large, roomy school-houses, well lighted and ventilated, are greatly Appendix D. needed. One such, that will accommodate 200 pupils, will be opened Attendance next month, and it is hoped the example here set by the enterprising and Schoolowners of the Linfield Factory will be followed by others, so that before fees. long the wants of the poorer class of the people, as regards proper school- Mr. Morell. room accommodation, will be fairly supplied. District 10, Newtownards; Mr. Gordon.-As regards the condition Mr. Gordon. of the schools in my district, I have little to add to what I have already stated under the head of " proficiency of pupils." Since the introduction of payment for results, and the modifications in the arrangements for securing the services of monitors, male monitors are now more easily procured. They accept the position more readily than formerly, (1) because their apprenticeship as senior or second-class monitors now begins a year sooner; (2) because their period of service as such has been reduced by a year; and (3) because at the end of their course they are eligible for classification, and every male monitor when classed is sure to get employment in this district either as principal or assistant teacher. The female assistants also are now selected almost entirely from those monitors who have passed their first examination and have been recommended for classification. Thus, the office of teacher will now to a much larger extent than formerly, be filled up by young people of both sexes who have served an apprenticeship to the work. This must soon tell beneficially upon the condition of the schools, including, of course, the proficiency of the pupils. District 11, Lurgan; Mr. James Brown.-Notwithstanding the Mr. James drawbacks notified, I am happy in being able to bear testimony to the Brown. general and increasing efficiency of the schools in this district. The zeal and industry of the teachers appear to have been stimulated to a remarkable degree by the system of payment by results. I have found it effective where the ordinary influence of the manager and of the inspector was of little avail. It is quite possible for a teacher to be able to keep free from official censure, and yet not be successful in his school. So forcibly has this proved itself, when a higher pecuniary interest was found to be directly connected with efficiency in imparting instruction, that a manager has made the improved state of his school the very ground for a serious reprimand with reference to the past. On the other hand, there are some instances in which the working of the new plan has given rise to a tendency to the superficial teaching of many subjects in preference to sound instruction in a smaller number; but I have no doubt that experience of the effects of this mistake will, in a short time, lead to its correction. District 12, Sligo; Mr. Wood.-The increased energy and attention Mr. Wood. to work forced from the teachers by the results system has, to a great extent, renovated the schools. There are more pupils taught, and there is more instruction given to the majority of the pupils. Vacations are curtailed, school is often held on six days a week instead of five, and home lessons are insisted upon. How far the stimulus of results fees will drive the teachers it is impossible to predict; but already instances present themselves of the sacrifice of health, leisure, self-improvement, and previously respected religious obligations. School-fees also are ceasing to be demanded, except from parents whose children fail to make ninety attendances in twelve months, or, having made so many, to be present at school on the day of examination. And it would be folly to disguise the fact that as the temptation to falsify the records of Appendix D. pupils' attendance has been enormously increased by the results system Attendance indeed, created by it in nine cases out of ten-so has the number of and School- instances in which such falsification has been detected, or must in reason fees. be supposed, rapidly risen. Mr. Wood. Dr. Strong. The classification of teachers, it must be stated, bears no relation to their actual merits. Some of the best schools in this district are taught by third class teachers, and some of the worst by first class ones. Thus a teacher who, with the aid of one assistant, earns only 48. 3d. a head for 65 pupils, may receive £65 salary, while another teacher who, with similar assistance, earns 58. 9d. a head for 114 pupils, receives only £24. To the latter teacher promotion is impossible; it can be obtained only by examination, and the preparation of the subjects prescribed is out of the power of a man who has to work so hard and so long. District 13, Enniskillen ; Dr. Strong.-As regards the progress of education in this district, I can unhesitatingly say that the schools, with few exceptions, have made satisfactory progress. Even the most indifferent teachers under the old system find it necessary to lay their shoulders to the work in order to secure a moderate amount of results fees. A better class of school-houses is being provided, and the opposition to the National system has well-nigh ceased, all parties being now anxious to avail themselves of the usual grants. The time is almost come when rent-paying school-houses should be struck off. locality is so devoid of interest in the education of the inhabitants as to throw the onus of providing a suitable school-house on a teacher, the Commissioners should seriously consider the propriety of withholding their grants. Where a School-fees, &c.