From the preceding Table, it will appear that one-fourth of these examinations have been held in other districts than my own. This was by your Lordships' direction, partly on behalf of the Rev. F. C. Cook, whom severe illness had unfortunately disabled for a time, and partly on behalf of the Rev. H. Moseley, whose engagements had so multiplied upon him, both in number and in magnitude, as to render it expedient to relieve him from a few of such as were most easily transferable. Since that time, indeed, a large and important part of the latter gentleman's district of inspection has been appended by your Lordships to my own, which now, therefore, comprises the county of Hampshire, in addition to those of Kent, Surrey, and Sussex, of which it previously consisted.

As this accession to my sphere of duty has occurred, however, so recently as two months ago, and as much more of it has been inspected by Mr. Moseley during the past year than by myself, I do not propose to make any further comments upon the schools which I have seen in Hampshire than are found appended to them in the tables in the sequel. Nor, indeed, with respect to the counties of Kent, Surrey, and Sussex, of which my district previously consisted, and which have been visited since 1847 by me exclusively, shall I think it needful to add much to those remarks upon each individual school, beyond a few observations upon the encouraging success which in those counties has attended the application of the Minutes of 1846, so far as relates to the apprenticehip of pupil-teachers. The following Table will exhibit the proportion which visits of simple inspection, and visits with reference to pupil-teachers and certificates of merit, have borne respectively to the number of schools liable to inspection in the three counties severally.—

Total 294 124 82 71 43 8 2 124 153 88 241

Besides the apprentices here reckoned, I have examined about 150 in other counties, making a total of about 400 apprentices. When it is observed how large a proportion the schools to which apprentices have been assigned bear to the schools

COUNTIES.

Localities liable to In

spection.

Localities Inspected.

Localities Inspected as
having Apprentices.
Boys' Schools having

Apprentices.

Girls' Schools having

Apprentices.

Mixed Schools having
Apprentices

Infants' Schools having
Apprentices.

Total Schools Inspected
as having Apprentices.

Total Male Apprentices.

No Total Female Appren

31 93

14

32

24 56

371

943

12

7

21

6

11 39

228

tices.

actually inspected, and when it is considered also that those recorded as simple inspections were, in fact, most of them conducted with a view to the election of apprentices, if possible, it will not be thought irrelevant if I venture upon a few words both as to the process which I have pursued in selecting children for apprenticeship, and also as to the degree in which up to the present time they have fulfilled those favourable expectations by which your Lordships were induced to sanction their indentures.

And here I trust that the grateful feeling which suggests the observation may excuse the triviality of saying how much pleasure I have derived from that part of my occupation which has been connected with the pupil-teacher system. But is it indeed trivial to speak of the discharge of any duty as being accompanied by a sense of honest satisfaction? May not the comfort or the irksomeness with which any course of action is pursued, be taken as a measure not entirely fallacious of the ends it is effecting? It certainly consists with my experience to say so, and in no case more signally than in this system of apprenticeship, in which it has been my happiness to be so much engaged. The interesting character of the young people usually presented for selection, the gratifying condition of a large majority of schools in which the clergy had so interested themselves as to move for these advantages, and the very marked improvements which have followed their adoption, have combined to connect my occupation not only with a large amount of actual pleasure in the performance of it, but with no inconsiderable portion also of that much more substantial and weather-proof satisfaction which accompanies the outward evidence that one is doing something really useful for mankind. It would be romance to hope that this, an essentially critical employment, should differ from all others in a complete exemption from misapprehensions, hidden or disclosed; and it would be arrogance in me to feel confident that I may not have been to blame for some of those concealed dissatisfactions which criticism, however frank, and honest, and indulgent, must sometimes occasion. But upon a retrospect of the last 20 months, and the 400 school inspections in which they have been occupied, I cannot call to mind a single occasion on which any embarrassment or discomfort has arisen between those interested and myself; or if in one solitary instance I have encountered unawares a correspondence marked by more vivacity, than might seem to consist with this assertion, it was brought so quickly to a close as satisfactory to all else concerned as to myself, that I should not have thought it needful to remember it, excepting to guard myself against the possible imputation of a boast more round than accurate.

Indeed, without a single exception that I can remember, my

N

reverend brethren have been so entirely of counsel with me as respects apprentices, and the selection of them has been so purely a matter of friendly conference as to which children-regard being had to the restrictions of your Lordships' Minutes-could be apprenticed most beneficially for the schools and for themselves, that there has been scarcely any room for other than the most acquiescent mutual feelings; and while it is my bounden duty to record the utmost frankness, reasonableness and courteous accommodation in my reverend friends, I believe that they will also acknowledge that this conduct on their part has been reciprocated by a studious endeavour to consult their wishes, and to make their own opinions and desires a main element in the recommendations which I have from time to time submitted to your Lordships. Since writing the last sentence, I have carefully reviewed my list of pupil-teacher schools, and out of 400 cases cannot find more than a single instance, in respect of which I have been made acquainted with any dissatisfaction in the clergy with the decisions ultimately pronounced by your Lordships, nor a solitary pupil-teacher whose apprenticeship has been promoted, or continued to be recognized, but at the instance or with the unreserved approbation of the clergyman interested in the case.

