that they were subscribers to our school, that what they meant was, that I ought to be grateful to them for the decent suit of clothes I had on, and have thought they patted my little lad's head, as though he was a kind of pensioner of theirs. But then, at least, they seemed to be glad they were so generous. But what would it be if all our parish were taxed three half-pence in the pound for the school! Many of the farmers about look on me now as rather a useless member of society, and don't mind showing me at times that they think the village could get along very well without me. How I should face them, when I was conscious I was kept out of their pockets, I really don't know. I don't like to think of it, I assure you, I don't know whether it strikes other schoolmasters so, but I feel uneasy to think that we may lose what influence we have with our neighbours, and become, as a class, unpopular. It might wear off perhaps in time, but a tax seems to me a very permanent sort of grievance, against which men never tire of grumbling. What I am afraid of is, that we shall get some of the hard language that is now vented on turnpike gates, or any other pocket-robbing nuisances. This may seem a small topic to select for commentary out of all Mr. Fraser has said, but I think it is worth school masters' consideration. Yours, &c., A VILLAGE SCHOOLMASTER. The Royal Commission on Education in Victoria. Sir,-As many of your readers may take interest in Colonial Education, I forward an extract from a more lengthy communication lately received. At the present day, when so many at home are reconsidering the fundamental principles upon which our own educational system is based, it may be useful to study those which a young Colony is proposing to itself to adopt. Yours, &c., A. B. The Rev. R. W. VANDERKISTE, of Sydney, writes to a friend thus:-"Victoria is stirring in the matter of education. Our new bill, as you are aware, gives increased facilities for the establishment of very small public schools in the interior. If the average attendance be as low as ten, the teacher is yet to be a paid servant of the Government. You may judge the need of such an arrangement, when I name to you that at one national school, which I established some years since, about 150 miles from Sydney, which we do not call the interior, although the nearest school was fourteen miles distant, swollen rivers reduced the attendance for a considerable portion of the year, to the number I have named above. The Victoria report extends to over 300 foolscap pages, closely printed. The following is a summary of the recommendations of the commission to the Victoria Legislature: 1. The enactment of a law making the instruction of children compulsory upon parents. 2. The appointment of a Minister of Public Instruction, responsible to Parliament, with a general superintendence over the interests of education in Victoria. 3. The establishment of public schools from which sectarian teaching shall be excluded by express legislative enactment, and in which religious teaching shall be in like manner sanctioned and encouraged. 4. Public schools to be placed under the superintendence and management, subject to the Minister of Public Instruction, of local committees, to be partly nominated by ratepayers and parents. 5. The teachers in public schools to be admitted to the public service upon passing a prescribed examination; to be under the direction of local committees, subject to the authority of the Minister of Public instruction; and to be entitled to receive their salaries, and, after a certain period of actual service, an augmentation allowance, and a retiring allowance from the state. 6. The principles of individual examination of children, and of part payment of the teacher by results, to be retained; but modifications to be made in the mode of examination. 7. The establishment of a training school for teachers. 8. Annual exhibitions at the grammar schools, Queen's scholarships in the training school, and appointments in the civil service, to be given to the pupils of public schools. 9. A capitation grant, to be conditionally given, for a period of five years, to non-vested schools now on the rolls of the Board of Education. 10. Encouragement to be given to the denominations, by means of a grant of increased powers, to part with their school lands, to surrender their schools, and contribute to the establishment of public schools. 11. A separate grant to be made for the purpose of aiding instruction in the rural districts, and in missionary educational settlements for the aborigines and the instruction of the Chinese, and for the purpose of aiding ragged schools. 12. The levying of a rate in aid of public instruction upon the land in Victoria. I am truly glad the commission has seen its way to the first recommendation, and that its importance in their view, as I presume, has led to the priority it occupies in their duodecimo. You will also, I know, agree with me in opinion, that the last clause of the fifth recommendation, should long ago have been a legal statute. I commend these Colonial educational agitations to your prayers, in the conviction that they largely concern the interests of the kingdom of our Lord Christ. Notes and Queries.—ii. [Under this heading we reserve space for Questions of general interest to Schoolmasters.] Query. Analyse the following passages, and parse the words in italics: Thus it is our daughters leave us, Those we love, and those who love us; When we are old and lean upon them, With him Who gave me all, and, day by day, hath still, Papers for the Schoolmaster. No. XXXI.