-I need hardly state that the amount of school-fees insisted on by the teachers is insignificant, and the managers should be called on by the Commissioners to take active measures in aiding the teachers in this matter, as well as in providing, where practicable, a suitable residence. Even the teachers could do much among themselves by strictly adopting it as a rule, that no pupil should be accepted as a "free pupil" unless the manager gave a special note of admission. Inasmuch as the difficulty in procuring school-fees hinges to a certain extent on the multiplicity of National schools, all unnecessary schools should be struck off the rolls. This could be done without injuring the prospects of education. Another matter which now demands the attention of the Commissioners, and especially of the Legislature, is the importance of providing for the introduction of Classics, as in the case of the Parochial National schools of Scotland. If even a moderate encouragement were given by way of salary and results fees, schools of this kind would spring up in nearly all the towns and villages, and our best pupils would soon pass to the colleges and universities. In course of time these, doubtless, would swell the ranks of the distinguished competitors for "Civil Service" and other kindred appointments. I need scarcely remind you of the overwhelming amount of evidence elicited by the Commissioners on Endowed and Primary Schools as to the great want of intermediate education in Ireland. It is a notorious fact that the private classical schools which heretofore existed, and by means of which many of the most distinguished men of the present generation have risen to eminence are now completely superseded by the present National schools, and hence the necessity for their revival. The introduction of classics would cause but little change in our present machinery, as most of our present Inspectors are competent to conduct examinations for results, and a selection of same would easily carry out further details as to examinations of the teachers for certificates, &c. I AppendixD. would say that one Head and District Inspector for each province could Attendance have the whole in working order in a year. and Schoolfees. Mr. District 14, Omagh; Mr. Mahony.-Education in this district is had almost exclusively through National schools. The only others are one Mahony. Christian Brothers', one Poor Law Union, one Erasmus Smith's, and four Church Education schools. Between them these educate about 200. As might be expected this National education monopoly has not been favourable to intellectual progress. Better that there had been more competition. From want of it and other causes, the numbers under instruction are fewer than they ought to be, the attendance fluctuating and irregular, and the general proficiency by no means satisfactory. A description of the educational condition of the locality at the beginning of this century is equally applicable at the present day. The Statistical Survey of Tyrone, issued by the Royal Dublin Society in 1802 states, "With respect to education attainable from day schools by the lower classes, very little real benefit can be derived, as when children are able to perform any sort of work, such as herding cattle, they are then taken from school. From the age of six or seven to that of ten or eleven years, is the usual time for children to be kept at school. At this early period they acquire but little, and that little is generally forgotten before they come to the age of understanding. Even the children of farmers and others above the level of common labourers fare but little better than those of the lower class, as their situation in life obliges them to early habits of industry, without which rents cannot be paid." The fact that attendance in the ordinary schools of the district is only 49.3 per cent. of the average on rolls-that, as Dr. Lyon Playfair expressed it, "There is the extraordinary amount of 50.7 per cent. of truancy," and in some cases 60, 65, and nearly 70 per cent., quenches the hope, and forbids the possibility of adequate progress. Many causes of this bad attendance are beyond the reach of those engaged in educational work to cure. But there is one for which teachers themselves are alone to blame. If they insisted upon, and enforced payment of school-fees from such as are bound to pay them, allowing no deduction for absence without cause, school attendance would be very different from what it is. Besides numerous others of a kindred character, a single instance of recent date, will be enough to illustrate the significant effect which enforcing payment produces upon regularity of attendance. At the beginning of last year the teacher of Derrabard National School had printed and circulated a set of school regulations, among which was, "School-fees will be required in advance, quarterly, on the first Monday in January, April, July and October. No allowance will be given for absent time." Very properly this rule has been strictly enforced. Whether it be cause and effect, or only post hoc ergo propter hoc, the facts are worth stating. The per-centage of average attendance, which in 1870 was 418; in 1871, 43-4; in 1872, 49.3, has risen in 1873, concurrently with enforcing school-fees to 55.9 per cent. Kindred facts elsewhere, which I could state in abundance, not only warrant the induction, but prove it, that if the same practice were universally adopted similar results would inevitably follow. Time has wrought little perceptible progress in education here. Half a century ago schools were more numerous, and school attendances larger in this district than they are at present. Returns furnished to the Commissioners of Irish Education Inquiry in 1824, and verified on oath, certify that within limits identical with this district, as it has stood in 1873, the schools were-Church parochial, 7; London Hibernian Society, fees. Appendix D. 25; Kildare-place Society, 12; London, Hibernian and Kildare-place Attendance conjointly, 5; Society for Discountenancing Vice, 1; Erasmus Smith's, and School- 2; Gaol (Omagh), 1; private, 78; total, 131. Now the total number of schools available, of every kind, is 119. But as five National schools are Mr. at present inoperative, there are seventeen schools fewer now than in the Mahony. year 1824. Average attendances in that year were, males, 3,347; females, 2,247; total, 5,594. Average attendances in the National schools of the district in the year 1873 were, males, 2,128; females, 1,917; total, 4,045. So nearly as I can estimate the numbers in the few schools not National, I am satisfied of my being under the mark in stating that the school-going children in the district are 1,200 fewer than they were in the year 1824. It is anything but hopeful to have ascertained that in a district geographically small, with a thriving people, and State bounty not spared in teaching them, schools are seventeen fewer, and attendances in them 1,200 less than they were just half a century ago. Mr. John Within this period progress has been very considerable in two respects at least:-1. In 1824, incomes of the teachers through the district averaged £14 6s. 2d. The highest reached by any was £64. The more numerous varied from £12 to £20. One was £3 8s. 3d., and another £3 only. But some return "board and lodging" as part of their income. 