From this it will seen that the average per cent.

Showing a decrease of 2.13 per cent. in 3 years.

In 1853, the number of schools inspected was 193, with an ordinary attendance of 20,197. The per-centage of those who had been at school

In 1854, the per-centage of those who had been at school

From this it appears that, during the past year, there has Educationa been a considerable gain in the attendance of children who progress. have been at school two years and upwards, but a loss of those who have been at school three and four years; for, taking the aggregate of those who had attended two years and upwards, we have the following results. Those who had so attended

In respect to income and expenditure, the figures afford us school some favourable conclusions. The amount of voluntary con-finances. tributions to each of the 137 schools inspected in 1850 was on the average 381. 68. 41d.; while in 1854, to each of the 241 schools inspected, it was 467. 14s. 11d., or 8l. 8s. 6d. additional per school.

pence.

Again, the amount of school pence per school in 1850 was Children's 25l. 28. 104d.; in 1854 it was 31l. 48. 8d., or 6l. 18. 10d. additional per school.

come.

The total income per school in 1850 was 787. 128. 83d.; in Total in1854 it was 115l. 14s. 2ąd.; an increase of 371. 1s. 6d. per school, something like 50 per cent.

Expenditure.

Some of the items in expenditure are not less striking, e.g. :In 1850 the amount of salary per school was 617. 10s. 63d.; in 1854, 75l. 19s. 94d., or an increase of 14l. 9s. 23d., some 25 per cent. In 1850, the amount expended in books, per school was 51. 10s. 2d.; in 1854, 77. 15s. 1†d., or an increase of 1l. 14s. 11 d., some 30 per cent.; and this without taking into calculation the great increase of books purchased by the children. In this district the custom of children purchasing their own books has made, and is still making, a rapid stride. The total expenditure per school in 1850 was 84l. 188. 43d.; in 1854, 110. Os. 31d., an increase of 25l. 18. 10d. per school, or more than 30 per cent.

This increase of income and expenditure is a strong proof of the nature of the voluntary principle in education, where it can be applied, when judiciously stimulated by conditional aid, as is done by your Lordships' annual grants.

"Vires acquirit eundo."

I have appended some statements concerning the payment of school fees (Appendix A.)

OF DOOKS by their own

The practice of persuading or compelling the children to Purchase purchase their books is, as I have observed, extending in the children for district. The financial advantages to the school are among the least to be considered in this matter. To see some of them one need but ask how any public school would succeed which should exclude all work performed out of school-the inevitable result where children neither purchase books nor take home with them those which belong to the school.(Appendix B.)

Manual industry is also spreading. Your Lordships' capi- Manual Intation grant of 28. 6d. to all children properly instructed in dustry. gardening, or other handicraft, will do much in this direction. I could wish that the fee were larger, at all events for a time. Few things have convinced me more of the importance of this, in a physical point of view, than the appearance of some of the schoolmasters in this district on some late occasions. Their pallid and care-worn countenances in many instances prove that the body is resenting the neglect to which it has been subjected. Fresh air and exercise are of more importance in preserving health than many people admit, and there is much to be gained from any plan which will induce men of sedentary habits to pursue them.-(Appendix C.)

hours.

Alteration of school hours is also extending. The children Schoolmeet at 10, are dismissed for dinner at 12 or 121, return to school at 1 or 1, and leave at 3. In some schools a portion of the Wednesday afternoon is spent in gardening or other manual industry instead of in books. This seems to work well.

dustrial

My inspection for the past year has embraced Reformatory Reformaand Industrial as well as National schools. Of these the tory and inreports are tabulated in the usual form. I beg leave to call schools. your Lordships' attention particularly to the Birmingham Industrial School, which is supplying what was felt as a great want in that town, and is very admirably conducted. The peculiar province of this institution is to deal with a class of children which none other of our schools touch. The National and the British schools embrace the children of

Endowed schools.

