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Maps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at different reduction ratios. Those too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the I'lper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, aa many framea aa required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Lea cartea, pianchoa, tableaux, etc., peuvent fttre fllmte it des taux da rMuction diffirents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour Atre reproduit en un seul ciichi, it ast film* A partir de I'angle aupAriaur gaucho, de gauche * droite, et de haut en baa, en prenant le nombre d'images nAcessaire. Lea diagrammes suivanta illuatrent la mithode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 <• ^ /. J!nLJIi^JfllLtJIm,ILilcJlu X ON THE SUBJECT OF THE SCHOOL LAWS OF UPPER CANADA, From the Uathurnt Disincl Council io the Honorable the Legislative Assev^blt/ of Canada in Parliament .^»semblcd. Tlie remarkaWe liilTercnce of opinion respeclinc the Machirery and operation of the Common Scliool system ofi'us Section of Canada, which certain Circulars from oertain District Councils, an(.' the articles contained tn the first niuuher of*' The Jour- nal of Education for Upper Canada" exhibit, demonstrate the truth of D;-. Ryerson's saying, in one of those articles, that " On iro subject is it more easy to speculate, and on no subject is it more dilficult to legislate, than on that of Common Schools." Ne- vertheless, the District Council of the tJathurst District are persuadecf, that an cxprcs- «ion of opinion on the subject, by all who have giverf to it considerable a tontion,. will (however much the expressions may conHict) prejtly assist to throw light on it, — and light loo that will sugjrest how the system may beameeded and be made to work satis- factorily and efficiently. If legislation lor purposes of education, is to have an object beyond the mere pass- ing of what is designated, "a School Law,^'' or that will be worthy of the approval of the country, — that object, (the Bathurst District Councr' are of opinion,) imist be ike putting oj the means of education within the reach of every class in, comviuniUj . The poor, and those who, because of their being too few, are unable to support Schools in their neif;aborhoods, should, before all other classes, be those <or v.hom the Legislature ought to provide means of education. The overlooking of t s seems to have been the principal cause why the School Law; which have been iu operation in Upper Canada, bave all failed to effect any considerable improvement in the state of education, except- ing among the inhabitants of a very few places more enterprizing than others, and great- ly in advance of the legislation against wb'::h they have had to contend. The truth is, liad the rule been, " Whosoever hath, io him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance ; but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that which he hath,,''^ laws could not have been made that would have more certainly ext-ludeil from the possibility of availing themselves of the means of education, the classes who most needed them. . t • i • A glance at the principles on which, under our various school laws, the Legislative Grants for purposes ot olucalion have been distributed, will show how ill calculated the various provisions of Ln w tor the promotion of education, have been to effect the object for which thev were enacted. Under the School Law which a Memorial addressed to your Honorable Body, by the Gore District Council, says " operated more efficiently and gave more general sat- tajaction than any since substituted,''^ — the provision was, that no school could share in tlic public appropriation for the maintenance of schools, unless ttie Trustees of it had certified, that \he average number of Scholars which had, during six months, attended it, exceeded twenty. In two ways that provision operated against the promotion of the object which it was enacted to promote. First, it prevented persons who really needed assistance to support a school from sharing in the public appropriation ; becauso there were tlien, as there are now, (and, as in new countries, there will ever be,) ma- ny places in which half the average attendance required could not be secured ; and in •ucli places, education, was altogether neglected — nevertheless, such places were then, \ \ (2.) «nJ still art, the placas tnoat fining the legislalure to provide for them the means of eui;cation. The other vray in which the provision hindered the promotion of education ix tJiat It allovved every one to share in the appropriation, who chose to call himself i ^Schoolmaster, and procured three persons to be hts Trustees nnd to certify, that he had during a period of six months taught a school" in their neighbourhood, "demeaned himself to Meir salisfaciion," and " (hat the average number ol his scholars had exceed- ejl twenty. By such means the thinly inhabited portions of the Province were pre- cluded from having schools j while, in ihickly populated neighbourhoods, several schools w«re generally m operation where one only should have been tolerated. It IS true that there was " general satisfaction j" but the satisfaction was not caus- ed by the people s knowing that their children xvere u-e/Z-instructed ; but by their beinir permitted to have more Schools than men who have studied the economy of education know will ever improve any peoples' social condition, or their intelligence, or their fit- ness o be intru.ted with the exercise of such rights and the discharge of such duties a, BOW belongs lo the people of Canada. «... 