The Reports of the Inspectors, in Appendix B, are very complete, and are worthy of careful attention. They not only deal with the results of the inner work of the school, noting its excellences and defects, but with the external features of the system, and thus present to the Legislature and ratepayer that kind of information which is most needed. The educational condition of the several parishes within each inspectoral district is described, and thus all sections of the Province are brought under review. These descriptions tend to encourage deserving districts, and will, I hope, be helpful in stimulating the more indifferent ones to worthy effort.

The extract which Inspector Carter has made from his report to the Board of School Trustees of St. John on the condition of the schools under their charge, deserves careful consideration on the part of the Board. The two points to which he takes exception—the grading of teachers' salaries, not upon merit, but upon length of service, and the daily markings in a merit book of each recitation-are of more than local interest. The example of St. John in any matter, and especially any action of a St. John Board of Trustees, composed, as it is, of some of the most representative and intelligent men of the country, must exert an influence throughout the Province. For this reason I wish to refer to this extract. Inspector Carter has, I think, set forth his views on both points very forcibly, and I hope the Board will see its way to adopt his suggestions. Length of service, unless associated with value of work, is a principle which should not, in my judgment, regulate salaries, nor is it one cal

culated to make school work vigorous and fruitful. A system of daily markings at the close of each school exercise may suit teachers who hear lessons without teaching them, but if the intellectual life of the school is to be awakened and fostered, the teacher must not be hampered by the imposition of mechanical devices. Mechanical perfection in a school is intellectual torpor, and a merit book I can regard in no other light than a letter that killeth.

I regret that the Inspector for Inspectoral District No. 4 has not been able, owing to severe illness, to forward a report for his district.

Reports of the Cities and Incorporated Towns.

These reports will be found in Appendix C. I invite attention to them. They all contain useful information relating to the educational condition of the respective districts, more especially the reports of the Boards of Fredericton and St. John. It will be seen that the Moncton schools are overcrowded, and that the spacious building in course of erection has not been taken in hand The Board of the recently incorporated town of Campbellton presents for the first time its report.

too soon.

Educational Institute.

The eleventh annual meeting of the Educational Institute was held at Fredericton during the last three teaching days of June. The number in attendance was 236 teachers and school officers. Of this number 223 enrolled themselves as members. If not the largest meeting, it was one of the most interesting and profitable in the history of the Institute. The papers read were, without exception, of more than ordinary interest and utility, and uplifted the Institute above the finicalities and littlenesses which sometimes characterize educational gatherings. The discussions on the several subjects were pertinent and dignified. I regret that the papers have not yet appeared in the Educational Review. The following is the report of the proceedings, by Mr. H. C. Creed, A. M., the Secretary:

REPORT.

The eleventh meeting of the Educational Institute of New Brunswick was held in the Provincial Normal School, Fredericton, on Wednesday, the 26th of June, 1889, and two following days. The Chief Superintendent presided at all the sessions. Messrs. H. C. Creed and W. C. Simpson, the Secretary and Assistant-Secretary of the last preceeding meeting, were re-elected.

At the first session, the Executive Committee presented their report for the two years, 1887-89,-of which the following is an abstract :

2. Arrangements for Interprovincial Convention of Teachers, held in St. John, July, 1888. 3. Appointment of special committee to revise the Courses of Instruction for Superior and High Schools, for final adoption by the Board of Education. Also publication of proposed changes in the Course of Instruction for the 7th and 8th Grades.

4. Arrangements for the organization of a Summer School of Natural Science in the City of St. John-not as yet successful.

5. Summary of the accounts of the Secretary-Treasurer, duly audited and found correct, as follows:

6. Arrangements for meeting of Institute in June, 1889.

7 Resolution recommended to the Institute relative to proposed change in the conditions of eligibility for membership therein.

The report was considered and adopted by the Institute.

At the first evening session, when the public were invited to be present, the proceedings were opened with appropriate devotional exercises, after which specches were made by T. C. Allen, Esq., Mayor of Fredericton; Wm. Crocket, A. M., Chief Superintendent of Education; Hon. Sir John C. Allen, Chief Justice; Thomas Harrison, LL.D., President of University of N. B.; Hon. G. E. King, D. C. L., Justice Supreme Court, and Hon. A. G. Blair, Attorney-General. A select choir furnished music during the evening, and also at other sessions.

