house also needs some repairing. In No. 6 the school still remains closed on account of no children to attend.

Maugerville. In No. 1 some money was raised through the exertion of the teacher, Miss Nellie Taylor, for the purchase of apparatus; the house in this district, considering its valuation, is not creditable. In No. 2 Mr. Harrison Bridges, B. A., has continued doing good work during the year, but has recently resigned to take charge of the Superior School recently established at Sheffield, at the beginning of the year; the vacancy thus caused will be filled by Mr. Webb, of Upper Gagetown. In No. 3 Miss Janet Rosborough has been very successful in her work, and by her efforts has furnished a school library of 132 volumes, well selected, for the use of her pupils, and a handsome flag for the building. She school house has been enlarged to better accommodate the number of pupils in attendance, and also furnished with proper apparatus, through the influence chiefly of Mr. A. R. Miles, the energetic Secretary of Trustees. The house in No. 4 is to receive some repairs during the Xmas vacation.

Northfield. The condition of affairs, as regards the maintaining of schools in this Parish, has been somewhat better than last year. At Hardwood Ridge Mr. W. L' Estabrooks was doing good work, considering the disadvantages under which he labored no apparatus, and the house in a wretched condition; the Trustees have promised to remedy these disadvantages. The school at Salmon Creek, Northfield and Chipman, was well conducted by Miss Lizzie Harper, and is well furnished with apparatus. With this exception, the schools in this Parish are still very insufficiently provided with appliances for school work.

Sheffield.— At the Annual Meeting in District No. 2, it was unaminously decided to close the Grammar School, so long established in this district, and to maintain in lieu thereof an ungraded Superior School, on account of the very few pupils attending the two departments. This action of course neccessitated the closing of the primary department, and a pleasing incident in this connection was the substantial recognition by the Ratepayers of the district of the efficient service of the teacher of this department, Miss Ida Barker. The usual change of teachers, two a year, in the school at Lakeville Corner was again noticeable. It is a pity that the Trustees cannot retain the services of an efficient teacher for some length of time. In Lawson Settlement, No. 5, a school building was began and will probably be completed next year. The house in No. 6 received some repairs, as should the one in No. 7.

YORK COUNTY.

Bright. The Superior School at Keswick Ridge was unsatisfactory and poorly attended the first term; Mr. Sterling McFarlane, B. A., was appointed to this school in August, and since then the school has shown improvement. In No. 6 the house was thoroughly repaired and painted within; the school has been under the careful direction of Mr. Alva White. furnished with new seats and desks.

The house in Lower Hainesville, No. 9, was The school in No. 7 was closed the first term,

and this was the only case where any of the thirteen schools in this Parish was closed either term of the The schools in Nos. 4 and 10 were well conducted during the

year.

year.

Douglas. In No. 14, where there has been no school for several years, a school was kept running both terms. The rest of the schools in this Parish were operated uniformly throughout the year, and during this term particularly, the efficiency of these schools, with hardly an exception, has been very apparent, so much so that it is doubtful whether, in any other Parish in the Province, eighteen schools could be found doing better work, or giving more satisfaction to the parents of the pupils in attendance. In No. 3 the house has been furnished with new desks, and the Trustees have shown their appreciation of their teacher, Miss Vandine, by raising her salary. Miss Thompson has been very successful at No. 1 with an enrolment of sixty. The building in No. 10, Dorn Ridge, will be repaired next year.

Dumfries. The school house in No. 2 has been condemned as unfit for further use, and there will be a new one built next summer. At Pokiok the school house is away from the centre of population, as the Extract Works, situated a long way from the school, employs a number of hands. The building cannot be moved, however, on account of the stream. The house in Allendale should be moved to the centre of the district. The two districts on the St. Croix, Nos. 7 and 8, were kept open throughout These will be included in the new Parish of McAdam.

the year.

