The Normal School is, to quote the expressive phrase of Dr. Rand, the heart of our Common School system. Whatever measures are taken to render it freer and abler to do its distinctive work are immediately felt in the schools. Whatever impedes its labors hinders the progress of the schools, and this is true of this Province to a degree which is scarcely found elsewhere in the Dominion. It is from this point of view that I regard with satisfaction the action which the Hon. the Board of Education has taken with reference to the division of the License Examination.

FRENCH DEPARTMENT.

Thirty students were enrolled in this department during the year-nineteen in the first term and eleven in the second. Twenty-nine students were presented for License, one having withdrawn during the session.

The number in attendance on this department is not yet as large as we wish to see it, in order that all the Acadian schools may be provided with trained teachers. It is to be hoped that in the future larger numbers will avail themselves of the advantages which the department offers.

MODEL DEPARTMENT.

Miss Frances I. Ross, teacher of the Third Department, tendered her resignation to take effect Nov. 1st, 1891. Miss Ross had served the Normal and Model School with great tact and fidelity for several years. Her resignation was much regretted by myself and her associate teachers. Miss Helen L. Galt was appointed to succeed her and took charge on Nov. 1st.

The school has been largely attended, and its well-earned reputation substantially maintained. The Principal and the teachers associated with him have spared neither time nor pains to render the school useful to the Normal School, and, with all the interruption consequent on the observation and practice of so many student-teachers, have covered fairly and very intelligently the work of the various grades.

GENERAL REMARKS.

No change has taken place in the Normal School staff, with the exception that the large numbers in attendance during the last term of the year rendered it necessary for me to look for assistance in some departments of work. I was fortunate in securing the services of Mr. Henry Johnson, A. B., who took charge of the mathematics of all the classes until May 1st.

The staff of the school should be permanently increased by the appointment of an additional Instructor if the present rate of attendance is maintained.

I need scarcely refer to the valuable services rendered to the school and to the Province generally by the Instructors associated with me. They are well known and appreciated by the students.

I would again respectfully call the attention of the Board of Education to the

necessity of taking some action with a view to providing a library of books of reference for the use of the school. If even a small sum were granted annually it would soon place the school in a much better position to do its work. No expenditure of money in connection with the Normal School would be more speedily and usefully repaid.

The Governor General's silver medals for Highest Professional Standing were awarded to Miss Harriet H. Richardson, of Albert Co., and to Miss Laura R. Wilson, of the City of St. John, in the Senior and Junior Divisions respectively.

In the Model School the Bronze Medal for Highest School Standing was won by Sadie S. Thompson.

The Public Closing Exercises for the year lacked nothing of their usual interest. A brief review of some phases of the work of the school was followed, in the afternoon, by a very fine musical and literary entertainment by the students. At both sessions the Assembly Hall was crowded with visitors.

Miss Daisy H. Hanson delivered the valedictory address on behalf of the graduating class, in a manner which reflected credit on the wisdom of her fellow-students in selecting her for that honor, and the exercises of the day were, in every way, exceptionally instructive and pleasant.

The end of the year, as usual, brought with it some regrets, but we found much satisfaction in the reflection that our labors had materially helped to prepare one of the most intelligent and promising classes that we had ever enrolled at the Normal School for the responsible discharge of their important duty as teachers.

FREDERICTON, January, 1893.

I am, sir,

Yours very respectfully,

ELDON MULLIN,

Principal.

APPENDIX C.

INSPECTORS' REPORTS.

INSPECTORAL DISTRICT, No. 1.

Geo. W. Mersereau, M. A., Inspector, Doaktown, N. B.

This District embraces the Counties of Restigouche, Gloucester and Northumberland.

J. R. INCH, Esq., LL. D.,

Chief Superintendent of Education,

Fredericton, N. B. (

SIR: I beg to submit the following report on the condition of Public Schools in my Inspectorate for the year ending Dec. 31st, 1892.