Schools of

Art.

the small tradesmen, the artisans, and the labouring poor; the Workhouse schools take in the children who are resident within the walls of the unions; the Reformatory schools take up the criminals, rescue them from the walls of the prison, and attempt to restore them to society; but for the class which is too poor to pay the school fee of the National school, which is obliged to earn a portion at least of its livelihood by labour, and which has not qualified itself by transgression of the law for the Reformatory, there is no place but such as is provided at Birmingham. There is an attempt to carry out a similar institution at Bristol; but, although it possesses some certain high qualities of its own, it is not so efficient as that at Birmingham. One great object in both these schools is to make the children earn, as far as possible, their learning by manual work. The difficulty is to find remunerative employment for them; this is the case even in places where there is great demand for juvenile labour. Some further inquiries will probably enable the managers to solve the problem.

Endowed Schools.*

There are in my district many schools with small endowments, which under your Lordships' present regulations are excluded from "augmentation" grants. The consequence is, that the managers, are unable to engage the services of certificated teachers, and the endowments which were intended for the provision of efficient education are not simply useless, but positive obstructions to all progress. I would beg leave to call your Lordships' attention to this subject.

Schools of Art.

These institutions are not extending much in the district. The assistance afforded by the Board of Trade is insufficient to induce persons not commercially interested to undertake the responsibility and trouble of establishing such schools. Your Lordships' regulations respecting art study in training colleges will go far to turn out a class of drawing masters, and the rule of the Board of Trade, which obliges each Local School of Art to instruct a certain number of elementary schools before it can receive Government aid, will tend to diffuse it to a certain extent in those places where schools are established and supported by persons interested in their success, but will not, I fear, secure its regular diffusion through the country. My own impression is very strong that drawing should be made, not merely a branch of trade, but, an integral part of our

* Vide Appendix D.

educational system. Few things are more calculated to improve the faculties of the mind, and to make it observant, perspective, accurate, and true. To take only one branch of the subject, how valuable in all the varied operations of life, must be that habit of weighing carefully the relative importance of objects, which necessarily attends "composition," where everything has its own proper size, colouring, and place! It is, I think, very desirable that this important study should be much extended.-(Vide Appendix E., especially Memorandum from Birmingham School of Art.)

Female Industrial Work.

دو

dustrial

The difficulties attending this ought not to induce its Female inneglect. There is very little doing in this direction, with the work. exception of needle-work. Much more I am satisfied might be done, if the managers and mistresses would look at the matter in a plain common sense way, and consider themselves bound to fit girls for a proper discharge of domestic duties, whether in "service," or in their own cottages, and be content with "small things. I have never been more fully convinced of the possibility of result in this direction than on my late visit to Iffley, a small agricultural parish in Oxfordshire, under the cure of the Rev. T. Acton Warburton. The girls there not only learn to sew and cut out, but on every Friday the school closes earlier than usual, when some of the elder girls are told off in turn to scrub the floors, clean the grates, and perform other household work. The mistress superintends, showing how the various works are best performed; and Mr. Acton Warburton, by occasional presence and remarks, endeavours to give these operations the character of industrial training, rather than domestic drudgery. Some of the parents, he says, made objections at first, but on explaining to them his intentions, and the advantages to their children, they all yielded to his representations. In some schools ladies attend in the afternoons, to read to the children while they are working. This appears to be a useful opening for ladies to work in.

Reading Rooms and other sources of recreation.

rooms, &c.

These are extending, but might be increased. At Iffley, as Reading above, the attempt has been successful. Mr. Acton Warburton, on this head, writes to me as follows:

“I made an early effort to institute a reading-room; in this I met with the genial co-operation of my excellent friends in the parish, who are all favourable to enlightened plans of education, and full of sympathy for the working The room is fitted up comfortably. The neighbours have contributed a very fair library, and supply us with all the best newspapers. Chess and draughts are provided, and a nice nine-pin alley laid down behind the room.

man.