Temperance and Hygiene.

The Legislature at its last session placed on the Statute Book " An Act to provide for the more thorough study in the Public Schools of the nature and effects of Alcholic drinks and Narcotics upon the human system in connection with relative Physiology and Hygiene." In this Act it is provided that "instruction regarding physiological and hygienic laws, and the effects of Alcoholic drinks and Narcotics, shall be given orally from a suitable text-book in the hands of the teacher, to all pupils unable to read, and such instruction shall be given to all others with text-books in the hands of the pupils, and from textbooks as well graded to the capacity of the pupils as other text-books are, and such instruction shall be given as aforesaid in all schools in the Province receiving public grants."

In conformity with the provisions of this law, the Board of Education, after careful consideration of the best means of providing the schools with suitable text-books, graded as the law requires, and at the least expense to parents and Ratepayers, have prescribed two books known as "Health Readers," Nos. 1 and 2, for the Common Schools; and "Our Bodies and How We Live," by Albert F. Blaisdell, M. D., for the High Schools. Health Reader No. 1 is intended to be used by the teachers as a basis of oral instruction in the Primary grades, and to be placed in the hands of the pupils as soon as they are able to read intelligently. Health Reader No. 2 is to be placed in the hands of the pupils of Standards VII and VIII (IV and V of ungraded schools in country districts); and "Our Bodies and How We Live" is to be used as a Text Book in Standards IX and X of the High School course.

The pursuit of the study of Physiological Temperance, as the law demands, requires at least three lessons per week for fourteen weeks of each school year below the second year of the High School. After an adequate and well-graded portion of the topic assigned for this time is thoroughly learned, the subject may then be dropped for the remainder of that year. The following year a little more advanced treatment of the subject should be pursued for the same length of time. Allowing twenty minutes to a lesson for all grades or classes above the Primary, this requirement would amount to only fourteen hours per year; but if carried through the several years between the Primary and the second year of the High School or corresponding class of ungraded schools, would give sufficient time for a thorough comprehension of the subject without encroaching upon other studies.

The present prescribed texts, Palmer's "Temperance Teachings of Science" and Brown's" Elements of Physiology and Hygiene," will be superseded on the first day of July next. The aggregate price of the new series of Text Books on these subjects is 55 cents less than the aggregate price of the two books which have been superseded.

By reference to Table III. it will be seen that for the term ended December, 1892, there were reported as having received oral instruction in Temperance and Hygiene, 37,340 pupils and instruction from Text-Book, 7,689, a total number for the term of 45,029. For the term ended June 30th, 1893, the numbers are: 39,388 received oral instruction, 10,038 Text-Book instruction; total for the term, 49,426,

Teaching of Agriculture in the Common Schools.

At the annual meeting of the Farmers' and Dairymen's Association held at Fredericton in January, 1892, the following resolution, moved by Howard Trueman, Esquire was adopted:

"That while the Farmers' and Dairymen's Association recognizes the great importance of making the Common Schools of the Province as efficient a means as possible of training the general intelligence of the children of the country, they are also of opinion that the courses of instruction at the Provincial Normal School and in the Common Schools might be so readjusted as to secure more attention to the study of those natural sciences which are the basis of Agriculture. They believe that if such readjustment as they desire could be made, the efficiency of the Common Schools would be increased both from the practical and from the educational points of view."

At the time the above resolution was adopted, the revised School Manual, announcing certain changes in reference to the matters referred to, had not been published. As there may be mis-apprehension in some minds, both as to what is being done in the Normal School and in the Common Schools of the country in regard to instruction on subjects bearing directly on the Agricultural interests, and as to what it is possible to do further in this direction, under existing conditions, I have thought it expedient to direct attention to the tests which teachers must undergo as to their knowledge of subjects bearing directly or indirectly on Agricultural pursuits, to the course of instruction they receive at the Normal School, and to the work they are expected and required to do as teachers in the Public Schools in the subjects under consideration.

1. Candidates for License must pass at their entrance to the Normal School an examination (graded as to class) on their knowledge of the minerals, plants and animals of New Brunswick as described in an "Elementary Natural History" prepared by Professor Bailey of the University of New Brunswick,

2. While at the Normal School, the pupil-teachers have the advantages of a very thorough and practical course under the training of Mr. John Brittain, whose reputation

as a teacher, especially in the subjects of his own department, is more than provincial. This course embraces :

(a) An experimental course in physics, illustrating the action of physical forces in such a way as to enable the intelligent student to explain the ordinary phenomena of nature, and to take advantage of its forces in aiding him in the performance of agricultural or other mechanical operations.

(b) A short experimental course in inorganic and organic chemistry, in which the pupil gains a practical acquaintance with the relations and actions of the more common chemical elements and compounds, thus laying the necessary foundation for a more extensive study, as opportunity may offer, of the analysis of soils and other special problems of agricultural chemistry.