I am pleased to be able to report that progress has been made in all branches of the service in nearly every Parish. Teachers have striven by attending the County Institutes, studying Standard Educational works, and reading the "Educational Review," to reach "higher ground"; Trustees were more attentive to their important duties, and parents have taken more interest in having their children prepared, by means of the Public School, for the various duties of citizenship. Many schools have been supplied with better furniture, maps and apparatus. Much fencing has been done, and in not a few cases improved accommodation has been provided.

Addington.-Glencoe District, No. 23, opened school for the first time in August of this year. The Trustees of No. 2 still retain the services of Miss Effie McKinnon, and the school has improved upon its former excellent condition. Some repairs have been made to the School House in No. 8. Better desks are badly needed. Mr. Wm. Stewart, Secretary to Trustees in No. 6 is a careful and painstaking officer. He has had the school room supplied with new black boards. The enrolment in No. 4 increased and the school improved in many ways. Miss Bessie McNaughton is the teacher. My last two visits to No. 5 were unsatisfactory on account of the small number of pupils in attendance. The Campbellton Superior School has been well conducted during the year by Mr. Ernest W. Lewis, B. A. He has established a Reading Room in connection with his department and hopes by means of it to give his pupils a taste for good reading. Miss Rebecca M. Barnes continues to teach the Primary DepartShe is one of the most successful Primary Teachers in my Inspectorate. All

ment.

the work of her school is well done. She teaches singing by note. Her pupils in Standard II. can sing the scales by number and letter and transpose readily from one scale to another. The department located near the station made very considerable improvement during the year.

Dalhousie. I am pleased to be able to report a slight improvement in the educational condition of District No. 10. There seems to be few pupils in attendance in No. 12, for the number of children there must be in the district. In No. 8 the school house is altogether too small. In No. 1 (Town), the schools have been very poorly conducted. The Trustees have neglected to make necessary repairs in buildings, outhouses, fences, etc., and by failing to supply needed apparatus. So far has this economy (?) been carried, that on September 29th last there was no fire in the building and the pupils in the primary department were actually suffering from cold. All the departments have suffered from this penuriousness on the part of the Trustees, but none so much as the Primary. It consists of Standards I., II. and III., with an enrolment of nearly 80. Pupils are admitted to Standard I. at all times of year instead of but once a year as in any such community where the schools are intelligently conducted. The Teacher has scarcely anything with which to illustrate her work or make her room attractive. On my last visit there were 48 children crowded into this ill-ventilated, dingy, cold, gloomy room. Small wonder that the result of my inspection was unsatisfactory.

Should this state of affairs continue it would much advance the educational interests of the County to remove the Grammar School to Campbellton, where the schools are generously supported by the people and intelligently supervised by a progressive Board of Trustees.

Colborne. The school in No. 1 has been provided with a complete set of automatic desks and blackboards have been repaired. The school in No. 11 fell off considerably. The Trustees were grossly careless in the matter of wood supply. The Superior School in No. 2 made an excellent showing on my last visit. More attention should be paid to Physical Exercises, etc.

Durham.-The Trustees of No. 2 deserve much praise for the many needed repairs and improvements made in the school house and grounds during the year. The Teacher, Mr. H. W. Robertson, did his duty also faithfully and well, both in the school-room and in the care of school grounds and premises. A full set of desks and seats was provided in No. 1. The School House in No. 1 is situated in such a swampy place that in wet weather the pupils have to wade through a mud hole to enter the school-a drain and a few loads of gravel would greatly improve this.

Beresford. The School House in No. 2 should be moved nearer to the road and finished inside. It is now too cold for pupils in winter time. Better school accommodation is greatly needed in No. 2. The school in No. 3 makes but little progress. The Teacher seems industrious, but the pupils have no desire to excel and are kept at home after a very few years' attendance. No. 13 has not nearly so good a school as it had last year. A new School House was built in No. 63. One of the Trustees of No. 71 sends his children to the school in the adjoining District, though the distance is greater