'i' '^''^^ ^0'n»''«--^i<H'er Act," so called, similarly precluded the inhabitants of thinly •ettled neighbourhoods from the jjossibility of availing themselves of the benefit to bo derived Irom legislative grants for the support of schools : and the law which followed. ?T T*1'T u'^ ""f ""'^ "!^!^^ "•" provision for that class's bein^ enabled to establish Schools but 1 heavily taxed them, and took the tax and gave it to the thickly popula- ted neighbourhoods, ni which Schools might have been well supported bv the ample weans which the usual fees for Scholars would have produced ! ' The present School Law similarly (but in sfreater degree than any of its prede- censors) hinders the promotion of what ought to be the object of legislation for School purposes; because it robs those who, /ro^ very poverty, have, at no time, been able to support Schools in their neighbourhood, and hands over what is taken from them lo mamtain schools tor ihose who, without any assistance, and without any interference of government in their School affairs would be prompted, by a desire to emulate each other, to support bettor Schools than at this time exist any where in Canada. lo understauu rightly thegreat injustice which it does to many Sections of the eountry and thejjreat exlentto which the interests of education are being injured, your Honorable Body wiH refer to clause Firsi, Section second of the School Law 9th Vic- toria, cap. 20, and to c ause.9tconc/of the thirteenth Section of the same,— where vou will see, that the distribution of moneys for the support of Schools, must, in all cases be not according to people s need of assistance,~f which is the <Hrue principle" of dis- tr.buuon of whatever is called " assistance;^ but is do. .uted according to population —just as If provision for public instruction must necessarily be furnished to comrauni- uea on the same principle that we would furnish food or clothing for an army. Ihe injustice of the provision just referred to, is very clearly established by a re- port made to the Bathurst District Council, at its present Session, by the District Su- perintendent by which appears that the Legislative grant to the township of West- meath for 184.7, was £o IsO^d, and the amount assessed on that township je32 3s 8d. Supposing that the Distiict Fund be distributed, (as it evidently must be) according to the ratio of distribucion which gave £5 Is O'd, against je32 3s 8d, Westmeath, which o t f "^ 'ojj'wsA'i'r-Mzn/y settted,-and consequently, hardly able to maintain 5cAoo/^,-w,ll be robbed of upwards of;e20; for supposing the ass'essment to be not more ifian the Legislative Grant, the sum which it will receive will be only £10 23 Id proving Its loss, under the operation of our School System, to be just je22 is 7d " I ' Similar result* are presented as regards other new townships; and, great as the en- J- (3.) urmily so presented is,, a still greater is often presented in tlic sni)di^<ll•iln^lion to School Sections. To make thij plain, we w^ll suppose that VVeslineaili is divided into two School Sections,— we will not say that itdoes not comprise tnorc,— and we will sup- pose, that one of these pays je20, as its share of nn assessment of jG30, and that th« other Section pays, £10 of it. The cause of this ditlercm-e we know to he, that lUa one extends over a larger number of lots than the other, or has within it a lorger amount of rateable property. But in the one which pays the larger sum, there oru but 20 children that are over five and under 16 years of age, while in the one which pays the smaller sum, there are 30. The School Fund returned to the lownship will be.according to the ratio of the above mentioned loss which we have shewn to be caused by constituting a "District Fund, say je 10 of this sum,consequently, ihe Section which pays twenty jwunds assessment will receivejust four pojinds from the Distrid^Fund,''' —which is only one fifth of the means which it would have had, had its inhjhitanf* but known enough not to come under the provision of the School Lnw ! ! ! On the principle that distribution according to population is correct, — which for the sake of exposition only is (o be admitted, — the injustice done m thickly populated neighbourhoods, is not less striking. For instance, there were in School Section No, 3 of the township of Drummond, in a certain year, 98 children, each, of course, entitlinjf the Section to one share ofthe township fund, fn another there