. I have already laid before your Lordships a special Report on the intellectual qualifications, as tested by this examination, of each candidate for a certificate, as well as on her character, as far as I was able to form any judgment upon it. It will, therefore, be necessary in this Report to show only the general results of the examination. General Results.-1st. As to the settled schoolmistresses; 2nd. As to pupils who have been in training more than one year; 3rd. As to the other pupils. The following table contains an account of the settled schoolmistresses: It appears that the average time that the settled schoolmistresses remained in training at Whitelands does not quite equal two years, a time, as I conceive, too short for the chief and highest object of such an institution, viz. the formation, under God's blessing, of a sober, thoughtful, and self-denying character in young women, who, on their entrance into the training school, have generally very little knowledge, and no peculiar fitness for the laborious profession to which they are about to devote themselves. I must remark, also, that the number of the settled schoolmistresses who presented themselves at this examination as candidates for certificates seems to me small. The Institution at Whitelands has now been at work for six years; in that space of time 93 pupils have been sent out as teachers, of whom 82 are now in charge of schools. A greater number, therefore, might fairly have been expected to present themselves at an examination where honorable and public distinction was to be obtained. I am informed that, in some instances, schoolmistresses were prevented from attending by inability to procure substitutes in their schools during their absence; and others intend to present themselves at the ensuing district examinations. In the school mistresses examined on this occasion I found a general deficiency of arithmetic. Their knowledge of this subject is, with rare exceptions, neither extensive nor intelligent. Their acquaintance with Holy Scripture is generally satisfactory. They do not appear in many instances to be well skilled in grammar, nor to be much conversant with the geography of the British Empire. In the next table are given the names of those pupils who have been in training for one year and upwards, with the period of their training, and the number of the class in which they now stand. There are four classes in the Institution. * Unwell after the second day's examination. It is worthy of observation, that Susan Kyberd, who passed the most satisfactory examination of all the candidates, was a pupilteacher in the school at Baldwin's Gardens; and that M. Ould (who, considering the time that she has been in the Institution, has acquitted herself with very great credit) was an assistant teacher in the school of All. Souls, Langham-place. This circumstance, amongst many others, gives fair ground for expectation that when the pupils who, under your Lordships' late Minutes, are apprenticed to the teachers of schools, shall have completed their apprenticeship, and entered into the Training Institutions, they will exhibit both a far higher standard of acquirements, and a much greater professional knowledge, than a considerable majority of those who are now sent out to teach our schools. The impression on my mind is, that teachers in charge of schools, in some cases from indolence, in others from over-occupation in the mechanical parts of education, do not for any length of time keep up to the standard of acquirements and intellectual activity with which they quitted the Training College. The impetus there given ceases to act, and the teacher falls accordingly. It is only reasonable to suppose that the wholesome and constant stimulus afforded by the prospect of certificates of merit dependent on annual examinations, and by the other workings of your Lordships' late Minutes (August and December, 1846) will be most beneficial to them in this respect. It now only remains for me to show the result of the examination of those pupils who have not resided so long as one year in the Institution. They are arranged in the order (as it seemed to me) of their merit, and are divided into three classes. The time of their training is also stated. As none of these can at present be candidates for certificates of merit, it seems right to observe that several of them passed a very satisfactory examination, and that the three highest in the list would probably, under other circumstances, have obtained a thirdclass certificate. On the other hand it must be said, that some of them are exceedingly ignorant, being unable to work the four simple rules of arithmetic correctly, possessing little knowledge either of the Old or New Testament, altogether unskilled in geography, grammar, or English history, and utterly unable to spell words of the most common occurrence. It is hardly necessary to say, that this state of ignorance is not owing to any want of sufficient instruction in the training school, but to the deplorable neglect of sound elementary education in the families of those who are raised a little above the pcorest class. It is from these families that the majority, as I am told, of the young women in training are drawn. They have been educated (if it be not misusing the term) at "private boarding-schools." A little external dressing has been given to them, but rarely any internal culture. They have been taught some fancy needlework, and to write in a running hand; they can read fluently, but not with expression; they have learned by heart passages of Holy Scripture, a few hymns, and other pieces of poetry, but have seldom been directed to their meaning. On such material it is difficult for the most skilful teacher of a training school to work with any effect. She must carefully pull down before she begin to build up any structure on such an unsteady foundation; she must, indeed, lay a new foundation on different principles, and with a careful hand. It is, therefore, hardly fair to expect great results from the examination of pupils in the training colleges for mistresses, until they shall have received a more sound elementary education, and a longer period of training than two years shall have been allotted to them. It seems to me that, on the whole, there is every reason to be satisfied both with the progress in studies and the formation of professional character of the pupils at Whitelands. Condition of Premises.