(c) A course on plant life, including the structure, mode of growth and classification of plants both native and cultivated; the chemical composition of plants and the principal chemical and physical properties of their leading constituents.

(d) A critical reading of the prescribed text on agriculture, tested by an examination.

In other departments of the school there is introduced, incidentally, many facts bearing on the subject of Agriculture; as, for instance in the department of method as applied to the Geography of the Province there is always a general examination of the conditions, soil, climate, exports, etc., showing the character of New Brunswick as an agricultural country. There is also a special course for young women in Domestic Economy.

The course at the Normal School is not, however, intended to make practical farmers of the pupil-teachers (the great majority of whom are young women); but it gives a preparation for the intelligent study of works on agriculture, and will enable the teachers to give such instruction to their pupils as will prepare any boy who engages in farming to direct the operations of the farm in accordance with natural laws. The knowledge gained is real, being. based on actual experiments.

3. The final examinations of Candidats for License to teach includes the following:

REQUIREMENTS FOR CLASS II.

NATURAL SCIENCE: Rotany - Plant Analysis, Characteristics of the Buttercup, Cress, Pulse, Rose, Aster, Lily, Grass and Buckwheat families.

Physics. As required by the first six standards of the Course of Instruction for Schools. Prescribed Text Books.

Agriculture aud Chemistry :-- To be familiar with one of the prescribed Texts on Chemistry, and the Text Book on Agriculture.

Physiology and Hygiene.— Circulation of the Blood, Digestion, and Respiration, as in prescribed Text Book.

REQUIREMENTS FOR CLASS I.

Natural Philosophy and Physics.- Dynamics and Statics. Wormell's Natural Philosophy and Hotze's Physics. (Female candidates will not be required to work questions involving the principals of Trigonometry.)

NATURAL SCIENCE: Botany: :- The same as for Class II together will the Determination of ordinary Flowering Plants.

Chemistry and Agriculture.- Same as for Class II. An intelligent acquaintance with the prescribed Text Book.

FOR ALL FEMALE CANDIDATES.

Physicology and Hygiene.

Domestic Economy. As contained in the prescribed Text Book.

4. The course of study for the Public Schools requires the teachers to give instruction, in the proper Standards, in each of the subjects above indicated, and it is one of the duties of the Inspectors to see that the work is done so far as circumstances permit. The attested returns of the teachers for the Terms ending December, 1892, and June, 1893, give the numbers of pupils who received instruction in these subjects as follows:

The experimental study of Physics and Chemistry necessitates an expenditure for apparatus and chemicals which Trustees and parents are not often willing to meet, and which the teachers can scarcely be expected to provide at

their own expense.

The statements I have made will show that a considerable degree of attention is being given at the Provincial Normal School and in the Common Schools "to the study of those natural sciences which are the basis of agriculture."

In view of the fact that a large proportion of the children spend but a few years at school, and that during these years much of the time ought to be devoted to the fundamental subjects which must ever form the basis of a sound general education, so that after leaving school they may be able to avail themselves of the abundant means, now happily within the reach of nearly everybody, of self-education in whatever line of activity, choice or circumstances may determine, I do not think it expedient that our Common School Course should be burdened with any more work in special directions than is now provided for. It is possible, however, for teachers to impart to their pupils, in an incidental way, while engaged in teaching almost any subject of the Common School Course, much valuable information bearing directly upon

farm life; and to inculcate such ideas in regard to the dignity of labor, the pleasures of rural life, and the vital importance of the agricultural interests as lying at the foundation of national prosperity, as will tend to direct their activities in future life. This should be recognized as a duty incumbent on all teachers and school officials.

Appendices.

I beg to direct special attention to the Appendices, in which will be found interesting and instructive reports from the Chancellor of the University of New Brunswick, the Principal of the Normal School, the Inspectors, the Boards of Trustees of cities and incorporated towns, the Principal of the Institution for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb, and the Principal of the Halifax School for the Blind.

These reports give details in regard to the several Institutions and departments from which they emanate.

INSPECTORAL DISTRICTS AND INSPECTORS' REPORTS.

The following are the Inspectoral Districts:

District No. 1.-Inspector Mersereau.

The Counties of Restigouche, Gloucester and Northumberland.

District No. 2.-Inspecior Smith.

The Counties of Kent and Westmorland.

District No. 3.-Inspector Steeves.

The County of Albert, the County of Kings except the Parishes of Westfield and Greenwich, and the County of Queens except the Parishes of Canning, Gagetown, Hampstead and Petersville.

District No. 4-Inspector Carter.

The Counties of St. John and Charlotte, and the Parishes of Westfield and Greenwich in Kings County.

District No. 5.-Inspector Bridges.

The County of York except the Parishes of Canterbury and North Lake, the County of Sunbury, and the Parishes of Canning, Gagetown, Hampstead and Petersville in Queens County.

District No. 6.-Inspector Meagher.

The Counties of Carleton, Victoria and Madawaska, and the Parishes of Canterbury and North Lake in York County.