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A certain uniformity in scholastic matters between the more superior Public and even Private Schools is to be seen in the Local Examinations, which are held annually by the Universities, and of which I shall speak later. Some secondary schools also submit voluntarily every year to regular examinations, for their own credit's sake,„so as to give the world confidence in them.“ But in comparison to a firm organization, these examinations can be but a miserable shift. Mr. Raydt informs us that for some time there have been held regular meetings of Head Masters, which might indeed have a good influence upon the formation of a uniform plan of teaching, but why are the debates of these meetings not published, as in Prussia? By these means they would become of common service to every teacher. In this regard I cannot sufficiently praise the Reports of the School Inspectors, on the Elementary Schools inspected by them in their districts. These Reports are printed in the Parliamentary Papers and contain many interesting and useful points.

It is just the Elementary School work by which the English should learn, how salu- tary is the superintendence of Schools by the State, and how they should, especially, reform their Middle-class Schools. I will now proceed to give some general information on English Elementarg Schools, without pretending to give a complete survey.

Up to the year 1870, the English Government left it optional to parents to send their children to school or not, and all schools were thus without superintendence. Prior to this year, there were only voluntary schools. The consequence of this liberty was, of course, great ignorance of the people, as will be gathered from the following statements by Mr. Reichardt:„Von den 16000 Soldaten, welche im Jahre 1856—57 die britische Armee ver- liessen, konnten 32 Prozent am Ende ihrer militärischen Laufbahn trotz des während der- selben erhaltenen Unterrichts nicht ihren eigenen Namen schreiben, und in Manchester und Salford wurde 1865 von der Educational Aid Society festgestellt, dass in diesen beiden Städten allein von einer Totalsumme von 104000 Kindern 49000 wild herumliefen und die Schule nicht besuchten.“¹

In consequence of such a melancholy state of things, there were loud and frequent voices asking for a thorough reform in this respect, and by the Mlementar’Y Education Act August 94, 1870, compulsory school attendance was first partially introduced in England and Wales, under Mr. Gladstone, as prime-minister, and the whole elementary school system was placed under the superintendence of the Government. All elementary schools ought, (I consider), to be aided by the State. The whole country was to be divided into school- districts.

I should mention, however, that Govermment grants for public education were already existing. The first grant was made in 1833 and amounted to+ 20,000; it was confined to the building of schools, of which one half of the cost had to be provided by voluntary sub- scriptions. In 1839, a sum of£ 30,000 was voted for the same purpose. In 1860, the grants amounted to£ 724, 403. 5. 4, in 1870 to£ 903, 978. 6. 3, in 1888 to£ 3, 559, 890. 3. 2, and in 1889 to£ 3, 629, 687.

As to the attendance of children at school,§ 74 of the Act referred to says:„Exvery school board may from time to time, with the approval of the Education Department, make byelaws for all or any of the following purposes: Requiring the parents of children, of such age, not less than 5 years nor more than 13 years, as may be fixed by the byelaws, to cause such children(unless there is some reasonable excuse) to attend school: Imposing penalties for the breach of any byelaws. Any of the following grounds shall be a reasonable excuse, namely 1) that the child is under efficient instruction in some other manner; 2) that the child has been prevented from attending schools by sickness or any unavoidable cause; 3) that there is no public elementary school open which the child can attend within such distance, not exceeding three miles, measured according to the nearest road from the resi- dence of such child, as the byelaws may prescribe.“ These byelaws were issued by the different school boards, sanctioned by Her Majesty in Council, and published in the appen-

* Reichardt, Der deutsche Lehrer in England, Page 13.