The allowances given to teachers in the ordinary schools during recent years have been approximately as follows:

The allowance to teachers in poor districts is increased one-third. The Province also makes grants to poor districts for the erection of school buildings.

The county school fund is provided for by an annual assessment upon the county sufficient to yield a sum equal to 30 cents per head of the population. It is distributed among the school districts of the county, in part according to the number of teachers employed and in part in proportion to the average attendance at school. This money must be applied by the trustees in payment of the salaries of

The local assessment in every district is applied in support of the schools of the district, in payment of teachers' salaries, partly in defraying the cost of school buildings, furniture, apparatus, repairs, fuel, and other necessary expenses.

Training of teachers.-Every teacher in the public schools must obtain some professional training at a recognized training or normal school before receiving a permanent license.

The superintendent of education complains of the scarcity of competent teachers, and discusses the causes of this evil in his latest official report (1901) as follows:

By reference to the normal school report it will be seen that the average enrollment of candidates for the teaching profession during the last ten years was 273; but as a portion of those enrolled were already licensed teachers who were seeking advance of class, it may be estimated that from 240 to 250 new candidates present themselves each year. This number would provide for vacancies caused by the annual withdrawal of about one-eighth of the total number of teachers employed, and this proportion, under ordinary circumstances, ought to be sufficient to meet the requirements of the schools.

But under existing conditions a much larger proportion than 124 per cent of trained teachers of the higher classes seek and obtain other employment. There are now many more avenues of activity than formerly opening up before educated and energetic young people of both sexes, and these new fields of usefulness give promise of much better financial rewards and their cultivation is attended with less nervous strain and self-denial than are usually associated with the charge of a country school. The inevitable results are the withdrawal annually from the teaching profession of hundreds of our best qualified teachers and the consequent closing of the schools or, what is scarcely a less evil, placing them in charge of teachers of imperfect education and utterly incompetent for the proper discharge of the functions of a teacher.

The time has come when some remedy must be found for this growing evil; otherwise every effort which has been made to raise the standards of efficiency in the schools by supplying them with a better-educated and better-trained class of teachers will be rendered abortive. A young man or woman who has spent years in acquiring the necessary education, who has undergone professional training and successfully passed the prescribed examinations, has a right to claim a reasonably remunerative salary from some_source. If the public revenues are too limited to admit of increased provincial grants, and if no further assistance can be expected by the augmentation of the county fund, then I respectfully submit that by legal enactment the school districts, in proportion to their taxable valuation, should be required to contribute an amount which, when added to the provincial grant, will make up salaries sufficient to command the services of properly educated and well-qualified teachers.

In my last annual report I gave a list of twenty school districts having a taxable valuation ranging from $109,350 to $55,000, in which the highest sum contributed by the district toward the teacher's salary was $185 and the lowest $85. These were all comparatively wealthy districts. In the poor districts, so called, the

regular provincial grants to the teachers and the county fund grants to the trustees are increased from 25 to 334 per cent. Even with this help it is not reasonable to expect that large salaries can be given in such districts, but they should be required to contribute according to their ability, for it is demoralizing to permit even the poorest of districts to become possessed of the idea that they need incur no financial responsibility for the support of a school in their midst. The minimum sum they should be required to contribute toward the teacher's salary should equal the provincial grant. Cases have come under my notice during the present year in which the teachers accepted as salary the provincial grant only, and the amount of the county fund was more than sufficient to pay all other expenses, as fuel, etc.. so that in these cases the schools, instead of being a financial charge upon the districts, were actually a source of income.

It might be supposed that authority had been invested in the board of education, or in the chief superintendent, to warrant the withholding of the provincial grant and the county fund in such cases, but this is not the fact. Under section 23 of the schools act, the districts are not required to provide more than may be found necessary in further payment of teachers' salaries, over and above the sums provided by the province and county, and any sum required for other school purposes during the year." The amount, if any, voted at the annual school meetings is absolutely within the control of the majority of ratepayers present. The employment of the teacher and the amount of salary contributed by the district is determined by the local school board, and it often happens that a majority of the school board have no other interest in the school than to protect themselves and fellow-ratepayers from taxation. The results are in many cases what might be expected when the educational interests of the community are left without limitation in the hands of ignorant and narrow-minded men, who have no proper conception of the importance of the trust committed to their charge. When obliged to open the school, they employ the person who will accept the position at the lowest figure without regard to any other consideration.

