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matriculated student passing the sessional examination of the university with which it is connected. When these colleges compete with academies they should be regarded as academies. The section was adopted with slight amendments.

The next section dealt with academy and school grants. The grants were to be determined by the following standards: Grand total of marks, averages of the percentages per grade, percentage of those enrolled who presented themselves for examination, percentage of passes reckoned in the same manner, average percentage of those enrolled who passed in geometry, algebra, Latin, French and English, general excellence of examinations and of school, as shown by report of the inspector, average number who passed in Latin, French, English, geometry and algebra.

Editorial Notes and Comments.

The Annual Convention of the Provincial Association of Protestant Teachers, which was held this year, as usual, in Montreal, had about its proceedings much that will distinguish it from its predecessors, in the memories of those who happened to be present at its various sessions. The number in attendance was more than sufficient to show how far our teachers from all parts of the Province are willing to make some sacrifice of time and money to take part in the deliberations of their fellow labourers. It has repeatedly been said, in the hearing of Quebec teachers, that the guiding principle in our provincial educational movements is that of self-sacrifice; and perhaps at this convention, more than at any other, the tendencies of a true self-sacrifice, as distinguished from a make-believe self-sacrifice, were made apparent. Whatever may be the opinion of those who claim that the EDUCATIONAL RECORD should not say too much on one subject or too little on another, it would be sheer hypocrisy to attempt to disguise the fact that some of the members of the Association have of late been trying to make too much of the Convention in the direction of their personal ambitions. In these times, it is often difficult to keep caucus-force out of even the most staid of our societies. Every day brings us fresh proof how the country at large has suffered from its evil tendencies. Even our church courts are far from being beyond its sleeker dominancy. Indeed, so universal has its operations come to be extended, from the political club-house to the temple of God, that to warn any society against its obliquities seems, at times, at least to those who justify it as a necessity, as the profane reviling of a law of nature. Yet every one must regret that

the statement has had to be made openly concerning the indirect methods which some of the members of the Association are pursuing to fashion a public opinion in the Convention, which is anything but the outcome of a well-matured and imprejudiced public opinion, spontaneous as it ought to be in its action. The words of advice which were given by the chairman pro tem., when accusations and counter insinuations had been made in open meeting, were timely and to the point, though perhaps they lost somewhat in their force from the earnestness with which that gentleman afterwards advocated certain nominations to office. It is not every man, however, who can always be as good as his prayer, and hence, outside of any appearance of inconsistency on the part of Dr. Robins, it is to be hoped that the words of advice which he uttered in denunciation of everything like a caucus pre-arrangement of policy for the Convention will have a permanent effect, and when the time comes round for another annual gathering, no teacher shall have cause to accuse his fellow teacher of conduct indiscreet and impolitic. Of the events which marked the Convention none seemed to cause such a stir as the address delivered by the Hon. Justice Lynch, unless it were the after discussion on the Pension Act and the election of Commissioners. It is very difficult to know how far we are to follow the Judge in his spirit of reform, until he has more clearly defined what modifications he would like to see introduced into our system. He has referred to some irregularities arising from a seeming misinterpretation of the statutes, or the spirit in which certain of them were framed, and at the same time has pointed out the irresponsibility of the administrative body which has the distribution of the moneys devoted towards the support of Superior Education. But these grievances, as the Judge has called them, are no new and original references to a state of affairs that is likely to continue until some more efficient form of administration has been projected by the powers that be. Indeed, until the late Minister of Crown Lands awoke their echoes in the Convention, many had looked upon the question of the Universities' right of having the share of money which they have enjoyed so long, and the allotment of the Jesuits Estates as dead issues, at least the one dead and the other about to be settled in an amicable way. The latter question namely, the instalment of the funds arising from the Jesuits' Estates involves a wider question which Judge Lynch himself has declared he would not like to see resuscitated. May it, therefore, not be wise to let the lesser question rest as quietly