-At the close of the examination I inspected the premises and buildings belonging to the Institution. The whole extent of the ground is about half an acre. The front, on which the buildings are erected, is in the King's Road, Chelsea. The plan of the present buildings, and of the proposed enlargements and improvements in them, now lies at the Privy Council Office, for your Lordships' inspection. I need only, therefore, briefly state my opinion, that the premises generally are unworthy of, and unsuitable for, the great objects for which they are used. The rooms are badly situated for their purposes; they are, with few exceptions, low, ill-lighted, and insufficiently ventilated; they are deficient in number, and inconvenient in size. I would mention, especially, the chief class-room, through which the inmates of the house are continually and necessarily passing and repassing. Its windows open on the public street; a scene of continual noise and distraction. The dining-room is most inconveniently placed at the end of a long wooden passage, and at the top of a flight of rickety stairs. It is low, dark, ill-ventilated, and ill-shaped. The floor is uneven, and shakes as you walk across the room. The larder or pantry is in the worst possible place for its object, having no communication with the external air but by a skylight. The dormitories, also, which are kept perfectly neat and clean, are ill-placed and deficient both in pitch and ventilation. The windows of one of them open on a parapet wall. The laundry and scullery are altogether inadequate for their purposes, and are overrun with rats, from which it is hardly possible to keep the premises free, as there is a range of low old buildings connecting the two houses occupied by the Institution, and containing some of its offices, which are in a very bad state of repair, and afford good harbour for these animals. II, 21. The old buildings are, in the contemplated improvements, to be entirely removed. But whether the present situation is suitable for a training school for young women may be well worth the consideration of the National Society; as also, whether there will be sufficient space for healthy exercise in the garden, diminished by the erection of new buildings in it; and whether it has sufficient privacy for the cheerful recreation of the pupils, overlooked as it now is by new houses lately erected at the back. Of the salubrity of the present situation, though low, there is, I am informed, little doubt; but it should be remembered that new streets are rising around the building, which, in some degree, must alter its character and impede its ventilation. Officers of the Institution, and arrangement of Instruction.—It is my duty to state that, amidst all the discouraging circumstances of the locality and premises, the excellent superintendent, Mrs. Field, has made most judicious arrangements for the conduct of the Institution, and by her kind and wise rule has maintained a very pleasing tone in her pupils; blending with the strict discipline of the school the warm affections of a large family. She is intrusted with the general superintendence of the Institution. The chief secular instruction in the classes is given by Miss Lowman, of whose conscientious devotion to her duties, and intellectual qualifications for them, no one acquainted with Whitelands is ignorant. She is assisted by Miss Cuckow and Miss Murphy. Religious instruction is imparted to the students by the chaplain, the Rev. H. Baber, to whose kind assistance during the examination I was much indebted, both in the active superintendence of one division of the pupils and in the methodical arrangement of their different papers. Mr. Baber has been resident in the Institution for only five months. I learn from his statement that, in addition to the instruction in Biblical history, which is given to each class separately in the course of the forenoon, threequarters of an hour are set apart every morning (with the exception of Saturday) for the general religious instruction of all the students assembled in the great lecture-room." A lecture is there given to them on some portion of the Holy Scriptures, or of the Liturgy and Articles of the Church. At times, the senior students are called upon, one by one, to give a Scripture-lesson to their fellow-students in the presence of the chaplain, by whom its merits or defects are pointed out at its conclusion. I should add also, that the only room appropriated to the chaplain is far too small for the accommodation of a moderately-sized class of young women, and that it is inconveniently shaped and ill-ventilated. The secular instruction given by Miss Lowman and the assistant teachers is principally in English grammar, geography (more particularly of the British empire), and English history, and is graduated according to the abilities and attainments of the different classes. In the senior class, attention has also been paid to |