page 11). The encouragement, therefore, which the Deputation anticipates from postponement of the teacher's trial is already afforded.

2. With regard to the age at which candidates may be examined for registration, and with regard to the attainments necessary for obtaining a certifi cate, I am to point out, in the first place, that subjects enter into the latter examination which are not required of every candidate.

The schedule annexed to this letter specifies:

1. The number of marks given for each subject which enters into the examination.

2. Those subjects in which failure is fatal to success.

3. The minimum number of marks required for each class of certificate.

A copy of this schedule, with an explanatory letter, was sent, in January last, to the principals of all the training schools under inspection."

The Deputation will observe that a teacher whose exercises were all marked good in religious knowledge, arithmetic, grammar, school management, reading, spelling, penmanship, vivâ voce instruction of a class, would obtain a certificate.

The other subjects which enter into the curriculum are in part prescribed by the course of study for pupil-teachers, and in part by the practice of the training schools.

It may be asked, whether, as matter of fact, candidates obtain certificates who profess no subjects beyond those just named? The answer is, that if their papers on those subjects were all marked "Good," they might obtain certificates, and that if such a result is rare, the reason is because a thorough knowledge and mastery over elementary subjects is not commonly acquired without advancing beyond them; whence it follows, that the candidates who are competent to deal with none but elementary subjects rarely acquit themselves in those subjects well.

Having thus removed some misconceptions which might have been founded upon the allusion made by the Deputation to mathematical science and natural philosophy, it remains only to repeat the explanation which has frequently been given, why teachers under thirty-five years of age should be required to obtain certificates, and should not be permitted to be simply registered.

The examinations for certificates are framed in accordance with the practice of the training colleges. The training colleges represent the means of special preparation for the office of schoolmaster. The sense entertained by the promoters of education respecting the importance of such preparation is exemplified by the fact, that forty-one training colleges for schoolmasters and schoolmistresses are at this moment in operation in Great Britain, of which nearly all have been established within the last twenty years, at a cost of 244,0731. from private sources, for new premises alone, without taking into account 106,4051. for the same purpose from the Government, or the cost of subsequent maintenance.

Of this total number of colleges, twenty-one are in connection with the National School Society; and it may be mentioned, as one of many public services rendered by that Society, that the present system of training was not originated by the Government, but may be said to be founded on the example first set in the Society's colleges at Battersea and St. Mark's.

Such being the case, it would plainly be most inconsistent, as part of one and the same plan, to have created, and at great cost to maintain, this machinery for the preparation of school teachers, and also to facilitate the admission into the profession of young candidates who have had no such preparation whatever. The subsequent remarks of the Deputation upon the importance and difficulty of maintaining Normal Colleges afford the best answer to the demand for the admission of young candidates to registration.

The Capitation Grant was not offered in relief of any existing expenditure upon schools, but was offered expressly to enable school managers to provide the stipends necessary for engaging trained teachers. Registration was subse

quently devised, out of consideration for deserving men who were already at work, and who were too old to commence new studies. To open that exceptional indulgence to new candidates for the office, would be to overturn the very principle of the Capitation Minutes, and to divert from the training schools a great, if not the greater, part of the present candidates for admission into them.

3. The Minute of 2d April 1853, whereby a rate of aid, more than twice as liberal as that previously in force, was offered towards the cost of building schools in the rural districts, and the Minute of 14th July 1855, whereby the same increased rate was extended to the country at large, were both intended to elicit corresponding efforts on the part of each neighbourhood.

There is nothing in the correspondence of this office to show that the conditions are, as the Deputation suggests, evaded; and certainly such evasion, if it were practised, would not be excused by any want of precision in the rule which defines local subscriptions to mean those only which are contributed by residents, owners of real property, or employers of labour within the same parish, or within a radius of four miles from the site of the school.

Their Lordships have hitherto regarded it as matter of public policy to localise the charge and responsibility for education as much as possible, and their Lordships still think that this principle is the true one, wherever circumstances do not render the adoption of it impracticable.

It has been publicly notified (Minutes 1855-6, page 43) that exceptional districts may continue to be treated exceptionally, and their Lordships will, in all cases, be careful to see that the conditions imposed by their Minutes of April 1853, and July 1855, operate subordinately to the common object of all their Minutes, viz.-the multiplication of efficient schools for the labouring

classes.

