Duties of Inspectors.-Very careful directions were drawn up in 1839 for the guidance of the Inspectors, whose duties were threefold, viz. :—

1. To inquire concerning applications for aid to erect new schools.

2. To inspect schools already aided.

3. To make inquiries into the educational condition of particular districts. Only in schools connected with the National Church were Inspectors to inquire into the religious teaching. In these, they were to ascertain with special care, how far the doctrines and principles of the Church were instilled into the minds of the children.

Building Plans-Information on Modes of Teaching.-A series of plans and specifications, &c., for school buildings of various sizes, approved by the Committee of Council, was drawn up in 1840, which proved of great assistance to different localities. A paper was also prepared, about the same time, for the use of Teachers, and those interested in education, on the Constructive Methods' of teaching, reading, writing, and vocal music, and on the way in which English Primary Schools differed from the best models in the Protestant States of Europe.

Schools to be Visited Twice a Year.-In 1843 a scheme was framed, by which it was arranged that an Inspector should visit and report on each school in his district once every half-year. A separate officer, in no way connected with the Established Church or under the influence of the Bishops, was appointed to visit the British Schools; and, as at that time only seventyeight had placed themselves under inspection, it was possible for this one officer to see them all twice within the twelve months.

Building Grants extended to Teachers' Houses -An important additional means of aid was provided in 1843, by extending building grants towards erecting Teachers' houses. Hitherto, assistance of this nature had been limited exclusively to the building of class-rooms. The conditions were :—

1. That the school for which such a house was required had been conveyed to trustees for the education of the children of the poor.

2. That the school was efficient.

3. That the right of inspection of the school attached was secured to the Committee of Council.

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4. That the site and premises as a residence for the Teacher were conveyed to trustees.

5. That the building was approved; and,

6. That the local contributions were satisfactory to the Committee of Council.

Aid towards School Furniture.-About this same time, grants were offered to managers, to enable them to provide suitable school furniture and apparatus. This was done with a hope that such aid might prove an incentive to the exertions of the Masters, and be the means of improving and stimulating languishing schools.

Statistics of Increase in Schools.-Up to the year 1844, it was computed that the grants of the Committee of Council had amounted to 170,000l. With the exception of a few grants for Masters' houses, this had been entirely devoted to school buildings. During the same time, private subscriptions had been collected to the extent of about 430,000l. It was further calculated that from the year 1834, when the first public grant was made, no less than 290,000l. had been provided by the State, in addition to between 700,000l. and 800,000l. raised by private liberality; so that the whole amount devoted during this period to building schools was more than a million sterling.

Deficiency of Income of Schools. This mode of promoting the education of the poor continued for some years without material alteration; and the number of schools throughout the country was largely multiplied. The remuneration of the Teachers was in most cases precarious and insufficient, and as a consequence, the supply of eligible candidates for training as Teachers was inadequate to the requirements. In 1844 the Committee of Council directed their Inspectors to make inquiries respecting the incomes of the schools, the way in which they were raised, and the manner in which they were expended; with a view to their augmentation, either by judicious economy or improved arrangements. The results of these inquiries showed that, without some further assistance, the condition of a large number of the schools was such that many of them would probably, sooner or later, have to be given up.

Commencement of Annual Grants-Pupil Teachers. Such being the condition of the schools-so many of which had been erected to a large extent out of the public purse- the Com

mittee of Council determined to supplement the local resources by annual grants, thus commencing a new and most important era in the history of English education. This was done by the Minutes of August 25, and December 21, 1846. They established the system of Pupil Teachers and Stipendiary Monitors, and of payments to Teachers on account of certificates obtained by them at an annual examination.

PUPIL TEACHERS.

