in national education are to flow. Since 1812, there have been received at this school 1178 masters and mistresses at their own request; 967 of whom were from local schools; 953 have been provided with permanent situations; and 682 teachers in training have been sent out for the temporary charge of schools. There are, in addition, 43 central schools in various parts of the country, where 2000 teachers, who could not conveniently come up to London, have been trained according to the system adopted by the society. The direct extension of schools has been stimulated by the society raising money, to be added in the proportion of one-fourth to local contributions, for the purpose of building school-rooms. During a period of twentyfour years 125,000l. have been voted in furtherance of this object, occasioning by this means an outlay in building considerably exceeding half a million of money. Out of the last parliamentary grant in aid of education, amounting to 20,000l., the sum of 13,6107. has been assigned to the society, and distributed to 122 cases which were laid before its committee. The Lords of the Treasury (being unable to meet the whole demand which was made on their funds) adopted two principles of distribution, the first having reference to the smallness of the amount which was solicited at their hands, and the second to the extent of population from which the application came. In consequence of this restriction, 89 applications transmitted through the society, for sums amounting to 8,0147., remained unsatisfied. The report states that a grant to the amount of 20,9047. would secure an immediate outlay of above 50,000l. in building schoolrooms, and provide accommodation in 213 places for the accommodation of 31,375 children. In allusion to the exertions which the society is still urged to make, it is stated that there are upwards of 2000 places (consisting of the smaller parishes, separate townships, or hamlets, and extra-parochial places, with populations varying from 50 to 100 souls and upwards to a considerable amount) in which there does not exist a single school of any kind. In stating its present and prospective responsibilities, the report lays great stress upon improvements to be effected in the character of the education given to children, and on the difficulties which lie in the way of obtaining liberal means for the support of teachers. It is remarked: -The difficulty always experienced by the society has been that of providing salaries for teachers, not that of finding well-educated persons who were willing to enter into training, and devote their time to the education of the young. Such persons are never wanting where adequate salaries are provided. But, if the qualifications and abilities of teachers were to be raised by means of any system of training, without at the same time raising the remuneration they receive, it is not probable that the experiment would proportionably benefit the schools. The temptation to accept the same or a better reward for some other employment, at a more easy rate of exertion, would be constantly diminishing the number of those who had been prepared, with much expense and care, for the business of superintending schools. And this view of the subject is not merely theoretical, but it has been found to exist in practice.' The increased re muneration of teachers is intimately connected with improvements in the mode of education; and the following suggestions are thrown out as the means of bringing them up to that standard of attainment and to that station which it is plainly desirable they should hold :-1. Requiring small weekly payments for the education which is bestowed. 2. Their salaries to be increased by the addition of any small bequests and charitable endowments which may be left at the discretion of the clergy or others, without a specific appropriation to any particular use. 3. The building of a dwelling-house in the immediate neighbourhood of the school, and connecting with it a garden sufficient for the master's use. EDUCATION RETURNS FOR ENGLAND AND WALES.-In 1833 a series of questions was addressed to the Overseers of the Poor throughout England and Wales, and by them communicated to all schoolmasters and schoolmistresses, for the purpose of obtaining particulars relative to the state of education. The following is a recapitulation of the summary of the returns which have been made. LENDING LIBRARIES of Books attached to Schools in England and Wales, are ... 2,464 The population would amount to 14,400,000 when the inquiry was made and answered, and, at that time, the children under instruction at infant and other daily schools appear to have been 1,276,947, or nearly nine per cent. on the whole population. The children who attended the Sunday schools formed nearly eleven per cent., or 1,548,890; making together twenty per cent. The proportion of children from five to fifteen years of age is twenty-four per cent. of the entire population. The above returns are evidently very imperfect; they do not, for instance, furnish the means of ascertaining the proportion of day scholars attending Sunday schools, Scholars. Schools. Scholars. nor do they show to what extent the total of 2,825,837 scholars, represented as being under some course of instruction, is swelled by duplicate entries, which we know must be the case. It follows then that the per centage as deduced above must be very far from the truth. STATE OF EDUCATION IN MANCHESTER.-Complaints having been made of the inaccuracy of the returns presented from Manchester, in pursuance of Lord Kerry's motion,* the Manchester Statistical Society (an institution which we strongly recommend to the imitation of the inhabitants of other large towns) appointed a committee of its members to investigate the subject. Accordingly, under their direction, a personal survey of the town has been made by a gentleman possessing all the requisite qualifications for such a task; and finally a report was prepared on the state of the day, Sunday, charity, and infant schools, the number of children attending them, and the nature and value of the instruction which they receive. The results have appeared in a small pamphlet just issued under the direction of the society. It appears that the numbers at present attending the different schools in the borough of Manchester are 43,304, of whom A 10,108 attend day and evening schools only. B 10,011 attend both day and Sunday schools. 43,304 The population of the borough is supposed to be about 200,000. The number of persons receiving instruction of some kind or other is therefore 21.65 per cent. Of those who attend daily schools, the numbers give about 10 per cent. The comparative numbers, however, may be ascertained from the following statement: About About About Thus about 33,000 scholars are upon the books of Sunday schools. 10,000 are returned as attending both Sunday schools and day or evening schools. 23,000 scholars receive Sunday school instruction only. 20,000 are returned as day and evening scholars. 