In order to protect the higher class teachers from competition as to salary with teachers holding a third-class or a local license, the board of education some years ago passed the following regulation:

Third-class teachers shall not be employed (except as class-room assistants) in districts having an assessable valuation of $15,000 or upward, unless by the written consent of the chief superintendent."

In the exercise of the discretion thus given him, the chief superintendent has granted permission for the employment of third-class or local licensed teachers in such districts only on the recommendation of the inspectors, and when assured that the closing of the schools indefinitely was the alternative. And yet in the majority of cases in which trustees have applied for such permission there is strong ground for the belief that teachers of the second class could have been obtained if a reasonable salary had been offered and proper efforts had been made at or before the beginning of the term.

The only effectual remedy for the evils I have pointed out is to provide in some way for an adequate system of salaries, graded according to the class, experience, ability, and length of service of the teacher. In order to aid in providing adequate salaries, county school districts should be consolidated wherever possible, provision should be made for taking the children to a central school, and all school districts, large or small, should be required to contribute for educational purposes not less than 50 cents on every hundred dollars of the taxable valuation. Some of the poorer districts contribute double that amount at present.

By reference to the tabulated statistics it will be seen that the average salary of the 24 first-class male teachers employed during the term ending June 30, 1901, was $520.10, an increase of $56.79 on the previous year, and that the average salary of the 305 first-class female teachers employed during the same term was $312.69, an increase of $5.88 on the previous year. The increase in these averages results from the smaller number of these classes employed, and the fact that a larger proportion than formerly are employed in the graded schools of cities and towns. The average salaries of teachers of the second and third classes show a small decrease, with one exception.

In an address upon the public school system of New Brunswick, before the Dominion Educational Association, the delegate from the normal school at See report of the fourth convention of the Dominion Educational Asso

@John Brittain, esq. ciation (1901), p. 141.

Fredericton, New Brunswick, dwelt upon the progress of the high schools under the administration of the present chief superintendent of education, Dr. Inch. The high schools, he said, have made very satisfactory progress. New high school buildings, commodious and well furnished, have been erected in the cities and principal towns, the provincial grants to high-school teachers have been extended, the staff of teachers has been greatly strengthened, and the attendance has increased rapidly. The high schools are free to all candidates resident in the municipalities who pass the entrance examination.

At the apex of the system of public schools is the provincial university at Fredericton, which receives an annual grant from the legislature. The fees are quite low and are remitted altogether in the case of the winners of county scholarships. Many of the young men and some of the young women who take the normal-school course afterwards attend the university, and, after graduation, teach in the high and superior schools.

The present school system of Manitoba was preceded by a system of separate schools for Roman Catholic and for Protestant children, the general administration of the schools being intrusted (law of 1871) to a board of education composed of an equal number of Protestant and of Catholic members. These provisions were

abrogated by the educational laws of 1890. The first of these laws, the "education department act," constituted the executive council of Manitoba, or a committee of the same, an education department with extensive authority in respect to public schools; and a second law of the same year, known as the "public schools act," provided for a uniform system of nonsectarian schools and prohibited the use of public funds for denominational schools."

The education department has authority to appoint inspectors for public schools, teachers in provincial, normal, and model schools, and directors of teachers' institutes, and to fix the salaries for the teachers and school officials; to provide for the establishment of schools, elementary, normal, intermediate, and collegiate; to arrange for the examination of teachers and the issue of teachers' certificates, and to prescribe the number of school days and the length of vacations in each school year.