as the greater, and engage the attention of the public with some project whereby the administrative body shall be reorganized as a body responsible directly to the people. The Judge has declaimed against the Protestant Committee as an irresponsible body, but he has not shown wherein that body is not representative, and until he does so, he is not likely to institute a reform which must have its inception recommended by such a proof. He has declared himself to be a man of the people, and, as such, a deadly opponent to anything like taxation without representation; but he has not proved that the Protestant Committee does not represent the people, and as the proof that such is the case rests with him, we must await his further recommendations in favour of an improved system for the disbursement of the funds for superior education. Those who know Judge Lynch cannot but respect his honesty of purpose. He was once a member of the Protestant Committee, and we trust the day is not far distant when he shall again be able to give of his advice in educational affairs as a member of that body, whether he succeed or not in making it more of a representative body than it seems to him to be now. When he again resumes his seat at that Board, we feel assured that he will change his opinion about many things in connection with our educational system. He will find out in a very short time that the influences controlling the Committee are very much the same influences that control the Provincial Association of Teachers, promoting a unification of interests between the teachers and the present system, whether these interests be of the people or not. He will find out that if the system under which our superior schools are being carried on is ruining our schools and the people, it was not framed with that intention, but was suggested and nurtured by one whose sound judgment he has not unfrequently spoken of in the highest terms of praise. He will probably find out that if the elementary subjects, such as reading, writing, arithmetic, and spelling, are neglected in our schools, it is not because the regulations of the Committee have discriminated against the careful study of such subjects, seeing no child can proceed to the examinations authorized by the Committee, without having made sufficient progress in all of them. He will doubtless also find that the Committee does not base the standing of our superior schools exclusively upon the higher branches, that, with the exception of Latin, the subjects which Mr. Lynch calls the higher branches are optional subjects in the eyes of the Protestant Committee, and that but for the opposition of

the teachers, even Latin would have remained optional as a subject in the course of study for our Academies. But it is hardly necessary for us to indicate further, directly or indirectly, how far the Protestant Committee are labouring in a good cause and in the right direction. There can be no hiding of the fact that many people in our province have been looking upon our educational enterprises after the manner of Judge Lynch. They are willing to praise or blame by majority, and as they have discovered flaws in a system which is said to to have been fostered for the most part by the sunshine of one man's smile, it can hardly be forbidden to others to be chary of a reform that finds its inception in a single man's frown. A system of education, to be successful, must be founded on first principles, a reform that can be justified must have more than a majority for its justification. The study of Latin or Greek may be made as useful to a boy in his after life as the study of book-keeping or agriculture. Indeed, in the course of study there is not a subject which can well be eliminated if our boys are to be made all-round practical men, and our girls the after teachers of their own or other people's children. It seems almost ridiculous to the true educationist for some school subjects to be called the "higher branches" and others the "practical subjects." All subjects that are worthy a place in any sound course of study are practical subjects, while all are equally important. Besides, they are all elementary subjects. The "higher branch" is only in order after the pupil has left school; and it would be well if the critics of any system of imparting instruction to the young would only keep this in view, remembering at the same time as a first principle, that the only thing that can justify the introduction or amplification of any subject in any school course of study is its efficiency as a means to an end, the end being the mental improvement of the pupil, the promoting of a mental activity that enables the pupil to take charge of his own physical, intellectual and moral being.

-The subject that seemed to come next in importance, from the fervid tone in which it was discussed, was the Pension Act. This is purely a teacher's question and it is to be regretted that one of our newspapers has mixed it up, inadvertently no doubt, with general educational issues. The merits or demerits of the Pension Act form a subject which always provokes a lively discussion in the Convention, though it is somewhat strange that the question has never yet made sufficient progress as to be relegated to the action of a sub-committee. There appear to be anomalies in the Act which are said to stamp in one case

an act of justice and benevolence as illegal, and in another case a seeming act of injustice as legal. But it is hardly a question for us to discuss before the teachers have been fully heard from, The writer has already been accused of knowing nothing about the labours of the administration, and is willing to assume the full responsibility of being in the majority until more light has been thrown on the subject. It was at one time thought that the Boards of School Commissioners would assume the burden of the stoppages, but the movement, inaugurated and still continued by some of the more generous of the Boards, was, for some reason or other, indirectly frowned upon, and has consequently made little or no progress. In our opinion, such would be a solution of the difficulty. Meantime, however, the EDUCATIONAL RECORD will make space for any suggestions that may deliver the subject from the class of vexed questions.

We expect to give in our next issue the verbatim report of the Rev. Mr. Rexford's address at the Convention on Moral Training in Our Schools. Coming as it does after the prominence that has been given of late in these pages to various articles on this subject, we cannot but welcome its utterances. The necessity for improved methods in training our children to know the right from the wrong, and what is of more importance, to create in them habits of right doing, is pressing itself upon the people of every section of the continent. Partyism in church and state, and selfishness in every walk in life create a right of their own, but it is not the right as distinguished from the arrong. Christ did not establish two systems of ethics, and Christian moralists can know but one. "Be ye wise as serpents and harmless as doves" does not mean that society may undermine a man's reputation and smile on him with all the sweetness of innocence during the process. "An eye for an eye" may still be a principle, but it is an immoral principle and let us not admit it in our lives, by permitting it in our children's playground. There is but one morality, and it is the training in this morality we would have in our schools, a morality that is sincere enough to do the right by all men, irrespective of the feelings that provoke to harmdoing out of revenge.

Current Events.

The following is the report of the Hon. Judge Lynch's address before the Convention as given by the Montreal Daily Witness. Referring to his first grievance, Judge Lynch "protested against the money derived from the sale of inarriage licenses

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