advantage of the proposals of the Committee of Council, because the managers are unable to meet the requirements of their Lordships, with respect to the salary of a certificated teacher. It is well known that the augmentation granted by the State to a teacher is conditional on the payment by the managers of the school of a certain minimum salary, graduated according to the class of certificate held by the teacher. By Section 4 of the new Minute, this condition is dispensed with in the case of small country schools, provided that the teacher engaged is a probationer. The State will, in such cases, grant £25 to a male and £20 to a female teacher, and even allow pupil-teachers to be apprenticed, leaving the terms of the engagement to be wholly settled in other respects by the teacher and managers.

V. Evening Schools. The provision made in Sections 6 and 7, whereby children attending a night school only may be reckoned in determining the amount of the capitation grant, is a most important one, and will, we hope, serve greatly to encourage the establishment of evening schools.

The following is the explanatory letter issued to her Majesty's Inspectors of Schools in reference to the foregoing Minute :—

INSTRUCTIONS TO HER MAJESTY'S INSPECTORS OF SCHOOLS ON THE FOREGOING MINUTE. Education Department,

Council Office, Whitehall, 24th November, 1858.

SIR, The Minute, of which a copy is enclosed for your information, is not intended to supersede any part of the system now in operation, except in substituting certificated teachers during their period of probation, and scheduled students, for assistants under the Minute of 23rd July, 1852.

This change has been recommended by the Rev. F. Temple in his last Report (Minutes, 1857-8, p. 726), and also by the principals of some of the most important of the training schools (Ibid. p. 37). With this general statement, I am directed to add such explanations on the several clauses of the Minute as they may seem to require.

1. No objection will be raised to the engagement of female teachers where the managers choose to employ them instead of masters. It must be remembered, however, that male apprentices can, under no circumstances, be apprenticed to female teachers.

2. This clause has been already noticed.

3. Many persons believe that the career, of which pupil teachership is the commencement, is sufficiently good to invite candidates for it from a higher social rank than those who commonly receive instruction in elementary schools for the poor.

It has been suggested that many candidates who are not offered at the age of 13 for a stipend of £10 per annum will be offered at the age of 16 for £17 10s. per annum. The Minute opens apprenticeship to this class. There are now many more facilities than used to exist whereby a young person who leaves school at 12 or 13 may keep up and extend what has been learnt up to that age; and if, at the age of 16 or 17, the inclination to choose the profession of a teacher be felt, the remuneration of the two last years of apprenticeship is tolerably liberal. It is evident that if the class of persons contemplated be forthcoming, they offer a considerable advantage to the schools in which they are employed, by their greater age and more developed character. And if they be not forthcoming, or not in any sufficient numbers, the rest of the pupil-teacher system is not interfered with, but goes on as at present.

4, 5, 6. It is a principal object of these clauses to facilitate the employment of certificated teachers in the schools of small rural parishes.

There are few schools in which the addition of all local sources of income to the capitation grant will not provide £25 or £30 towards a teacher's stipend, and this sum, when added to the Government allowance, makes a total which, in the increasing number of certificated teachers, is not below the salary which candidates for employment are likely to be willing to accept in first engagements.

At the end of two years, it will not often happen that the ordinary terms of augmentation cannot be fulfilled, and the same teacher (if all parties wish it) retained; but, if not, another probationer can be engaged.

Scheduled students are brought within the reach of this clause, which considerably relaxes Section 3, in the Minute of 2nd June, 1856 (Minutes, 1856-7, pp. 1-6.) An additional year is allowed to them for probationary service, in consideration of their having an examination to pass. They may pass that examination at such stage of their probationary service as they may judge best, and, having done so, they will be, at the end of two years, in a position to have their certificates fixed, but with liberty to continue, under Section 4 of this Minute, for one year longer in the same school. If, at the end of the third year, reckoned from the date of their first engagement, they remain uncertificated, they will receive no further payment until they become so, and then they will be paid on the same terms only as apply to the ordinary augmentation grants. The managers of small rural schools may be recom

mended to apply to the training colleges for teachers of this class. The same principal could probably supply a succession of them to the same school, until one of them was enabled to remain there with a certificate.

7. It is hoped that the admission of night schools to the capitation grants may so far facilitate the establishment of such schools as to solve the dilemma which at present frequently arises, viz., that a regular schoolmaster is the only person who can be depended upon for the effectual instruction of a night school, but that the master of a day school, with pupil-teachers to instruct out of school hours, cannot, with justice or prudence, be required to conduct a night school as well. The capitation grant will provide the means of engaging a second certificated teacher (generally, it may be presumed, a probationer), who may assist in the morning school, singly take the afternoon school, and, if not employed in the special instruction of the pupil-teachers, assist in the night school, which the principal teacher will be able himself to conduct. The Minute of 1st March, 1855, will still remain in force for the provision of such extra teachers as may be procurable and necessary in proportion to the numbers in attendance. But two certificated teachers will suffice for a night school of very considerable numbers. The managers of a school in which the day and night scholars together amount to 75, or to any multiple of 75-such as 150, 225, 300-may choose whether, instead of pupil-teachers, they will have one, two, three, or four probationary teachers.