Kingsclear. The house in No. 7 will be thoroughly renovated next summer. It is quite necessary that something like this should be done to the buildings in Nos. 4 and 5, instead of the system of patching that has been followed. Good schools were kept in operation throughout the year in Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 4. Some trouble, of a local nature, was experienced in districts Nos. 8 and 10, but they have been settled without any injury to the efficiency of the school.

Manners-Sutton. Mr. Chamberlain, who had charge of the Superior School at Harvey Station for some time, resigned in June last to pursue the study of medicine. His place was filled by the appointment of Mr. W. B. Webb, who has elsewhere proved himself to be an earnest and painstaking teacher. This was the only Parish I was unable to visit during the term just closing. Miss Alice Smith, the successful teacher of the Primary department of the school at Harvey, has resigned. No less than five out of the eleven schools in this Parish are furnished with school libraries. At No. 1, Acton, the school was not at all satisfactory. The schools in this Parish were all in operation both terms of the year.

New Maryland. There are but four schools in this Parish, all of which were kept open the whole year. Miss Doak continues doing good work in Charter's Settlement, likewise Miss Daniel in No. 1. This is the first year for some time that the school at Beaver Dam was kept in operation all the year.

Prince William. The school house in No. 2 was repaired and painted, as was also the case with the building in No. 3. At Lower Pokiok the school was closed this

term to allow the building to be enlarged and painted. At Lake George the school remained closed the greater part of the year on account of their being some debt upon the district. This, of course, is false economy and short sighted policy. In district No. 10 a school was maintained part of the year at Magaguadavic Siding to accommodate a number of children at that place. At McAdam Junction a graded school has been kept in operation, but the school here will remain unsatisfactory until permanent employment is given to the working men at that place. This, of course, is included in the new Parish of McAdam.

Queensbury. In No. 3 the house has been furnished with new seats and desks and window blinds; and the building in No. 1, Lower Line, was thoroughly repaired and painted. During next summer the school house in No. 4 will be renovated. The school in No. 5 was not kept in operation last term on account of insufficient funds voted at preceding Annual Meeting; this mistake will hardly be made again in a hurry. In No. 8, Upper Hainesville, the enrolment is too large and the attendance too irregular to admit of a proper state of efficiency in school work.

Saint Marys.-The usual changes in the Principalship of the schools at Gibson have taken place. Mr. Thos. Simmons was in charge the first term of the year. He was succeeded in August by Mr. Hetherington, who left during the term to take charge of the Bathurst Grammar School, and was followed by Mr. Veazey. It is to be earnestly hoped that the Trustees have obtained the services of a teacher who will, besides conducting the school successfully, remain in the position for some length of time. Too small a salary is at the bottom of these changes. At Lower Durham a new building was to be started, but Trustees have hesitated somewhat on account of expense, as it is a dictrict of low valuation. In No. 14 the frame of the old building was moved to the centre of the district and utilized in erecting a new house, which is now a credit to the Ratepayers. The house in No. 10 was shingled and painted, and next year will be provided with new desks. The house in No. 12 was thoroughly repaired and painted. Money was voted to repair the house at Durham, but one cannot discern that anything has yet been done to it. No. 15, a new district recently laid off, has not yet had a school, nor have they finished their building.

Southampton. In the nineteen school districts in this Parish, eighteen schools were maintained the present Term. There was no school in Central Waterville, as there are very few pupils to attend, but the Ratepayers voted money to have a school next Term. The house in Mapleton was repaired and painted, and the houses in Nos. 13 and 17 were repaired. At the annual meetings in Temperance Vale and Middle Southampton Ratepayers voted considerable sums of money towards repairing school houses. Miss Sarah Mullan, after several years' successful work in Campbell Settlement, has resigned her position. The school at Millville, under Miss Sarah Haines, has done admirable work. At East Waterville, where there has not been a school for over a year, Miss Schriver has succeeded in getting the school in a good state of organization. The Ratepayers of Nos. 18 and 19, comparatively new districts, deserve much credit for keeping school almost continuously since organization.