4. Their Lordships are not aware to what "recent Minute" the difficulty in maintaining Normal Colleges is attributed. Certainly, since 1853, the amount of public money expended upon those institutions has been very largely increased. Nor is the average result discouraging. On Lady-day last, the colleges in England and Wales (excluding Scotland, where there were 442 students in training) afforded accommodation for 2053 students, and were occupied by 1738, i.e. about sixteen per cent of the accommodation remained

vacant.

The first of the suggestions made by the Deputation (that Queen's Scholarships should not be confined to pupil-teachers) had already been embodied in a Minute dated 2d June 1856, and had appeared (among other modes of publication) in page 75 of the July Paper of the National Society.

The second suggestion (that my Lords should offer further grants towards the salaries of officers in training schools which are reported to offer adequate means of instruction, but which fail in attracting such a number of students as corresponds to their establishment charges) is one which their Lordships cannot possibly entertain.

The Deputation was doubtless aware that grants are already offered (Minutes 1855-6, page 121) towards the salaries of officers in training schools who prove their ability to lecture in certain prescribed subjects, and that these grants are not limited by the number of students who may actually be in training at any one time in the particular college.

The average amount of vacant accommodation is made up in very different proportions among the several colleges. Some of them are quite, and others nearly, full. The comparative difficulty of obtaining students is liable to be affected by many causes, and, among others, by the state of public or local opinion upon subjects which are not always identical with those of education, and which lie beyond administrative cognisance. The same measure of public aid is offered to each institution; and those colleges which are thereby enabled, under very various circumstances, to prosper, afford a presumption that similar success is possible for all. Such success would certainly not be promoted by the withdrawal of any inducement which the managers of schools now have to engage trained teachers.

With regard generally to the present system of public education in Great Britain, as compared with that of the United States and of other countries, the Lord President does not think it necessary to say more, on the part of the Committee of Council, than that nothing is so likely to conduce to the acquiescence of Parliament in the existing measures as strict proof that they do not supersede local responsibility for providing the means of education, nor supplement those means without exacting effectual guarantees for the due application of the money of the State.

The present system could not long survive evidence that a double process had been at work, viz. increase of State aid, and relaxation of State guarantees. The conditions annexed to the various grants preserve a due balance between central and local expenditure, and between central and local control. I have the honour, &c.

NOTE 2.

cancels all claims arising out of any previous Examination (Minutes 1854-6, pp. 23, 4, and p. 28). NOTE 1. Excellent is in every case 25 per cent above good. excludes Candidate from a Certificate, and

New Subscriptions.

The following Donations and new Annual Subscriptions have been contribute since the last announcement, and are hereby thankfully acknowledged. The List

Omitted in the List of Remittances from Local Collectors printed in the June Number.

The office of Lecturer in this Institution, which had become vacant by the resignation of Mr. Knighton, has been filled up by the appointment of the Rev. Edmund Worlledge.

The Council of Whitelands, in offering a small present to Mr. Knighton as a testimony of the esteem in which they had held him, passed a resolution expressing their regret at his retirement. The Governesses and Pupils have also presented to Mr. Knighton very gratifying testimonials.

Parochial Collections Fund.

The following collections, or moieties of collections, have been received by the Society since the last announcement. The List is made up to the 15th June.

The Report of this Board for the past year announces the success which attended the Harvest Meeting of Teachers at Bridgend. The meeting was conducted by Mr. Stammers, the National Society's Organising Master, and attended by a larger number of teachers than on any former occasion. A report of the proceedings was given in the December Number of this Paper for 1856, p. 314. The labours of Mr. Stammers enables the Board to report fully on the progress of fifty schools which had been visited during the year. The following are extracts from the report referred to:

With regard to many of the smaller country schools, great difficulty is experienced in raising the necessary funds for placing them under efficient instruction; and few of them are able to obtain any portion of the grant annually voted by parliament, owing to the want of either certificated or registered teachers, which the present condition of their finances prevents them from obtaining. One of the natural results of this deficiency of funds is a continual change of teachers, which acts most injuriously upon