"The common day-schools, kept by private adventure teachers, are in rather better condition, but still very little fitted to give really useful education. The masters are, generally, in no way qualified for their occupation, and take little interest in it. Religious instruction is seldom attended to, and moral education totally neglected. 'Morals,' said one master, in answer to the inquiry whether he taught them morals, 'how am I to teach morals to the like of these ?""

The facts thus brought forward are sufficiently startling, but still more sad evidence of the absence of education among the people is found in the reports sent up to the Government by the prison authorities in 1838. It is stated in these that only nine out of every hundred criminals were able to read and write, and that "the leading characteristic of the prisoners committed for crime was a heathenish ignorance of the simplest truths of religion and morality.”

Moved, no doubt, by these melancholy disclosures, the Government brought in an Act which enabled it to make grants in aid of education and contributions towards the building of schools, and from this time the attention of the country continued to be directed with increasing earnestness to this subject, so that by the year 1868 almost every parish church had a school attached to it, while various Nonconformist bodies, especially the Wesleyans, were also actively providing for the education of the poor. At length Mr. Forster succeeded in passing what is known as the Elementary Education Act of 1870, by which it became the law of the land that every child should receive a certain amount of education, and that parents should be held legally responsible for the attendance of their children at school.

The position of education in the United Kingdom at the time of the passing of this Act was stated by Mr. Forster to be as follows:-Voluntary effort had provided 11,000 day and 2000 night schools. The number of children upon the registers was 1,450,000, with an average attendance of about 1,000,000; so that, even in these schools, the education could be but very imperfect, owing to the irregularity of the attendance. Thus, only two-fifths of the children between the ages of six and ten years, and only one-third of those between the ages of ten and twelve, were receiving even this insufficient amount of education; and, although many others may have been receiving some sort of instruction from other sources, yet, as the educational standard, even in the inspected schools, was so very low, it may be concluded that in those uninspected it was almost worthless.

In regard to the general question, one of the speakers in the debate on this Bill brought forward the following curious comparisons. He mentioned a town containing a population of 12,000, where less than 700 children were attending school, whereas in a town of the same population in Germany there would have been 2000 scholars. In Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool, and Manchester, with an estimated population of 1,500,000, the average attendance in elementary schools was 124,000, while if the four towns had been in Germany, there would have been

found at least 250,000 children attending schools daily for eight years.

So far as to what may be called the statistics of quantity in respect of popular education. Regarding the quality of the instruction given in the inspected schools, one of the Government Inspectors, referring to the sixth standard, which required that the pupil should be able to read an ordinary newspaper paragraph with fluency, write the same from dictation, and do sums in bills-of-parcels, stated that in Birmingham and Leeds, with a population of 600,000, only 530 pupils succeeded in passing it.

In contrast to this, we find that, on an inquiry being made as to the number of children who left school in Germany and Saxony without acquiring such an amount of education as would be equivalent to our sixth standard, the answer given was that it was below the lowest Saxon or German standard. In Saxony, the pupils, before leaving school, were required, not only to read fluently and to write a good, readable hand, but also to write from memory, in their own words, a short story which had been previously read to them, and were, besides, instructed in geography, in singing, and in the history of their Fatherland. With the exception of children mentally deficient or else suffering from ill-health, no child failed to pass this examination. This comparison may be put very briefly :-In England only 20,000 children in a population of 20,000,000 passed the sixth standard; in Old Prussia, 380,000 in a population of 19,000,000 passed every year.

By the Elementary Education Act of 1870 the country was divided into school districts, in each of which it was required that a sufficient amount of accommodation should be provided for all the resident children, and where such accommodation was not provided within a certain time by voluntary effort, a School Board should be erected to supply the deficiency and compel the attendance of the children. So much lack of information is being constantly shown as regards the working of this great measure, that it may be useful to give a short account of the way in which its provisions are carried out.

The members of the School Boards are elected by the ratepayers in the different districts, and each Board must consist of not less than five, nor more than fifteen members, except in the case of the Metropolis, which possesses fifty representatives. These Boards have the power committed to them to build schools, to borrow from the Government the necessary funds, repayable in fifty years, with interest at three-and-ahalf per cent., to provide industrial schools, and to carry out the intention of the Industrial Schools Act in regard to children who are in danger of becoming criminals. It also rests with them to appoint local Managers to Schools, and Divisional Committees to enforce the Bye-laws for compelling the regular attendance of the children. They possess power to raise the funds for carrying on their work by levying a rate over the whole school district, and to charge fees to the parents.

Board Schools, as well as Voluntary Schools, obtain grants from Government, according to the excellence of the pupils.

It is left with each Board to decide whether the education given in the schools under its control shall be purely secular or shall include religious instruction: provided that, in any such instruction given, no catechism or religious formulary distinctive of any particular denomination is taught.

It will sufficiently illustrate the operation of this Act during the past eight years, if we confine our remarks to the work of the London School Board, since not only does this Board control a population of over three and a half millions, but it has had to deal with all kinds of cases, exemplifying the practical requirements arising in most of the other large towns in the country. Before proceeding, however, to this part of our task, it will be interesting to compare the present state of education in the whole of England with the description already given of its condition in 1834.