were f)9 chiUlren, e«ch likewise entitling its Section to receive one share. In the former section 3i4 children attended school; in the latter 41. Now granting the principle to be correct, that the teacher should have been paid according to the numbers which they resp»-c- fively taught which we assume for the present pnrpose ofexnosi lion— Reason' was, that the School which the 4-1 had attended, should have received the larger share of the School fund; but the School law provided, that the one which the 38 attended should receive the larger share, because there were in the Section in which it was located, the larger number of resident children. Now had the larger number all attended the School, and paid but the same fees that are usually paid at our Common Schools, h School could have been maintained in ibis larger Section without the necessity of ap- portioning any of the Legislative grant for its maintenance ; and thu sum paid to if, which was ;€25 9i lOd, might have been apportioned among sections which really ■ceded assistance. A still more glaring contrast is presented toil:*, when wo compare, not only the amounts paid, together with the numbers that atten..e(i Schr »ls, but compare them lo- fBlher with the period during wriich the Schools were in epilation. For instance, in the township last aboVe alluded to, there were, in one School Section, 65 children at- tending a School which was kept open /M.Wre months, and received £19 is ll^d : whereas the School above mentioned which received Je25 9s lOd, and in which 38 flhiidren only were taught, was kept open only eAght months. State therefore th* «?uestion so that it snail be, " If a teacher for instructing 38 scholars during a perio<J of 8 months receive je25 9s lOd, what ought another teacher to receive who has taught er) scholars during a period of 12 months?— and the injustice (i. e. assuming the prtn- niple ofdistributing the fund according to numbers to he correct) ii truly monstrous. We n^ust obseive, however, that, according to right principles of economy, lbs principle which we, in detecting such enormity, assume to be correct, is not the •< trv* and only principle of providing for the education of the entire population of a country," — «nd we might advert to several other principles of distribution which, by the advo- cates of them, are said to be the best, that would operaie quite as unjustly and injuri- ously as those to which we have adverted,— but time, at this late period of our Sessioo. w^rnnU not Uiat we say more on this bead, excepting that it does appear to u*, tJ^at tin monn-' \Noiilin)e >'o olTificnf, nsfhaf whicli n'oiild csfJil)!!.^!! Scliools at convRnirnt - ilistances tliroiiirli'nil llie PrDvinre, do awny with vnto-[)ny'\n'^, and leave tj every man fo ihnnsc t/c school to vhirh he Xifould send his chililren to be. taught. One lliini; very oljvioin is, that the pari of our Sfhool synfLMn which confines peo- ple within thft limits (if certain h»'H, iloes not give satisfaction ; anil experience scem^ i»nt to estahlish the more, thalHatirtlaction it never will give: hecaiise, establish hoiin' tliiricrt as we may, there w!'I against a system which limits one's freedom always be a sonacthirrt,' which wd! not he satisfied till full (roedom he attained. Therefore, the Ba- thiirsf Dislricl Coiincil are of opinion that the School Section system should ho discon- tinued. Rut, if it is to be continued, their opinion is, ihat Municipal Councils ought to he empiHvered not only to fix, or alter, or amend the honndarics ofSchool Sections, luU alsv> to fix orchang.?the locations of Schools and School Houses, as they shall deem ex- pedient; and lo authorize the sale of School pro[)erly in cases wherein the changing of the location of schools shall become necessary; otherwise the system will continue to - be unjust and oppressive, and i^really injurious to cjood neighbourhood, the promotion of education, and the best interests in general of community. As lacts illustrative of the meaningof what is before your Honorable Body, will best shew the injustice, oppressiveness, arid injuriousness of the system, wo 5ubmi!, that, when power was given to District Councils lo unite portions of the adjoining t()wiishij)s, for the purpose of lorming convenient Schoool Sections, a portion of the township ofDrumniond was, at the recpiest of the inhabitants of it, attached lo a School Section in the township of BatliurU, the trustees of vvhich had pledged them- selves to build a new School house in a central and convenient position for the ac- conimodatioii of the inlialniants of both Sections. Notwithstanding this, the trustees did not reiiio vo the School to tl'.e position they had agreed to remove it, — the District Coun- cil had not power to compel them to remove it, — and the consequence was, that thotigh not a scholar j'rom Drummofid attended the School, the teacher of theBathurst Section legally claimed, and was paid, /b?