lieutenant of Ireland. The managers of schools, who are generally clergymen, come into immediate relation with this board. There are no elected school boards, as in England and Scotland, nor do local civil authorities appear in the matter at all.

Several details pertaining to the internal conduct of schools, which, in Great Britain, are left to local managers, are in Ireland entrusted to the board of commissioners (i. c., the representatives of the Government). This policy grew out of the religious question which presented the greatest obstacle to the development of a national system of education in Ireland. At the time of the organization of the system it was necessary to allay the jealousies which had been excited by previous attempts to force Protestant schools upon a population ovewhelmingly Catholic. To this end a formal declaration was made on the part of the Government that its purpose was "to superintend a system of education from which should be banished even the suspicion of proselytism, and which, admitting children of all religious persuasions, should not interfere with the peculiar tenets of any."1

The sincerity of the Government with respect to this purpose was evidenced in the constitution of the board, which comprised eminent representatives of both Catholic and Protestant churches, and in placing under their control all matters affecting the subject of religious instruction. They were directed to separate literary and moral from religious instruction and to remit the latter subject to the clergy. All efforts to compel or to persuade the attendance of any child upon these exercises against the wishes of parents and guardians were strictly forbidden. The time allotted to secular instruction and the text books to be used either in secular or religious instruction were to be determined by the commissioners. They were also authorized to suspend or remove teachers and to fix the amount of their minimum salaries.2 These provisions were not intended to interfere with the control of teachers by local managers, but simply as a means of guarding against the retention of teachers who should violate the rules of the board or who should be found incompetent, and to free them in some measure from dependence upon local managers. The number of commissioners, which began at seven, has increased to keep pace with the development of the system. By the charter of 1861 the board is incorporated with 20 members (10 Protestant and 10 Catholic); 17 were serving in 1890. The only paid member of the board is the resident commissioner, who is the virtual head of the system. Dublin is the official center.

The service of inspection.-For purposes of Government supervision

1Letter of Lord Stanley, chief secretary for Ireland, to His Grace the Duke of Leinester, lord lieutenant for Ireland, on the formation of a board of commisioners for education in Ireland, October, 1831.

2 Letter of Lord Stanley. The original instructions have been modified from time to time, but the spirit of the instructions remains unchanged.

the country is divided into sixty districts, which are grouped in six divisions, each in charge of a head inspector. Under these are 29 district inspectors, 7 unassigned inspectors, and 10 inspectors' assistants. Inspectors and their assistants are appointed upon examination testing their scholastic and professional qualifications. Their salaries are graded in an ascending scale, which acts as a stimulus and reward for efficiency. The district inspectors are divided into two classes, of which the second begins at a salary of £275, which is increased to £305 by the addition of £10 biennially until the maximum is attained. The first class begins at £320 and increases to £370 by annual additions of £10. An allowance for traveling expenses is made to all inspectors. The duties of each class of inspectors are carefully defined. Head inspectors preside over and assist at the examination of teachers, determine their classification in conference with the district inspectors, conduct the examinations at the district model schools,1 examine each year a sufficient number of the ordinary schools in their respective districts, conduct special inquiries ordered by the board, exercise a constant supervision over the district inspectors, and transmit an annual report to the board of commissioners. The district inspectors come into the most intimate relations with the schools. They are required to spend from four to five hours at least each day, exclusive of the time occupied in going to and returning from the schools, in the actual work of inspection. Every school must be visited at least once in each week of the three terms into which the school year is divided. These visits are made without announcement. The inspection must include details of organization and instruction, condition of buildings, school registers, etc.

Once each year a public examination must be held in each school, notice of which may be given beforehand. The district inspectors submit annual and term reports to the head inspectors, employing for this purpose official forms which secure uniformity.2

Local control. The authority of the local managers is extensive and in most districts is reposed in one man, the priest, Presbyterian minister, or other clergyman, as the case may be. He appoints and dismisses the teachers, arranges the daily time-table of the school, and determines the character of the religious instruction. A report of January 31, 1891, shows that 48 per cent of school managers at that date were Roman Catholic clergymen; 30.5 per cent clergymen of the Episcopal church; 18.1 per cent Presbyterian ministers; 2.2 per cent Methodist ministers.

THE SCHOOLS.

How established.-Local managers must take the initiative in establishing ordinary national schools, providing the buildings and a por

tion of the fund for current expenditures.' The schools placed under the supervision of the commissioners were from the first called national schools, and it was ordered that this inscription should be put up conspicuously on the schoolhouses.

Classes of schools.-In 1840 the Presbyterian Synod of Ulster, which had previously opposed the national system, came into harmonious relations with the board, and vested and nonvested schools were thenceforth recognized. The former, to the building of which the state contributes, are vested in trustees for the purposes of national education. The clergy of all denominations represented in vested schools have the right of going to the same and giving religious instruction under certain conditions and provisions.3

The nonvested schools receive aid only by way of salary and books, and the managers are not required to permit access to the clergy. The report of the board for 1890 showed 3,139 vested schools and 5,545 nonvested.

The commissioners have also direct control of a special class of schools called "model schools," for which they provide the buildings. These schools, which were contemplated in the earliest plans of the board, are intended, as their name indicates, to afford models of the best methods of instruction and organization and to serve as practice schools for students in training colleges, i. e., normal schools.

It was proposed to establish one such school in each of the districts into which Ireland is divided for purposes of school inspection. In 1890 model schools were in operation in 26 out of 56 provincial districts, making, with 3 in Dublin, a total of 29. These schools resemble the graded schools of our own country, having in their complete stage a kindergarten department and separate departments for each of the six grades included in the scheme of study for national schools. In the number reported in 1890 there were comprised 84 separate departments. The enrollment was 9,567 pupils.