Wherever teachers fully certificated are retained, it is sufficient that the conditions of augmentation be fulfilled, without reference to the numbers in a school.

I have the honour to be, Sir, your obedient servant,

R. R. W. LINGEN.

As it appears that some misconception has since arisen with reference to the interpretation of Section 4 of this Minute, the following letter has been issued subsequently:

With reference to clause 4 (a) in the Minute of 26th July, 1858, I am directed to point out to you that the limitation of numbers, or of area, is not applicable to the several departments only of a school, but to the whole of each institution.

If a Department for Boys, Girls, or Infauts falls within the limit, but the aggregate area or attendance of departments in a school exceeds it, the probationer's allowance cannot be made.

This part of the Minute is intended to apply only to rural schools under a certain aggregate size, such schools being at present less reached by the Minutes of the Committee of Council than others; and the object of their Lordships would be defeated if the motive to take service in schools of this particular class were weakened by any interpretation of the Minute which admitted larger schools to the same privilege.

I have the honour to be, Sir, your obedient servant,

R. R. W. LINGEN.

HIGHWORTH BRITISH SCHOOL.

AN interesting meeting was held in the British School-room here on Friday evening, September 10th, to present to Mr. James Arnold, on the occasion of his leaving, a suitable testimonial of esteem. The testimonial consisted of a handsome purse, valued at £2, containing £10, and was presented by Mr. Samuel Brown, on behalf of the managers of the school and others, whose esteem has been won by Mr. Arnold. This was followed by the presentation of a gold pencil-case bearing the inscription-" Presented to Mr. James Arnold by his pupils at Highworth, 1858," and accompanied by a list of the names of those children who had subscribed for this object, beautifully written by one of the boys. The meeting was a very pleasant one, and the proceedings were highly creditable to all concerned in them.

We gather from some returns recently issued that, at the end of the year 1857, there were, in England and Scotland, 5,166 certificated teachers, 12,222 pupilteachers, and 2,704 students in normal colleges under inspection. During the past year it is probable that the numbers will be found to have considerably increased.

PUBLICATIONS OF THE COMMITTEE OF COUNCIL.

WE learn from a letter which has just been circulated by the authority of the Committee of Council, that the issue of Reports, Minutes, and other publications connected with the administration of the educational grant, will, in future, not be gratuitous in any case, but will be subject to the following regulations :1. The Reports on particular schools, which are usually known as tabulated Reports, will in future be sent in MS. to the authorities of each particular school, as soon as possible, and without waiting till they can be embodied in a printed volume. Nevertheless, these Reports will be printed at the end of each year in a collected form, should a sufficient number of copies be subscribed for to justify the Council in sanctioning the expense.

2. The annual calendar of certificated teachers will form a separate pamphlet of considerable size, and will probably be purchasable for about 4s. 6d.

3. The papers given at each December examination, with the class list of the successful candidates, will also constitute a separate publication, and will probably be very acceptable and interesting in this form to many of our readers. It will generally appear at about the Easter following each examination, and will be sold for about 8d., and probably for less.

4. The annual volume, containing the Minutes of Council and the general Reports of the Inspectors, will continue to be published as heretofore, and to be presented to Parliament. It will be sold for about 2s. 6d. or 3s.

It is probable that the Committee of the British and Foreign School Society will make such arrangements as will enable the teachers and managers of British schools to obtain any of these publications from the Depository.

MEETINGS OF TEACHERS.

Mr. Davis, in the name of the Committee of the British and Foreign School Society, invited the teachers of British Schools in Darlington and the surrounding neighbourhood to take tea with him on Thursday, the 11th November. Teachers from Darlington, Stockton, Middlesborough, St. Helen's, Auckland, Brompton, Cleasby, Shildon, and Eston, accepted the invitation, and were present. The main object of the meeting was to afford to the teachers of the Darlington district an opportunity of forming a Teachers' Association; and as there was perfect unanimity as to the propriety of taking such a step, an association was at once formed, with Mr. Broadbent, of the Brompton British School, as the secretary. The meetings of the Association are to be held quarterly, and the business of the next meeting will be introduced by a paper on "Home Lessons," by the secretary. The proceedings of the evening were characterised by much good feeling; and in addition to the formation of an association the meeting was productive of many practical and useful results.

The British teachers, and their assistant and pupil teachers, of West Cornwall, assembled at Truro on Saturday, October 9th, to meet Mr. Baxter, and to hear an address on various details of school management, but particularly on the importance of a systematic study of Holy Scripture by pupil-teachers during their course of apprenticeship. About fifty teachers met in the British School, and after the address, took tea together, and spent an agreeable hour, before separating, in mutual intercourse.

A meeting of a similar character was held at the Royal Free School, Plymouth, on Saturday afternoon, October 16th. Nearly ninety teachers assembled from

Plymouth, Devonport, Stoke, Eldad, Kingsbridge, Totnes, Horrabridge, Rilla Mill, Liskeard, &c. After the address the company adjourned to tea, and spent the remainder of the evening in varied pursuits, calculated to leave behind a very pleasing and lasting recollection of the occasion.