*

We find, then, that in the year ending 31st August, 1877, 15,187 day-schools were inspected by the Government, containing 22,033 departments, under separate teachers, and furnishing accommodation for 3,653,418 scholars. There were on the registers the names of 3,154,973 children; 1,100,000 being under seven years of age, 1,929,000 between seven and thirteen, and 125,000 above thirteen years of age. 771,000 passed the prescribed examination without failure in any one of the three subjects-reading, writing, and arithmetic. In addition to the day-schools, 1,733 night-schools, having 57,000 scholars above twelve years of age, were recognised as efficient by the Government. Of these 57,000 scholars, 48,000 were examined, and, out of every 100 scholars, eighty-seven passed in reading, sixty-nine in writing, and fifty-eight in arithmetic. To carry on this education, 24,841 certificated teachers were at work, these teachers being mainly supplied from forty training colleges, containing over 3000 students. We find, also, that 270,000 children were presented for examination in specific subjects, and that, of these, 45,000 passed successfully. Grammar, elementary geography, and history, which up to 1876 were treated as specific subjects, are now included in the ordinary work of the schools, and, in 1877, formed (with needlework) part of the examination of more than a million scholars. Ordinary school drill is also part of the work in every good school, and in 1178 day-schools military drill is systematically taught to the boys.

The following Table, from the Government Report, will best show the number of schools of different classes, and of the scholars provided for in them, together with the principal sources of the income by which they are supported—such items as endowments, &c., being omitted, as beside the purpose of the present article:

* No child under twelve years of age is allowed to attend a night-school.

From these figures some idea will be gathered of the progress that has already been made towards a thorough system of national elementary education, and, in order further to explain how the work is being carried on by the School Boards, we now proceed to give, by way of example, an account of the procedure of that of London.

This Board is elected once every three years by all the ratepayers, male or female, in the Metropolis, which for this purpose is divided into ten districts, each having a number of representatives proportioned to its population. By this arrangement a knowledge of the various wants of the different districts is better obtained than would be the case were the vast Metropolis treated as a whole.

At the passing of the Act, in 1871, the number of children in the Metropolis requiring elementary education was found to be 574,693, and, from recent scheduling, this number is found to have increased to over 614,000. At Midsummer, 1878, about 279,000 of these were provided for in Voluntary Schools, and 186,468 in Board Schools; but Schools to accommodate 53,000 were in course of erection, which would, when completed, make a total provision for 518,000 children; showing an increase of seventy-seven per cent. in efficient School places over the number which existed in 1871.

The London Board, at its commencement, found it necessary, in order properly to execute the large work with which it was entrusted, to appoint, from among its members, six standing Committees, namely: (1) Statistical and Law; (2) Works and General Purposes; (3), Finance; (4) Byelaws or Attendance; (5) Industrial Schools; (6) School Management; and each Committee appoints Sub-Committees for such purposes as the management of the cookery instruction, the teaching of the blind, deaf and dumb, &c. The full Board meets once every week, when the reports and recommendations of the Committees are brought up for discussion.

In addition to the general control by the divisional members, each School has a Committee of Local Managers, appointed by the Board, and is also looked after by one of five Board Inspectors, who holds a periodical examination and makes visits of surprise, to see that the rules of the Board are properly carried out.

In

The subjects taught in the schools are as follows:-Instruction in reading, writing, and arithmetic is given to all the boys and girls, as well as the rudiments to a majority of the infants. The class subjects required by the code are grammar, history, and elementary geography; in the girls' department, instruction in plain needlework; and in the infants' department, sewing. The elements of drawing are universally taught; and singing is also an essential subject for boys, girls, and infants, the teachers being at liberty to use either the established notation or the tonic sol-fa system. Instruction in drill is given to eightyone per cent. of the boys and twenty-eight per cent. of the girls, and nearly all the infants go daily through some physical exercises. addition to the subjects included in the ordinary standard work, the laws of health (or animal physiology) are explained to 6079 children; practical instruction in cookery is given to 800 girls at centres; object and kindergarten lessons are given to over 83,000 children; mensuration and book-keeping are taught as extra subjects to 1724 boys and 76 girls. Instruction in Latin is confined to 192 boys, most of whom are in training to become teachers. Provision is made for the deaf and dumb at four centres, and at Midsummer, 1876, there were 134 children of this afflicted class on the books. Corporal punishment is allowed to be inflicted by the head teachers only, and every case of punishment has to be entered in a book.

With regard to the work of the Industrial Schools' Committee, the reports show that up to June, 1876, its officers had dealt with 5245 cases of children found in the streets. Of these, 2374 were referred to the parish authorities, 41 were sent to refuges, 381 to certified industrial training ships, and 2449 were placed in various Industrial Schools or in the Board's own School at Brentford. Emphatic testimony has been borne by the Commissioner of Police to the marked diminution of juvenile crime and vagrancy effected by the efforts of the School Board.

From the foregoing statement a pretty clear conception will be formed of the amount of work carried on in respect of secular education since the passing of the Act of 1870. The only point that remains to be dealt with, is as to the way in which the religious and moral training of the children thus brought under the care of the School Boards is attended to.

The question of religious instruction was very hotly contested at the formation of most of the Boards, being unfortunately, in many cases, made a battle-field for political parties. A large number of Nonconformists looked upon the introduction of religious teaching into the schools as a violation of those principles on which they were grounding