Convent and monastery schools are included also among those in

1 The commissioners were directed to refuse all applications for aid in which the following objects were not locally provided for: (1) A fund sufficient for the annual repairs of the schoolhouse and furniture; (2) a permanent salary for the master not less than pounds; (3) a sum sufficient to purchase books and school requisites at half price, and books of separate religious instruction at prime cost; (4) where aid is required from the commissioners for building a schoolhouse it is required that at least one-third of the estimated expense be subscribed, a site for building, to be approved of by the commissioners, be granted to them, and the schoolhouse when finished to be vested in them. (Lord Stanley's letter, p. 4.)

2 The commissioners of national education award aid (a) towards the payment of the teachers and supply of books and other school requisites, (b) towards building schoolhouses and providing suitable fittings and furniture (this aid is given to vested schools only)., (c) towards providing residences for teachers of national schools. Sec rules 247 to 249 (Rules and Regulations, 1887, p. 1).

3 Rules and regulations of Commissioners of National Education. Report 1843, pp. 237, 238.

relation with the board, the number of these in 1890 being 301, with an average attendance of 65,548 pupils. Naturally, the convent schools formed the great majority, i. e., 267, with an average attendance of 60,885 pupils.

The year after the Irish poor-law came into operation (1840) the commissioners first note in their report the opening of workhouse schools and their coming under the supervision of the board. The number of this class of schools under the commissioners has steadily increased, being 158 in 1890, with 9,430 pupils. These, with 52 evening schools having an average nightly attendance of 1,747 pupils, complete the list of elementary schools under the commissioners.

Statistics, 1890.-To summarize, it appears that the number of schools borne on the commissioners' list December 31, 1890, was 8,298, an increase of 20 per cent since 1871. Returns from 8,262 of these schools show a total enrollment of 1,037,102, with an average enrollment of 828,520. Upon this number an average daily attendance of 489,144, or 59 per cent, was maintained. The classification of pupils by religious denomination is important as showing the progress of the system in overcoming sectarian opposition. Every teacher is accordingly expected to enter upon his register the church relation of each child. Of the schools whose returns were summarized, 3,866 were mixed schools, i. e., attended by both Protestant and Roman Catholic pupils, and 4,394 were separate schools, i. e., attended by Roman Catholic or by Protestant pupils exclusively.

Further analysis yields the following particulars:

Of the pupils in separate or unmixed schools, 468,222 were Roman Catholic and under teachers of that sect, and 100,733 Protestant under Protestant teachers. Two schools could not be classified under these heads. The percentage of schools exhibiting a mixed attendance declines steadily from year to year, having fallen from 55.1 in 1881 to 46.7 in 1890.

Sources of income for national schools.-The Government grant has heretofore furnished about 743 per cent of the annual income of the national schools. The balance has been derived from subscriptions and endowments, and, in poor-law unions,' contributions from the rates.

1 Parishes and combinations of parishes, i. e., unions, are districts for the administration of the poor law. In these, contributions from the rates for school purposes are made in behalf of the children of paupers.

In addition to these sources since 1890, a sum has been annually received from the surplus derived from the tax on beer and spirituous liquors (customs and excise act). The Irish educational bill now before Parliament provides for an annual appropriation in lieu of school fees for schools whose managers accept the conditions. This bill follows the precedent already established in Scotland and England, and will in all probability become a law.1

The total income of the national schools for 1890-91 from all sources was £993,022 158. ($4,826,090), derived as follows:

Government.-Annual grant, £738,467 5s. ($3,588,951); tax on spirits, £57,705 Ss. ($28,049).

Local sources. Tuition fees (school pence paid by pupils), £102,478 78. ($498,045); rates in contributory unions, £24,559 168. ($119,361); subscriptions, endowments, etc., £69,811 16s. ($339,286). The rate per pupil in average attendance upon the whole amount was $9.86.

Of the above sum, £35,907 81s. were for buildings and repairs, leaving for the income of the teaching staff £957,115 64s. ($4,651,582), or $9.50 per pupil in average attendance. From the above statistics it will be seen that the managers of the schools, who have a power over them more absolute than that intrusted to private persons in any other system of public education in the world, are responsible for only about one-fifth of the entire income.

TEACHERS.

On the 31st of December 1890, the commissioners had in their serv ice 7,999 principal teachers and 3,120 assistants, or a total of 11,119 (5,498 men and 5,621 women) classified teachers. Of these, 4,159 had received professional training. There were also at the same date 663 work mistresses and industrial teachers, 150 assistants, and 5,668 paid monitors or pupil teachers, and 152 receiving support and tuition in model schools. These numbers do not include the conductors of 242 convent and 3 monastery schools.

Classification, appointment, and salaries.-Teachers are divided into three classes, viz, third, second, and first. Each class is again subdivided into two grades or divisions, viz, second division and first division. Persons eligible for appointment either as principals or assistants in national schools are (1) those who have been trained in approved training colleges; (2) persons already recognized as classi

The bill was passed June, 1892, and will go into operation in the fall. The measure, which was at first welcomed by the Irish members of all sections, was eventually opposed on account of the compulsory clause, and also because the schools of the Christian Brothers were excluded from its benefits. Finally, upon the representation of a member that the Brothers' schools would submit to a "conscience clause" protecting children from sectarian teaching, provision was made for extending the bill to these schools. The opposition then ceased and the measure was passed. The fund for giving effect to this act is estimated at about £200,000 ($972,000).