General Regulations.-Memorials had often been received by the Committee of Council, representing the serious loss to schools arising from the early withdrawal of promising children who were acting as assistants. It was in order to secure for these some means of support during the continuance of their school duties, and thus prevent them from giving up the occupation of teaching for which they showed promise, that the following regulations were adopted. It was laid down that, in any school under inspection, which was properly supplied with books and apparatus, and had a competent Teacher, these young assistants, if thirteen years of age, might, after passing a satisfactory examination before an Inspector, be appointed Pupil Teachers. The number in any one school was not to exceed one to every twenty-five pupils ordinarily attending. They were to be apprenticed for five years, during which time they were to assist in the school; and the Master was to give them instruction daily for at least an hour and a-half for five days in the week. At the end of each of the five years of apprenticeship, the Pupil Teacher was required to satisfy the Inspector in a course of study laid down for that purpose. It was proposed that at the termination of the five years a certificate should be issued, showing that the course had been completed. Objections, however, were found to the formal certificate, and the Education Department merely answered inquiries concerning the Pupil Teacher's previous history, to persons proposing to engage them. In Church of England Schools an examination was to be held in the Holy Scriptures, Liturgy, and Church Catechism, at which the parochial clergyman was to be invited to assist. In other schools, the state of the candidate's religious knowledge was to be certified by the managers.

Payments to Pupil Teachers and their Teachers.-The payments

to those Pupil Teachers who passed this annual examination were as follows:

The remuneration to the Teacher for instructing them was at the rate of 57. per annum for one Pupil Teacher, 97. for two, 127. for three, and 37. more for each additional one. A further gratuity was granted to the Master if his Pupil Teachers were skilfully trained in some mechanical arts suitable to a School of Industry, and to the Mistress if her Pupil Teachers were instructed in cutting out clothes, cooking, baking, washing, as well as in the more usual arts of sewing and knitting. These payments were made if the Inspector reported that the Pupil Teachers were in a satisfactory course of training for the management of a School of Industry, and the amounts granted varied according to the degree of skill and care displayed in each case.

STIPENDIARY MONITORS.

Regulations and Payments.-These were to meet the case of schools where the Master had not sufficient ability to teach a Pupil Teacher the prescribed course, and were only contemplated

a provisional arrangement until the imperfectly qualified Teachers had been superseded by duly-qualified trained Masters. The appointment was for four, instead of for five years; and the instruction given by the Teacher to the Monitor was much more elementary in its character than that given to the Pupil Teachers.

The payments to the Monitor were 57. for the first year, 71. 10s. for the second, 10% for the third, and 12/. 10s. for the fourth. The grants to the Master were 27. 10s., for one Monitor, 41. for two, 61. for three, and 1/ 10s. for each additional one under his tuition.

Queen's Scholarships. After the completion of the five years' apprenticeship, the Pupil Teacher might be examined before the Inspector and the Principal of a Training College under inspection, and if successful, receive an Exhibition, called a

Queen's Scholarship, whereby 20%. or 251. was paid to one of these colleges to defray the expenses of his training as a Teacher. The course of study might continue for one, two, or three years, and certificates could be obtained at the end of each year entitling the holders, when they taught in Elementary Schools under inspection, to an annual allowance from the State, varying from 15% to 30%. in the case of males, and from 10l. to 20/. in the case of females.

Pupil Teachers in Public Service-Not carried out.-To those Pupil Teachers who did not display the highest qualifications, and who consequently were not fit to enter the Training Colleges to be educated as Teachers, an expectation was held out that they might obtain employment in the public service. In 1852, however, this proposal was cancelled, as it was thought that such an arrangement might raise indefinite expectations, which practically it would be found difficult to fulfil, and might have a tendency to divert the attention of the Pupil Teachers from the main object for which grants of money in their behalf were made.'

Pensions to Teachers.—In the same Minute it was proposed to grant pensions to Teachers of inspected schools, though the details were not published until 1851, when they were laid down by the Minute of August 6.

Grants to Schools of Industry.-Grants were also to be made in aid of Day Schools of Industry under the following heads :— 1. School Field Gardens.

2. Workshops for Trades.

3. School Kitchens and Washhouses.

In most of these cases, which consisted of Ragged, Reformatory, Industrial, and other similar schools, the aid was in the shape of payment of part of the rent, of the cost of tools, additions to the Teacher's salary, and occasionally of building grants in lieu of rent.

Aid to Workhouse Schools-Kneller Hall.-The management of the grants first made by Parliament this year towards the salaries of Workhouse Teachers (vide Workhouse Schools) was also placed under the Committee of Council, and some regulations. were published by that Department in the Minute of December 21, 1846. Included in this branch was the establishment of Kneller Hall Training Institution, for educating Teachers for Pauper Schools.