The law creating the department of education provided also for an advisory bard to consist of seven members, four of whom should be appointed by the departmeat for a term of two years; two should be annually elected by the teachers of the public schools (high and elementary) actually engaged in teaching, and the seventh member appointed by the university council. The duties of this advisory body have reference mainly to the internal affairs of the schools, the authorization of text-books, the qualification of teachers, the standard of admission to high schools, etc. In particular, the board advises as to forms of religious exercises to be used in the public schools.

The inspectors appointed by the education department, besides the usual duties of school inspection, act as arbitrators in disputes between school trustees and taxpayers with regard to school sites, and between school districts with regard to the adjustment of boundaries, etc. In unorganized districts, the inspector is authorized to revise or correct the assessment roll. The inspectors are also authorized to suspend any teacher who neglects or refuses to carry out the agreement made with a board of trustees. All cases of suspension must be immediately reported to the education department.

The second law of 1890, the public schools act," provides for the formation, alteration, and union of school districts in rural municipalities, and in cities, towns, and villages" and for the election of trustees in each district for the maintenance and control of the schools. The law enacts that-

All public schools shall be free schools, and every person in rural municipalities between the age of 5 and 16 years and in cities, towns, and villages between the age of 6 and 16 shall have the right to attend some school.

The following sections determine the extent and character of religious exercises permissible in public schools:

SEC. 6. Religious exercises in public schools shall be conducted according to the regulations of the advisory board. The time for such religious exercises shall be just before the closing hour in the afternoon. In case the parent or guardian of any pupil notifies the teacher that he does not wish such pupil to attend such religious exercises, then such pupil shall be dismissed before such religious exercises take place.

SEC. 7. Religious exercises shall be held in a public school entirely at the option of the school trustees for the district, and upon receiving written authority from the trustees it shall be the duty of the teacher to hold such religious exercises. SEC. 8. The public schools shall be entirely nonsectarian, and no religious exercises shall be allowed therein except as above provided.

a The bitter controversy to which this law gave rise, the appeal to the Dominion government, and subsequently to the English privy council, for its repeal, and the action growing out of this appeal are described in full in the Commissioner's Reports for 1894-95 (Vol. 1, Chap. VII) and 1897-98 (Vol. 1, Chap. IV).

Local authorities.-The local school authorities are elected trustees in rural districts and in villages and towns not divided into wards, and school boards in cities and in larger towns comprising two trustees elected from each ward. These trustees are responsible for the establishment and maintenance of public schools in accordance with the requirement of the school law.

Classes of schools. -Elementary and intermediate and high schools are maintained, and the latter may be developed into collegiate institutions preparing students for matriculation at the university. Trustees are also authorized to establish kindergartens for children between the ages of 3 and 6 years where admissible.

School income.-The income of the public schools is derived from provincial grants, amounting in 1901 to $113,452, and district assessments, amounting the same year to $653,359. The district assessment comprises a fixed rate per teacher employed and a variable rate dependent on the amount of current expenditures. The former is fixed at $20 per teacher employed for each month the school is kept open (two hundred and four teaching days constitute a full school year).

Beyond this fixed grant the school law enacts that the council of every rural municipality and the municipal council of every city, town, or village shall levy and collect such sums as may be required by the public-school trustees for school purposes.

Teachers.—All teachers employed in the public schools must be provided with a certificate granted by the advisory board of education upon the results of an examination. The teachers' certificates are of three grades. The first and second grade certificates are valid during the pleasure of the board; the third class for three years.

The advisory board may grant nonprofessional certificates to university graduates. These certificates exempt the holder from the academic portion of the examinations for teachers, but they must obtain professional certificates by proof of attainments in the theory and art of teaching before being appointed to teach in a public school of the Province.

Provision for the professional training of teachers is made by the provincial normal school, which is supported by a legislative grant, and also by teachers' institutes, which are held in each inspectorial division under the auspices of the inspector.

The public schools are affiliated to the university through the provision for raising a high school to the rank of a collegiate institute. Three high schools have already reached this standard.

The provincial university, incorporated in 1879, completes the educational system of the Province. The university was constituted as an examining body on the model of the old London University. But certain teaching institutions are affiliated to the university and have a representation in its council.