2. Of the school-houses, the description of 14 is "a thatched cabin ;" of 2, a poor thatched cabin ;" of 6, "a sod cabin ;" of 7, "a wretched cabin?"" of 3, 66 a miserable cabin ;" of 2, 66 a mud wall cabin." There also were 66 a a 66 bad cabin," 66 small cabin," a sod hut covered with heath," "a wretched hovel," and "a stable." Upwards of fifty school-houses appear to have been ghastly dens, perilous to existence in them. Now, no more than nine are unsuited to their purpose. If mental culture had only kept pace with the improved circumstances of its agents, and the renovation of the school fabrics where they serve, little room would be left for animadversion of any kind upon the state of National education within this district. District 15, Dungannon; Mr. John Browne.-Having been so short a time in this district as to have examined little more than half the schools in it, I am not prepared to speak with confidence as to their condition generally. I conclude, however, from what I have seen, that the state of popular education here is far from satisfactory-considerably lower than in my late district. A very small proportion of the attendance is to be found in the higher classes, and the proficiency in these is seldom very high. This is only what is to be expected from a generally irregular attendance and the early age at which the children are taken from school. For this a variety of causes might be assigned. I shall, however, mention only three. First, the farms here are, as a rule, very small, and they are generally worked by the farmers themselves and the members of their respective families. Hence, children able to assist in farm labour of any kind are, during the spring and autumn, and occasionally during the summer months, more or less employed in herding cattle or at other field work. This accounts for the fact that schools, comparatively empty during these months, are in some cases so overcrowded in winter as to make efficient work and satisfactory progress impossible. Second, coal-mining, spinning, weaving, and other works of a similar kind, employ a large number of hands; and this circumstance has an indirect influence in withdrawing children from school at a very early age. Third, the schools are, in many cases, much in excess of the real educational wants of the localities in which they are situated. This has arisen from the fact that the several religious denominations are so mixed that each is frequently able to supply a minimum attendance sufficient to secure a grant to a school of its own. Hence there are no AppendixD. less than 34 schools in the district having an average daily attendance of Attendance only from 16 to 29 pupils. In such cases properly qualified teachers and Schoolcan be had only when there are some fair local endowments given in aid fees. of school-fees. Even these, however, are often insufficient to galvanize Mr. John the teachers found in them into life and earnestness. There is, I believe, Browne. within certain limits an influence in numbers that acts even on sluggish natures-evoking their energies and compelling them to work whether they will or no. Another bad effect arising from an undue increase of schools, is that it weakens the authority of the teacher, and injures school discipline. On the infliction of punishment, however well-merited, or on the demand for school-fees by the teacher, pupils are not unfrequently withdrawn and sent to another and equally convenient school. Thus the attendance at these small schools is both irregular and fluctuating. Hence I consider an increase of schools, beyond a certain point, to be deprecated as really injuring the cause it is designed to serve. I have no doubt whatever that one school, having a daily average attendance of from 60 to 65 pupils under an experienced principal, with a fairly qualified assistant, and an intelligent monitor, will do far better work-produce more and better results-than three schools having the same attendance, collectively under three teachers. The good schools of this district are to be found only in those localities in which one or other of the religious denominations largely preponderates. In these a fair attendance may generally be found. Such schools are looked upon as prizes, and are generally under teachers of energy and experience. It is in these cases, too, that the benefit of payment by results is felt and appreciated. The small amount contributed by way of school-fees here has very much surprised me. In my report on the Tipperary district for 1872, I contrasted the smallness of the local endowments there with the sumaveraging 58. 1d. per pupil in average daily attendance throughout the year-paid as school-fees. Here the circumstances are reversed. In the schools I have examined the endowments are represented by 2s. 6d., and the school-fees by 28. 41d. per pupil in attendance throughout the year. This low contribution on the part of the parents, is, I am persuaded not in consequence of their poverty, but rather another evil result of a superabundance of schools. Teachers are so eager to obtain pupils that many prefer to give instruction gratuitously rather than have a small attendance. Nor do I think that payment by results has aggravated this evil to any appreciable extent, if at all, as in very many cases schoolfees appear to have been reduced to a minimum before this principle was thought of. Another matter worthy of observation here, is the trifling extent to which religious instruction is given, even in schools that are attended almost exclusively by one denomination. True, it generally appears on the time table, sometimes as occupying half an hour before or after secular instruction-quite as often it is restricted to Saturday, which is virtually a dies non, but the instances are by no means rare in which it is dispensed with altogether. This indifference, too, is not confined to any one denomination, and I consider it as rather remarkable when taken in connexion with the eagerness manifested by each body of religionists to have schools of its own. I cannot close this report without referring to the number of evening schools, twenty-five at present on the rolls of this district. The results programme offers such exceptional encouragement to this class of schools as suffices to account for their rapid increase. During the past six months ten of these have been taken into connexion, and several others are in operation, for which aid either has been, or will be sought from the |