- the Drvmmond Section, £5 -l-s 0.'jd ! So was it as regards another portion of J)iummond that wass attached to Lanark. OutofSf) children residinij in Drummond, only 3 attended the School, which was in linnark, and theoth M" children (32 in number) were without means of education. Ncvertbelesss, in this case, as in thea')ove, the full apportionment of School moneys lor the IVrnmniond Section, viz. JG9 2s Id, was paid to the teacher of the Lanark School. Such instances ol wrong imperatively call upon your Honerabie Body to amend the system ; and gross as the wrong set fordi in the above must Oj>pear, grcriter instances of wrong would, we are persuadeil, be found to exist bad we means o( knowing to its full extent, how much is lost to the people of Sections in whii li the School \i> located at the tnrther end of the Sections, — or in townships in which but one or at most two Schools are in operation, coinpelling people to piy for the support of Schools to vrhich they do not (n7id nevff can) sf^nd a child. The Ball'.urst District Council are ofo])iiiion, tlialthe v.liole details of the system Hhould be in the hanu.iof the District Councils, under some provision of the Legislature which would constitute District Councils IJoanls of Education for their District, with power to trans.".'! for their District (under certain .csponsibilities fo the Executive and Legislature.) all that is now }ron,-<acted at an enormous expense, and most inetFiciently and unsatisfactorily, by the B>)ard of Education and the Education Office at Toronto. The Bathurst District Council are, nevertheless, not of opinion, that (as prayed for in the Memorial of the fJore District Council.) the ''transformjngof the duties per- formed by Distrsct Superintendents to District Clerks," would improve the system; for it does not appear to us that any system will worlj out aiiv doirable resuitu unlrst it I 4 4 (5.) I 4 4 6e under a complete and ejficieni supervtston. Not a supervitiion enthroned aToroit^ to, isguini; its bulletin lespecting what it can have no proper under..ianirmg, and crea- ting dissatisfaction, strife and disatlection in neighbourhoods which forrnerlywere re- inarkahiy united and peaceable — but a local, tlinerant supervisiion that hould ex- tend to every school section, and to portions of our country tliat are without schools and U'ithoutany means of educalior., and that would labour to dissipate the stolid indiflbrcncr which paralyzes our community, arousing, enlightening and enlisting public sentiment in the work of elementry insruction, by systematic and periodical appeals to the inhabitants of each seclion,in the form oflectures,addre9sos," — nye, and visits to their firstdes,vfhcn public visits will have failed to brine up the inhabitants lo hear and be instructed, and he made workers in this glorious and ull important enterprise j and the Baihurst District Council are persuaded, that it is because the defective provisiouH of our school laws havo prevented District Councils from exacting of District Superintendents such supervision OS is implied in the above, that the several Districts of the Province have received not adequate benefit from the services of Superintendents. Let the office b3 not what it has been, a Sham — but cause it to produce as it does in the State of N.York,**a thorough supervision ofourschools.as well in reference to their I'n- iernnl management, as to their ca'/fr?!^/ f/f/«i7s; cause it to unite all our schools into one system and to lurnish each with the means of attaining the highest standard of practical excellence, by communicating to each, every improvcmen* discovered or sug- gested in every one or any of the otiiers, so making the advancement of each the am- bition of all," — and let no man be appointed to boa Superintendent who shall not be properly qualified tor the discharge of the duties of the function, — but let the Superin- tendent possess competent knowledge,be familiary acquainted with the modern improve- ments in elementary inslruclion , and be known to be earnestly intent on elevating thr condition of our coininori sciiools, and the olHce of District Superintendant will most assuredly be found to b(; equal to any means — aye, equal to all other means putto- igether, in proinotingt ht: educational interests of our country, such it has bc^n found lo be in the neighbouring stale of Now York, and such, under similar provisions of Jaw, and under tlis Jirection and control of District Councils, when constituted Local Boards of Educaiioii, it ntay be made in Canada. A principal reason why District Councils ought lo be constituted Boards of Edu- cation, is, tliiitrhe same provisions of law invariably produce opposite effects, in thinly • ^mpulated neigl!liourhoo..ls,to what they produce in thickly populatad neighboiirhoods; »vhich we linve uttorn[)teil to exhibit in the remarks inlroiluctory to the subject of thin address. DiiVeient |)r')\'isions of law therefore^ must, be inade for each class of Dis- tricts ; and the Batliiirst District Council are of opinion that District Councils, re- presenting as liiey do the several sections of their districts, and familiary acquainted as