The arrangements for both meetings were admirably made; and the kind and cheerful superintendence of Mrs. Davies at Truro, and of Mrs. Jago at Plymouth, ministered greatly to the comfort of the respective assemblies, as well as to the effectiveness of the meetings.

GENERAL EXAMINATION OF TRAINING SCHOOLS.

CHRISTMAS, 1858.

FEMALE CANDIDATES.

ARITHMETIC.

1. Explain the meaning of the terms dividend, divisor, quotient.

Reduce 384,986 feet to furlongs, and explain the mode of dividing by 5.

2. Explain the terms vulgar fraction, decimal fraction, mixed number, and complex fraction. Prove that if the terms of a fraction be multiplied or divided by the same number, the value of the fraction is not altered.

3. What is the meaning of a decimal system of coinage, and show by means of an example that a system of decimal coinage, combined with one of decimal weights, would greatly facilitate calculations.

1. Reduce 785,447 square feet to acres.

If a pair of trousers take 2 yards, a waistcoat of a yard, and a coat 1 of a yard of cloth, what quantity would it take for 84 pairs of trousers, 63 coats, and 120 waistcoats?

2. How many square feet are required to glaze 5 windows, each containing 14 panes of glass, the panes measuring 17 in. by 15 in. each?

3. Work the following sums by Practice:

What is the yearly rent of 1,200 acres, 3 roods, at 28s. 6d. per acre?

Find the value of 347 cwts. at £1 10s. 7 d. per cwt.

1. A rate of £279 10s. is to be made for the poor on a parish which yields a rental of £7,850, what is the rate per pound?

A person's quarterly income is £135 103., and his daily expenditure £2 5s., how much will he be in debt at the end of two years and a half?

3. Add together of, of, and ÷ 15.

What fraction of a guinea is of of half-a-crown?

4. A wall 700 yards long was to be built in 29 days. At the end of 11 days, 18 men had built 220 yards of it; how many additional men was it then necessary to engage, to work at the same rate, in order that the wall might be completed in the given time?

DOMESTIC ECONOMY.

1. Upon what do the nutritious qualities of flesh, eggs, cheese, rice, and bread depend?

2. Describe the articles of food best adapted for infants, give the reasons for the selection, and the objections against other articles sometimes used by nurses or parents.

3. Give recipes for mutton broth, a light pudding, and rice milk. What are the advantages of each recipe?

1. What are the effects of tea, coffee, chicory, cocoa; and upon what qualities do these effects depend?

2. Under what circumstances is it profitable to keep poultry, bees, or any domestic animals? Give exact directions for keeping those which you would select, and calculate the expenses and profits for the month or year.

3. Describe accurately the form, dimensions, and uses of the cooking range you would prefer for

your own use.

GEOGRAPHY.

Draw a map of one of the following portions of land, inserting the names of all the chief towns, rivers, and heights.

1. The coast line from the mouth of the Humber to Beechy Head, with the counties bounded by

that line.

2. One of these counties-Yorkshire, Lancashire, Devonshire.

3. The coast line of Scotland, from the Pentland Frith to the mouth of the Tweed; Fort William.

4. The coast line of the counties of England and Ireland bounded by the Irish Sea, with so much of the interior as may indicate the course of the rivers.

1. Describe the course of these three rivers, and give a brief account of the chief cities on their banks the Tagus, the Loire, the Po.

2. Describe the Pyrenees, the Apennine, or the Carpathian ranges.

3. For what buildings, institutions, or events, are the following cities most remarkable-Granada, Salamanca, Versailles, Toulouse, Amiens, Munich, Leipzig, Moscow ?

4. Give a full description of one island in the Mediterranean Sea.

1. Name the chief cities in the Bengal Presidency, describe two of the cities accurately, with some account of the most remarkable events associated with them.

2. Describe the course of the Godavery, the Nerbudda, or the Indus.

3. Describe the boundaries, extent, natural and artificial productions of New Brunswick, Newfoundland, or Upper Canada.

4. Give some account of the extent, physical features, population, and productions of the British settlements in South Australia.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN SCHOOL SOCIETY.

LEGACY, DONATIONS, AND NEW ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTIONS, &c.
From September 1st, 1858, to November 30th, 1858.

Remittances from Auxiliary Societies and Corresponding Committees, &c., from September 1st, 1858,

to November 30th, 1858.

Subscriptions and Donations will be thankfully received by Messrs. HANBURYS and Co., Bankers to the Society, 60, Lombard-street; and at the Society's House, Borough-road.

Printed by JACOB UNWIN, of No. 8, Grove Place, in the Parish of St. John, Hackney, in the County of Middlesex, at his Printing Office, 31, Bucklersbury, in the Parish of St. Stephen, Walbrook, in the City of London; and Published by THE SOCIETY, at the Depository, Borough Road.-SATURDAY, JANUARY 1, 1859.