the word "two" be substituted for "four" and that the last clause of footnote (1) should read as follows: "Not more than four stipendiary monitors may be employed in a school instead of pupil-teachers, two monitors being regarded as equivalent to one pupil-teacher under Article 32 (e).

22. Art. 93. That all candidates for Queen's Scholarships be required to give evidence of sufficient knowledge of school management and of practical skill in the art of teaching; and that those candidates who have not previously passed through an apprenticeship as pupil-teachers be required to have served at least one year in an inspected school before being admitted to the Queen's Scholarship Examination.

23. Second Schedule. That in respect of male pupil-teachers the word "nineteenth" be substituted for "eighteenth" in marginal note 8 of the Second Schedule; that in Article 47 (a) "two years" be substituted for "one year," and that in Article 47 (b) "22" be inserted in lieu of "21." 24. Second Schedule.-That the words "one or more certificated teachers" be substituted for a certificated teacher of the said school."

25. Second Schedule. That in Clause 4, the words in brackets be omitted-"That the said pupil-teacher (while the school is not being held) shall receive without charge from a certificated teacher (of the said school) special instructions during five hours, &c."

26. Fourth Schedule--That in the Fourth Schedule "cookery" be made a separate subject distinct from "domestic economy," that chemistry and physics be included as subjects on which exta grants may be earned, and that the language subjects be entirely recast.

27. That a detailed syllabus of the subjects in which pupil-teachers are to be examined should be issued by the Education Department.

28. That the instructions to Her Majesty's Inspectors should be sufficiently definite to secure greater uniformity of examinations, and that the department should make effective arrangements for securing that the examiations are conducted in accordance with these "Instructions.'

Your memorialists are of opinion that the Third Schedule of the Code is impracticable, and will, if enforced, inflict a serious injury to Girls' and Infant Schools. The Alternative Schedule appended to this memorial is, in the opinion of your memorialists, arranged more in accordance with the general provisions of the Code, and is as difficnt as can be attempted with advantage in

any school.

Your memorialists offer these recommendations with confidence, and in the belief that the Education Department is not desirous of imposing upon the schools, and upon the teachers, any unreasonable regulations, but rather that it desires to allow due weight to the practical experience of those engaged in the work of teaching.

The National Schoolmaster.

SUMMARY.

T the meeting of the London School Board, on February 20th, the following resolution relating to the teaching of pupilteachers in centres, was adopted by a large majority, “That classes be established in central positions, at which the pupil-teachers in the third, fourth, and fifth years of apprenticeship, shall, when practicable, attend for instruction in the subjects hereinafter defined, provided always that pupil-teachers who have failed or been censured in the elementary branches of any subject in which higher instruction is afforded at the last examination by Her Majesty's inspector shall not be allowed for the coming year to attend the classes held at the centres for higher instruction in that subject." At the same meeting it was decided by a considerable majority to build a school for 600 children in the City of London.

We have frequently alluded to the antagonism manifested between school boards and the magistracy. The following paragraph from the Standard of February 21st refers to this :

THE SCHOOL BOARD AND PRIVATE SCHOOLS.

During the hearing of a number of school-board cases the magistrate, Mr. Hannay, was called on to examine in court a child aged ten years in reading, writing, and arithmetic. The child, it appeared, was attending a school kept by a private person, but the allegation of the school-board officers was that the school was inefficient. Mr. Hannay found that the child could read and spell fairly well for her age, and seemed intelligent. He remarked that he felt considerable hesitation in cases of the kind in making orders for the child to attend another school. Private schools did a great deal of good, and even among the poor many persons preferred them to the board schools. The mother of the child said that last week the magistrate had a child from

No. 88.-March, 1878.

the same school before him, and after examining her dismissed the summons. Mr. Hetherington, superintendent of visitors for the district, said that the school had been "inspected" and the results were very unsatisfactory. Mr. Hannay said that might be so to an official inspector. The child before him read very well, but he (Mr. Hannay) did not know what education people were expected to have now-a-days. Proceedings like these were very unsatisfactory where the efficiency or otherwise of a private school-the living, perhaps, of one person-had to be determined. Mr. Hetherington agreed, adding that certainly one child was no criterion. Mr. Hannay said he had had two before him, and the other child was more advanced than the one now in question. Mr. Hetherington said that there was certainly no feeling by the authorities against the school, and he would withdraw the summons.

We are sorry to see that our contemporary, the School Board Chronicle, almost despairs of spelling reform. In its disappointment, it turns upon the deputation to the Duke of Richmond, very unfairly as we think. "Some very good points," it remarks, "were made in the speeches addressed to the president and vice-president, but upon the whole the deputation did not present so strong or striking a case as we expected." Our contemporary thinks the speakers failed to impress the Duke of Richmond, and it has not much hopes of a royal commission: It cannot expect a Committee of Council who expunged the metric system from the Code to promote a measure of spelling reform.

The annual meeting of the Women's Education Union was held on February 8th, Captain Galton in the chair. During the past year the society has established the Teachers' Training and Regulation Society, and has been actively engaged in organising a training college for highgrade teachers, which is to be opened early in the present year. The income for the year amounted to £1,467. The Princess Louise was re-elected president of the union, and the committee was re-appointed.

At the meeting of the London Board on February 20th, a letter from Mr. Ingham, chief police magistrate of the metropolis, to Mr. Cross was read, giving the reasons why the magistrates think the detention of boys in the Truant School illegal. The letter is as follows:

Bow Street Police Court, 8th February, 1878.