It will appear more clearly how this should probably, as it has practically been the case, if I relate somewhat in detail the process of selection.

Your Lordships' Minutes require that candidates should be not less than 13 years of age, nor more than 16. That they, their parents and their teacher, should exhibit certificates of moral and religious character from the clergyman; that they should be apt to teach, and should have reached a specified standard of intellectual attainment; great prominency being given in this latter requirement to religious knowledge, with respect to which the joint certificate of the clergyman and the Inspector is required, "that the candidate for apprenticeship can repeat the Church Catechism and understand its meaning, and is acquainted with the outlines of Scripture history." Qualifications similar in kind, but progressively higher in degree, are required year by year through the whole course of apprenticeship. Besides this, the Inspector is instructed to report upon the master or mistress "as a guide and example in the formation of the character of the apprentices, and 2ndly upon the school as a place for their training." To which instruction this is added, viz., “Her Majesty's Inspector will be careful to mention under the second head, the state of the children's knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, the Catechism, and the Liturgy; and to invite the assistance of the parochial clergyman in this part of the examination."

It is possible that a clergyman who has applied for apprentices,

may have acquainted himself imperfectly with the nature and extent of these requirements, and that on my visit to his school he may present a batch of candidates, including one or two over or under age, or with some other disqualification, about which there cannot be two opinions. These are at once removed from the list with such words of tenderness and encouragement as may be suitable. It remains to be ascertained respecting the rest, not only which of them, upon an equitable interpretation of your Lordships' Minutes, are qualified for apprenticeship; but, since the number attending the school may allow only a limited election, which of them are, upon the whole, best qualified and entitled to a preference above their competitors. This has to be ascertained by careful observation and inquiry as to character and manners; and by intellectual examination, both oral and on paper, the latter usually occupying from three to four hours. It may be, that in moral and intellectual qualification some are so eminent above the others that the choice is obvious. But it will frequently occur, that the attainments apparent on examination are so balanced, that the selection must depend on a variety of considerations, with which the personal observation of the Inspector can make him but imperfectly acquainted. And here it is, that the assistance of the clergyman not only becomes indispensable, but is introduced precisely at the point where he would most desire his influence to be felt, namely, where the personal characteristics, the parochial relation, and the peculiar circumstances of the candidates have to be taken into account. Against the positive restrictions of the Minutes he does not wish to contend. The moral and religious certificates are at his own discretion, and no candidate can possibly pass that barrier but with his consent. About the intellectual attainments of candidates, whether they can or cannot write out a parable, or work a sum in Rule of Three correctly, there is rarely any room for difference of opinion; but when it comes to making choice between two candidates, both of whom present the more obvious qualifications for election, then it is that the counsel of the clergyman is imperatively needed respecting personal characteristics, domestic history, and local circumstances, to determine a question very vital to the interests of these young people; counsel which I have never failed throughout the whole proceeding to solicit, which has always been frankly afforded, and always gratefully accepted and carefully employed. Whilst the paramount and indispensable qualifications of moral and religious character are left entirely to the testimony of the clergyman, those of religious knowledge (which are reckoned by your Lordships as second only to the former in importance) are referred to the joint examination of the clergyman and the Inspector. It has been my invariable wish and endeavour, that the clergyman should

exercise this privilege; and when he has consented so to do, I have reposed with so much confidence upon his judgment, that, except a few paper questions to which written answers have been returned, I have contented myself with very few oral questions, or with listening while the candidates themselves put questions on this subject to a class. I should think it very much to be deplored if the comparative reserve, which in such cases I have sometimes exhibited, with reference to this important branch of qualification (that of religious knowledge) should have been attributed in a single instance to any other cause than an implicit confidence and satisfaction in the judiciousness and sufficiency of the parochial clergyman's examination, which having been conducted in my presence, might fairly supersede the necessity of any protracted examination by myself. But besides that I have not thought it needful to consume time by lengthening materially what has seemed to me a sufficient series of religious questions by the clergyman, I have felt anxious not to disturb or to impair the influence and tendency of his examination, by what might look like a separate and independent examination of my own upon that subject. As respects this branch of qualification most especially, it has been my earnest desire and endeavour to sustain the impression, that the parochial clergyman and myself are not two examiners acting as a control and check upon each other's scrutiny, but joint examiners in one examination, and with one end in view, namely, the highest and best interests of the school. Beyond a few incidental oral questions, therefore, which might serve to show that the others had not been answered mechanically and by rote, and a few also embodied in my question paper, I have not usually thought it well to institute an examination in religious knowledge, distinct from that conducted by the clergyman. It has, however, sometimes happened that the clergyman has preferred to resign this task entirely to myself, in which case my examination has been more searching and extended than it would otherwise have been, and conducted usually in his presence; and I have made a point of securing his written acquiescence in my judgment.

Besides the printed qualification forms provided by your Lordships, I have always taken with me to examinations for apprenticeship a table for my private guidance, of which the following is a copy :