Stanley. No school, of the eighteen in this Parish, was closed during the year; and these schools have almost always been regularly in operation - a fact which has been mentioned before in my report. Some repairs were put upon the school houses in Nos. 7 and 8. The school in the new District, No. 61, has been running continuously since its organization. The house in No. 6, Williamsburg, should be moved to the centre of the District. Cross Creek, No. 5, is too long a District, and there are enough children in it to form two large schools, but as it is now there is a large number of pupils that cannot attend school in winter at all. The school at Parker's Ridge, No. 11, has a large enrolment, is well attended, and is doing excellent work under Miss Chase. The house in English Settlement will be repaired during Christmas holidays. City of Fredericton. - The school at Doak Settlement remained closed during the year, as there are but a very few pupils to attend school, and the Act uniting the lower part of the City with a part of Sunbury County has freed the Board of School Trustees from any further responsibility in connection with the Wiseley school. Since the beginning of the year, there has been no change in the staff of teachers, with the single important exception of Mr. Palmer's resigning his position in the High School, to accept the Principalship of the Male Academy at Sackville. It is needless for me to say that Mr. Palmer's career as a teacher in Fredericton was successful. No teacher was held in higher esteem by both the pupils of the High School and the citizens at large, and our public school service has lost a teacher surpassed by none in teaching ability and in general scholarship. It is gratifying, however, to know that his services have not been lost entirely to the cause of education. Mr. Palmer has been succeeded by Mr. Francis Walker, B. A., of Harvard University. The including of a large part of the pupils of the 8th Standard of the City schools in the classes of the High School has so increased the work of the teachers there as to militate seriously against its efficiency. It would seem better if the 8th Standard were under the control of the Principal of the Charlotte Street Schcol, instead of the 7th, as at present, and another department opened up for the 7th Standard in the York Street School. The additional expense for the present prevents any such change.

Town of Marysville. There are five departments here, of which Mr. W. T. Day has long been the Principal, as well as having charge of the Superior School. The good work done here has been proved by the excellent stand which pupils from this school have taken at the Fredericton High School. The opening of a primary department on the East side of the Nashwaak, to accomodate the increasing number of pupils in the primary standards, for whom it is impossible to walk so far in the winter months, would seem a neccessity in the near future.

SCHOOL LIBRARIES.

There are at present quite a number of school libraries in this Inspectoral District. In York County there are at least twenty, and there are several also in Sunbury and Queens. These have been provided almost entirely by the exertions of the teachers in the several districts, and much credit is due them. Several teachers have lately informed me that it is their intention to try and furnish something of this kind for the use of their

pupils. One cannot but notice that a library once started, however small, is continually being added thereto.

COUNTY INSTITUTES.

The Institute held at Gagetown for Queens and Sunbury, although by no means accessible to all the teachers within the Counties, was not attended as it should be. There was but a meagre attendance in Queens County from the opposite side of the river to Gagetown. Teachers by this time ought to have learned the value of attending these Institutes, but there are many in Queens and Sunbury who have not.

The Institute for York County, held in December at Fredericton, was the largest, as to numbers present, within the history of that body. There was careful attention paid thoroughout the different sessions, and the discussions were such as to show that the youngest teachers were keenly alive to the benefits to be derived from attendance at such gatherings. This Instititute has always been much indebted to the staff of the Provincial Normal School in preparing papers and discussions thereon. This time they were also indebted to Dr. Philip Cox, for an admirable lesson in Natural History.

The new Course of Instruction has been in operation so short a time, and the changes made are hardly marked enough for me at present to report concerning. The principal difficulty in the way of greater efficiency in our ungraded schools is that we have too many teachers, very young, whom experience has not yet taught that to do real solid lasting work there is always the necessity of going slow, and who, though enthusiastic enough in their work, appear more desirous of advancing the pupil through the pages of the text book, and thus pleasing the parent, who, ignorant of what real educational progress is, likes the apparent advancement of going from one book to another. Our graded schools have the advantage in this respect. Their teachers are generally older and have been trained in the school of experience.

I have the honor to be,

Your obedient servant,

H. V. B. BRIDGES.