43,000 is the total number of children under instruction. In the township of Manchester alone, which contains a population of 142,000, there are entirely omitted in these returns, I infant school, 10 Sunday schools, and 176 day schools, which existed at the time when these returns were made, and contained 10,611 scholars. False returns were made by one individual of three Sunday schools that never existed at all, and which were stated to contain 1590 scholars; and double returns were made of three other schools, containing 375 scholars, so that the total error in these returns for the township of Manchester alone was 182 schools and 8646 scholars. Besides this, eight dame schools were reported as infant schools, In Chorlton on Medlock, containing a The investigation was pursued to some extent, for the purpose of ascertaining the ages of the scholars. The average of five Sunday schools gave one-fifth of the numbers above 15, the highest proportion being 27 per cent., and the lowest 13 per cent.: there will therefore be 6600 Sunday scholars above 15 in the above number of 33,000. About 5400 children are returned as attending the infant and dame schools, of whom the great proportion are under five years of age: the two sums together amount to 12,000. Deducting 10,000 for scholars under five, and above fifteen, which is probably somewhat less than the truth, about 33,000 are left as the number of children between the ages of five and fifteen under course of instruction. The whole number of children, between five and fifteen, in the borough being estimated at 50,000 (or one-fourth of the whole population), it would thus appear that about three-fifths of this number are educated, and that two-fifths are receiving no instruction whatever. The committee, however, are compelled to speak in unfavourable terms of the system of instruction in many cases, and of the want of capacity in` the teachers: they consider that too often the benefits arising from attendance at school are only of a negative character, consisting in the children being kept out of harm's way,' and from the contagion of evil example. The report contains an account of each description of schools, beginning with ' Dame Schools.-Under this head (the Report remarks) are included all those schools in which reading only, and a little sewing, are taught. This is the most numerous class of schools, and they are generally in the most deplorable condition. The greater part of them are kept by females, but some by old men, whose only qualification for this kind of employment seems to be their unfitness for every other. Many of these teachers are engaged at the same time in some other employment, such as shop-keeping, sewing, washing, &c., which renders any regular instruction among their scholars absolutely impossible: indeed, neither parents nor teachers seem to consider this as the principal object in sending the children to these schools, but generally say that they go there in order to be taken care of, and to be out of the way at home. It is stated in a note to this part of the Report, that, notwithstanding this, it is a very common objection made against infant schools, both by parents and teachers (of dame schools), that the children learn nothing there. The dames themselves, as may be supposed, regard these schools, and all similar innovations, with a very hostile eye, as encroaching on their province, and likely, before very long, to break up their trade entirely. The dames' schools (the Report continues) population of 20,500, the returns made to government show too small a number by 40 schools and 837 scholars. One infant school (a private establishment) was not returned at all; and one Sunday school, which had ceased to exist for more than a year, was returned with 222 scholars. In Hulme township, containing a population of 9600, the returns made to government show too small a number by 14 schools and 864 scholars; and though there was not one infant school in the township, four dame schools, with 112 scholars, were returned under that title. A Sunday school, with 102 scholars, was also returned, which belongs to another township; and another, with 400 scholars, was omitted. are generally found in very dirty, unwholesome rooms-frequently in close, damp cellars, or old dilapidated garrets. In one of these schools eleven children were found in a small room, in which one of the children of the mistress was lying in bed ill of the measles; another child had died in the same room of the same complaint a few days before, and no less than thirty of the usual scholars were then confined at home with the same disease. In another school, all the children, to the number of twenty, were squatted upon the bare floor, there being no benches, chairs, or furniture of any kind in the room. The master said his terms would not yet allow him to provide forms, but he hoped that as his school increased, and his circumstances thereby improved, he should be able some time or other to afford this luxury. In by far the greater number of these schools there were only two or three books among the whole number of scholars. In others there was not one; and the children depended for their instruction on the chance of some one of 'them bringing a book, or part of one, from home. Books, however, are occasionally provided by the master or mistress, and in this case the supply is somewhat greater, but in almost all cases it is exceedingly deficient. One of the best of this description of schools is kept by a blind man, who hears his scholars their lessons, and explains them with great simplicity; he is, however, liable to interruption in his academic labours, as his wife keeps a mangle, and he is obliged to turn it for her. Occasionally, in some of the more respectable districts, there are still to be found one or two of the old primitive dame schools, kept by a tidy, elderly female, whose school has an appearance of neatness and order, which strongly distinguishes it from the generality of this class of schools. The terms of dame schools vary from 2d. to 7d. per week, and average 4d. The average yearly receipts of each mistress are about 171. 16s. The number of children attending these dame schools is 4722; but it appears to the committee that no instruction really deserving the name is received in them; and in reckoning the number of those to be considered as partaking of the advantages of useful education, these children must be left entirely out of the account. Common Day Schools.-These schools seem to be in rather better condition than those last mentioned, but are still very little fitted to give a really useful education to the children of the poorer classes. The masters generally are in no way qualified for their occupation ;* *The masters themselves have generally a better opinion of their own qualifications. One of them observed, during a visit paid to his school, that there were too many schools to do any good; adding, 'I wish Government would pass a law that nobody but them as is high larnt should keep school, and then we might stand a chance to do some good. Most of the masters and mistresses of these schools seemed to be strongly impressed with the superiority of their own plans over those of any other school, and were very little inclined to listen to any suggestions respecting improvements in education that had been made in other places. The old road is the best,' they would sometimes say. One master stated that he had adopted a system which he thought would at once supply the great desiderata in education: 'It is simply,' he said, 'in watching the dispositions of the children, and putting |