they may be supposed to be with the circumstances of every section, — are unquestion- ably bodies competent to best legislate for the carrying out the details of any system <»f JEdiiration vvliich your Honorable Body may establish. Tlio B;itlniist District Council heartily concur in almost every line and -word of the Address of tbe Homo District Council to your Honorable Body ; and would add that not only dennminalional schools, as respects! cities and incorporatetl Towns, i^hould be dissallowtxi, but the pi()vi.si(Mi which autliorises tlie establishing ofseperate schools t^n- iler any circumstances be expunged from our school law ; for all such provisions are truely inimical to the best inttiresls of of the country, being calculated to foster a spirit «f sectarian animi).'^ity,v;[iicli we cannot but deprecate, and which we earnestly pray your Honoraliie Body by wise means to discountenance and suppress. The Bathurst District Council are of opinion that the duties of TruKteea under tii« (6.) proaent school Inw, ore for toocotnplirnted, and llie re.iponaibilities, Iiobiliiies,nnd want ofudcqiialc protection involved in the di)ichnr|y[ing of those duties, fnr too great. A provision aitnply conxtituting the ollico and empowering District Councils ft) determine iho details, would, for the reason already assigned in this Rlemorial.hp more cllicionl for the promotion of education than any other ^ for, in tliisway,the oflice would be mode responaible to UieCouncils, and whatever in the regulations which the Council would ia- 8ue, would be fount! not to answer the purpiwe of promoting Education could (and, no doubt, would,) be certainly and readily detected and amended. Whatever provisions your Honorable Body will enact the Balhurst District Council trust they will be ^^simple''* and such as will "remedy the existing evils," secure the hearty co-operation of the people, the lilessings of education to the rising generatiuo^ and some degree of stability in the Educational institutlions of the Country." I .Address 1o the Legislature Reported ajid Adopted by the Education Committee of tht Home District Council. The District Council ofthe Home District, beg respectfully to R'bmit to your Honoral.ic House the views which they entertain respecting some of ihe defects of tho Common Sr-hool Law; now in operation, and to suggest what appears to them the best means of remedying those defects. That the present Common School Act has failed, and from its character must fail, to give satisfaction to the inhabitants of this Province, and that something must yet be done to render it more perfect, and promote the object for which it was intended, isdeej)ly felt and generally admitted. The Home District Council cannot but regret that such repeated legislation should De required to frame a proper school law, atid are averse to frequent chonges in the educational institutions of the country, but they have also to regret the necessity that demands those clianges, and that measures have not been adopted by tho Legislature of such a character, in their principles and details, as to meet with general approbation and promote an eflicient, well organized system of Common School Education. The Home District Council especially object to that prominent feature in the ex- isting School Act which runs throughout the whole — the concentration oi so much power upon on-^ individual — the Cljief Superintendent of Schools, that officer being the nonr.inee of the Governor, and in no way responsible to the people. They submit ihat any enactment which places so much power in the hands of ^n officer over whom the people have no conlroul directly, or indirectly, either in makmg the appointment, or with regard to the manner in which that power is exercised, and the duties of the office discharged, is not congenial to the feeling of a free people, nor compatible with the Institutions of a free country. They cannot but observe that whilst a " Board ol' Education" has been formed forthe purpose of giving advice upon School atlairs, their power is placed in abject subordination to the " Chief Superintemlent of Schools," that it is left discretionary with him, by the Act of Parliament, lo consult them or not upoo any Educational question, as his inclination or caprice may dictate, and be guided, or not, in his decisions, by their advice. They have the power, it is true, of regulating the Normal School, and selecting the books to be used in Schools, but here^heir author- ity ends. The Home Di«trict Council express it as their decided opinion that a pr»- ■/>erly constituted Brntrd of Education should be the hitthest power in the adnriinistratio« of School affairs, as it is in all countries where such a Board exists, and should not ti-« |)]aced in the humiliating position in which the mexnberj) fif tho Canadian Board atxni I (7.) feel themselves to be placed : and the Council would respectfully suggest to your hon- Trv l!r'''^°''r""^'''r '•'7"K^''^^'"^'h are Imperatively /ailed for by the Coul vhoTZthr/n 7''' '^"? "'S ''Pl^'""^'"«"» «''" '^""•Petent Bo.rd ol Education, novv d.i' . T"'^'r'«,2'^' ^'"■"'r>' " "^^•^'''""•y. transact the business wh.ch rhL. o? h. T" ?