Sir,With reference to the rules proposed by the London School Board for the management and discipline of an industrial school for truant children, I have submitted certain questions to the magistrates with a view to ascertain their opinion thereon.

1. The majority of the magistrates think that a school established in conformity with the proposed rules could not be deemed to be an industrial school, and that an

order could not be made under the 16th Section of the Industrial Schools Act, 1866, for the detention of a child therein.

2. The majority of the magistrates think that, with reference to the 18th Section of the Act, they could not make an order for the detention of a child in such a school for so short a period as one month.

3. The majority of the magistrates think that moderate corporal punishment might be inflicted; but that the absolute prohibition of conversation among the boys ought not to be enforced without express legislative sanction.

4. The magistrates generally are of opinion that the establishment of a school on the proposed plan is much to be desired, but that the existing law does not admit of the experiment being made.—I am, &c.,

The Honourable A. F. O. Liddell, &c.

(Signed)

J. T. INGHAM.

The matter will be shortly referred to the law officers of the Crown for their opinion.

It would appear that the Education Department is advising school boards that they ought not to pay teachers for making the returns required in connection with the child's school book. We have no doubt it is far from the intention of their Lordships to burden teachers with additional working hours without paying them for it. In every Government office overtime is always paid for; and it is a rule for the most part in all other offices too. What, therefore, must be in the mind of their Lordships is that these returns are to be made up in school hours. But it is desirable that no misapprehension should exist on this point; and we would therefore suggest that the National Union should make an inquiry on this point, and ascertain whether their Lordships wish the returns made up in school bours or after school hours.

REVIEWS.

Old Testament History. Part III. By M. T. Yates. Manchester: John

Heywood.

We have here, in the words of the Bible itself, the history contained in the Books of Joshua, Judges, and Ruth. Mr. Yates divides his subject matter into lessons of convenient length, giving in large type at the heading of the lesson a statement of the incidents treated of in it. The lesson proper is wholly in the words of Scripture. If Mr. Yates sees in the course of the chapter any text or texts that ought to be committed to memory he prints them in black raised type, so that they are distinctly seen. At the end of the book there are a number of short biographies of the leading characters mentioned in the book. There is no doubt at all that the Bible itself is the best book from which Biblical knowledge may be gained, and we cordially approve of Mr. Yates's plan, which gives us the text of Scripture with all the needful helps in the way of explanation and summaries.

The Bible Picture Roll. London: S. W. Partridge & Co.

WE have here a very attractive set of pictures for school walls, thirty-one in number. The size of the sheets is about 18 inches by 12, and they are attached to a wooden roller, over which they can be turned. The picture takes up about four-fifths of each sheet, and below the picture there is the title of it (as "Joseph's Coat," "Moses at the Well"), and one text, printed in prominent type, narrating the incident portrayed. The pictures are admirably clear and distinct, and wonderfully impressive. Nothing better can be adapted as the means of teaching children in infant schools the great facts of Old Testament history, and we warmly recommend them to the consideration of our readers.

Collins' Freehand Drawing Cards. Sets I., II., and III.: First Grade. Sets I. and II.: Second Grade.

It is a matter of some difficulty to describe such cards as these. Speaking of those for the first grade, Set I. is, as it should be, confined to elementary forms; set II, has such things as a water-jug and basin, the elements of complex figures. We think the latter feature a very valuable one, for it seems a foolish thing to set a child to copy an intricate figure before he has mastered the peculiar curves of which the figure is made up. Set III. contains just such copies as are set at the Government examinations. The first set for the second grade contains various designs of a step more difficult than the first grade, and the second set for this grade consists of copies of about the same difficulty as are given in the May examinations.

The Principles of English Grammar, including Analysis of Sentences. By David Donaldson. W. Collins, Sons, & Co.

THE Principles of English Grammar, as they are generally set forth and accepted, are here stated with clearness and simplicity. There is an absence of pretentiousness about this book which we like to see very much. Mr. Donaldson does not so much mind high things; he condescends to the humbler task of explaining words of even a moderate amount of difficulty. For instance, he gives the root-meaning of participle as part-taker," ," and mentions that "the pronoun I and the interjection O are written with capital letters." His treatment of the rules of syntax is especially good. Numerous exercises on the text are interspersed throughout the work which con siderably add to its value.

Geography of England and Wales. In ten Sheets. By E. Barber. W. Collins, Sons, & Co.

THIS is certainly an admirable method of teaching the geography of England and Wales. The ten sheets are, for the most part, about equally divided into text and map. For instance Sheet I. has for the text the boundaries, extent, and bays. In the accompanying map these features, and these only, are distinctly marked. Sheet II. has for the text the islands, straits, and capes. In the map that accompanies it there is nothing indicated but the islands, capes, and bays. In like manner Sheet III. deals with the mountains; IV. with the rivers; V. with the productions, minerals, and railways; VI. with the manufactures; VII. with commerce; VIII. with watering places, cathedral cities, and other large towns; Sheet IX. has a tabular list of the counties very conveniently arranged; Sheet X. consists of a map showing the counties; and the final sheet is entitled "Map for Revision," with mountains, rivers, railways, and sites of towns, but no names attached. Considering that the price charged for the whole is about the cost of an ordinary schoolroom map, we think Mr. Barber's plan of teaching the geography of England and Wales both good and inexpensive.