-NEW SERIES. JULY 1ST, 1867. EDUCATIONAL SCHEMES. It seems to be pretty generally believed that one of the first subjects which will receive the most serious attention of the "Reformed House of Commons" (for which politicians are looking forward with some anxiety) will be that of National Education. There is considerable activity manifested "out-of-doors" in the matter of educational legislation. The defects and deficiencies of the Privy Council system are continually dwelt upon; its tentative character is constantly assumed, and the dissatisfied and discontented busy themselves in concocting schemes which they consider fitted to supplant it. Mr. Fraser gives the readers of the Times" a scheme;" the Manchester Education Aid Society, with the aid and active co-operation of the late Vice-President of the Council, prepare a Bill; Peers, M.P.'s, ex-Secretaries, and other public men ventilate their "notions" in speeches and resolutions, probably thinking that any attempt to give them further definiteness, precision, and completeness, would be so much labour thrown away; but in one form or other, all sorts of suggestions are afloat, the existing system is threateneil, action is—prophesied ; but nothing is done. Will the proposed remedies cure, or even alleviate the disease? Does the disease exist? Is it inherent to the Privy Council system? These are enquiries which thoughtful men would like to have seriously and dispassionately considered, before we wantonly upset a system which has done so much, and which is certainly capable of doing more. Granted that progress is somewhat slow-that the neglected and apathetic districts are left unaided-that our system is illogical, and does not square with any "theories" concerning the relations of Government and the State to the people and the child—is there any practical benefit to be gained by substituting local rates for Parliamentary grants, or voluntary contributions, and local boards elected by the ratepayers for the managers or committees who have hitherto raised and administered the funds requisite to secure a share of the Government grant? Would the parsimonious policy of boards of illiterate men, anxious only to keep down the rates, be more beneficial than the management of gentlemen of education and position, who necessarily owe all the power they possess to the liberality which has induced them to contribute voluntarily and generally largely of their own substance for the promotion of the education they superintend? If not, what should we gain by a general and compulsory rating scheme? And if we gain nothing by that, a partial, voluntary, or permissive rating scheme, such as that of Mr. Bruce's Bill, would a fortiori be inoperative? Under it the apathetic districts would be apathetic still; for those who will not give to, would assuredly never tax themselves for educational purposes. To politicians, platform orators, and newspaper writers, it may indeed appear that the educational chariot is delayed mainly by want of funds, and that, consequently, it is only necessary to provide these by that simple and effective method, a rate, in order to insure its more rapid progress. But practical educators, conversant with the state of society in our rural districts, or in the courts and lanes of our crowded and overgrown cities and towns, feel most strongly that the real difficulty is one of a very different nature. It is not the provision of schools, or of teachers, that presents apparently insuperable obstacles, but the getting these used in a proper manner when they are provided. It is easy to produce an effect by quoting statistical returns to show that thousands of children who ought to be at school have no school accommodation provided for them; but it is equally easy to retort that far more accommodation is provided than is used, and that the difficulty of increasing schools is not nearly so great as that of inducing those for whom they are provided to avail themselves of them. Educational destitution arises far more frequently from the absence of a demand than from a deficient supply. This is the disease that ought to be grappled with; but rating schemes and educational "Adullamites" contemptuously pass it by. The red herring of "Educational Provision" has spoiled the scent, and thrown them off the track of "educational necessities." We turn, therefore, with much hope and satisfaction, from the plans and proposals which find but little favour beyond the circle of their respective inventors, to the principle which is and has been gradually making its way, and appears likely ere long to be generally, and with almost universal consent, adopted, -the welding into indissoluble union juvenile employment and juvenile education. The manner in which the working of the Factory Acts has turned bitter opponents into hearty friends is perfectly astonishing. There is every reason to hope that, at no very distant date, similar regulations will be applied to every employmen in which children are engaged. This will fill our schools, and make the employer and the schoolmaster, hitherto at variance, helpers and supporters of each other. Regular and constant school attendance will then, to a very considerable extent, be secured, and we feel sure that education will advance and, even under our imperfect system, adequate provision for it will soon be made. At any rate, till we have thus removed the greatest obstacle to advancement, we may be content to leave theoretical difficulties and objections alone. If, when the proper use of existing schools has been thus enforced, we find a deficiency of " means," or religious difficulties retard our progress, we may then devise schemes for their removal. Meanwhile, let us make the best we can of our well-tried and fairly effective, though much condemned "system." EDUCATIONAL SYSTEMS AND PROGRESS DURING THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. Pestalozzianism Home and Colonial School Society. Few things connected with early instruction exhibit the value of Pestalozzian principles, in their right sphere, more than their application to number and numerical operations. So long had arithmetic in its first operations been by rote, and in its later stages by rule, that it would seem as if an intelligent mode of approaching it and studying it would never be. In no other subject of instruction, except perhaps grammar, did it seem to be so completely a truism, that any disciplinary value of the study, must not, if obtained at all, be so until either the pupil was engaged in the affairs of business, or had made such progress that he could work a few problems which implied at least some insight into the rationale of his subject. It is true that Ward had exhibited a method, the same as was afterwards applied by Pestalozzi and his followers, of intelligently teaching it. But it had not borne fruit. Nor can it be said that its subsequent revival by the spread of Pestalozzian principles, has secured for it anything like universal adoption. It is to be feared that many yet have no faith in its soundness, while more either cannot give the time, or will not undertake the labour that it requires. Yet in many a well conducted school the method has been applied with success, and even |