• ^'"« Supermtendar.t of Schooln: thus securing the eflicicnt di». charge o( the dut.es o the office, ellccting a conm.lerable saving to the Country, and ible wi E' '■ v"''"r"^ r" '""""?'" "'"'^'^ ^^h^' ^ct, so' as to render ?/ompa. lible with the condition of a free people. * The Home District Council aiv of opinion that in remodelinjt the School Act the arrangement which combines the disbursement of monies to such a large ^xtent and c" ■^hS::";;!"'?'^'""';' " '" '"'" "'''^ ^'^'"'^' Supenntendan! ^^.ould be 'void^ ^er"Di.S/J ^"^ "• " ^""'"^ r''"" '"^^'"PO'ihle '" their nature ami, in thelar- perl to ,1 M-harge them all. And the inconvc.ience experienced by Teachers who reside at the distance of fifty o.sixty miles is under the present system, so groat' a to n v^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^''""'^"'' «''""'J ho alliwed tJ KLsn l^T '"''?''''■■'' ^^^^ ^^'hool fund among LsP „T.'. "^ porlormance of what oti-er dutie. that body might see fit to itn: pose, aslhe exigences ol the public service mi^ht fn.m time to time require. nature of ^rZ -" ^^V""^'?"'/''" ■'"?''"" "' y^""" Hon. House Jo the defective nature of the provisions made in the law lor fixing and arranging the School Sections m the several townships. By the present law, that duty is placed in th^D strict Cou" oils, u, Council assemble.!. The Hon.e District Council have found it ubso utlly ne- st^tr'won'n n^ ' •'"' 'T'' ' "*'""^' ^"'^ '''''' «'■ ''"^' "'«' '^>'« provisionlf "he nil l.r "'■ ""t '" "''"/" ""'"'y ""' '^^ "hj««^ "-"J intention of the Act, to oeb^ate their powers ,n this particular, to the Councii:orH residing in the respect ve townships, a proceedmg the legality of which has been questioned ; and they' are of opinion that this and similar duties should rather be performed by some ofrcerVsidinr Act Ire'i^!'to"';l:«!!""T'-''^ ,T"?ll!' '^^P«."«"«^ «<'the working ofthe present School iionnfS ? ^«"^;^"^'on that the provision made in the law for the local super- %.sion ol Scht through the agency of " Boards of Visitors," composed of Clergymen of all denominations, Justices of the Peace of all sects, and Disrlict CounciHors ^001 nSf^r r'^^"^"?'f ^"P«" the condition of Sci;ools,or meet the oS^tc^ tern- p ated by the franr.ers of the Actj and when the powers conferred upon these Boa -^^f V isitors are cons.dered-that of granting certificates of qualification o TeacW and of giving ad vice authoritatively upon educational maUers-the Council is of opinion ofl^ Jali TrrT '?r'''''"^"r"x? ^''«" ^ cumbersome and uselei'; ece ZtfiTin boards of Visitors m the Home District, feeling convinced that the schools will be managed quite as well without their interference, have not generally ex! erased their privileges, and left the schools to take care of themselves. ^ ,ho, ^.rr*" •'''""''', ''^^?'P^''^^"''y^^P"'"to"twhatappears a great defect in hat part of the existing aw which furnishes Trustees with thi power of raising means for repairing and furnishing School Houses &c. The law authorises the pa^ntf ohK children only who are actually attending school to be rated for these purpose ; so that |t may, and of^ten does happen that a small portion of the inhabitants d I School See- In o'f fhi^r^ '''T ^": '^' ^'."f'' °^ "!'' ^''^'^-^ 8"«^«"^« ^-hich ought in he ot inion ol this Council to be speedily remedied. '^ ^ ^ (8.) 'J'lic IIi)ino nir-lrlel Council cannot but c.\•pro<i^ tlic opinion t!iot the recent legi's- 'ation iiptti tho «uI)je(U of Common Scliool etJucnl' ii lias n tendenry to open up the way I'vir the iittroJ notion and CHtahlislmu.nt ofHOctinnoi d: (lcnoniin'>.tionnl scIkmjIs. Thin \h \"ery ck'ur'.y inanifoMtod in tlie !egi.-tlativ« onncliiient for Uie rogulalion of Education in <'ilic9 and incorpn-atod Towns, ntid the (Council raiinot help expresding llio Ntrungciit ^ii.snpprovai ol'any mciiHuren uliicli niay aulhoriHo or unnclion tho oslablislinienl of Schools, supported hy tho puhhr liinds, intended for tiny one denomination to the ex- clusion of oilier.-'. The flome Dimricl Council '.vwuld regard fucli icjiirilntion as inimical to tho hest interests of the country. l/«'iiiir calculated to foster in Canada that spirit of hpctarion animosity and dirfconl wliiidi unhappily prcvuiJH in oifnT parM nl' (lie world, Hnd would hunihly suui^cdt that every wi.se means should be ailuptud to prevent the pott- sihilitv ol Hiieh n result. The Home District Council is of opinion that every law that ha.s yet been enacted ^11 this country upon the subject otKducation has been ton complicated in its machin- ery, and tha» any law to work well must be harmonious in all its parts, and simple iu fill its detail.s. and thcytrtist ttiat such means may bo taken to remedy exiuiing evils, und improve til e law as will Hecure the lioany co-operation of tho people, the blessinga of a good education to the rising generation, and some degree of ulability in the Educa- tional Institutions of the Country. icz:>