At subsequent sessions, papers were read and discussed, of which the following were the subjects and the writers:

1. The Demand which the Common School is making on the Common School Teacher. By Mr. Eldon Mullin, M. A., Principal of the Normal School.

2. Composition and Critical Reading versus the Formal Teaching of English Grammar. By Mr. G. U. Hay, Ph. B., Principal of the Victoria School, St. John (read by Mr. Wm. M. McLean, B. A., for the writer).

3. Compulsory Attendance at Schools. By Mr. Frank H. Hayes, Superintendent of Schools of St. John.

4. Scientific Temperance Instruction. By Mrs. R. H. Phillips of Fredericton, Superintendent S. T. I. of the Maritime Women's Christian Temperance Union.

5. Is the Common School meeting the demand for Practical Education? By Mr. P. G. McFarlane, B. A., Principal of the High School, St. Stephen.

6.

Public School Education—its Relation to the Political, Social, and Moral Tendencies of the Times. By Mr. Philip Cox, B. A., Principal of the Harkins School, Newcastle.

7. The Superannuation of Teachers. By Mr. S. C. Wilbur, B. A., Principal of the High School, Moncton.

8. A Programme of School Work for Friday Afternoon. By Mr. Geo. J. Oulton, B. A., Principal of Superior School, Dorchester.

9. What Provision might be made for Technical Education in the Province? By Mr. W. S. Carter, M. A., Inspector of Schools in the 5th District.

There was also an address, with practical illustrations, on The Teaching of the Elements of Modelling and Object Drawing, by Mr. John Brittain, Instructor in Natural Science and Industrial Drawing in the Provincial Normal School.

Among the reports presented to the Institute and adopted, were the following:

1. Report from the Executive Committee, recommending the appointment of a committee of Teachers of Grammar and Superior Schools to confer with the President of the University, as requested by him, relative to the requirements for University matriculation. (A committee of seven gentlemen was named, who subsequently reported the result of the conference).

2. Report of committee, composed of Messrs. John March, M. A., W. M. McLean, B.A., and S. C. Wilbur, B. A., embodying preambles and resolutions in favor of the passage of an Act by the Legislature, "such as will afford a remedy for the evils of absenteeism and non-attendance at school of pupils, from insufficient causes."

Several resolutions were adopted by the Institute, the most important of which were the following:

1. Moved by Principal Mullin, seconded by Inspector Bridges:

Resolved, That this Institute respectfully recommend the Board of Education to amend Regulation 23, 3 (1), by striking out the requirement of previous membership in a County Institute.

2. Moved by Mr. Cox, seconded by Mr. Belyea :

Whereas, The Chairman of the Committee appointed in 1887 by the Educational Institute of New Brunswick to interview the Board of Education on the matter of a change of School Terms, has been assured by the Leader of the Government that, if it can be shown that the present arrangement is proving detrimental to the interests of the public schools, the necessary change will be made ;

Therefore Resolved, That this Institute instruct said committee to press the views of this Instiute upon the Board of Education at the earliest possible moment.

3. Moved by Superintendent Hayes, seconded by Inspector Carter, recommending the Educational Review to the teachers of the Province.

The Institute appointed a committee, consisting of Messrs. Parlee, Montgomery, Wilbur, McLean, and Carter, to consider the suggestions contained in Mr. Wilbur's paper on the Superannuation of Teachers, and to submit to the Institute at the next meeting such plan as they may devise.

A special committee, consisting of Messrs. Carter, Hayes, and Palmer, was ap pointed to consider all desirable changes in the Constitution of the Educational Institute, and to report to the Executive Committee.

On the afternoon of the third day, the members of the Institute went on a geological excursion to Rockland and “Currie's Mountain," under the direction of Professor Bailey, Ph. D., of the University.

Agreeably to the regulation in this behalf, ten members of the Institute were elected by ballot, to constitute, with the members ex-officio, the

There were enrolled as members in attendance at the Institute, 223 Teachers representing every county in the Province except Gloucester, Restigouche, and Victoria. There were also present the 9 members ex officio; 2 other school officers; and 2 honorary members, making a total of 236.

Teachers' Institutes.

Teachers' Institutes were held during the year in all the counties except Queens, Restigouche and Sunbury. An Institute was held for the first time in connection with the counties of Madawaska and Victoria, and was of an interesting and profitable character. The state of the roads at the time, just before the Christmas holidays, prevented many from attending. The following table gives the attendance at the several Institutes since 1881: