2,504. The accommodation in these schools provided for 1,878,584 children, while the average number of children in attendance during the year was 1,225,764, and the number actually examined by the inspectors was 1,512,684.

The NUMBER OF TEACHERS stood thus:-Certificated, 12,467; Assistant, 1,262; Pupil Teachers, 14,304; Studying in Training Colleges, 2,097.

In the same year the aggregate annual income of 8,030 of these schools was

The average income per scholar in attendance was £1 5s. 4 d., and the average expenditure £1 5s. 5d.

The total expenditure of the Education Department, under all heads, for the year 1870, was £840,335 19s. 11d. From 1839-1870, the total expenditure from the public funds alone was £11,863,078 68. 4d., and it is probable that during the same period fifteen millions had been provided by voluntary effort.

Admirable and great as the results were, they were still felt to be inadequate. Although accommodation existed for upwards of two millions of children, only one million and a quarter were in average attendance, notwithstand

ing that upwards of three millions ought to have been in daily attendance at school. There existed, however, no power to compel the provision of school accommodation where it was needed, or the attendance of children even where such accommodation existed. At length, in 1870, the Right Hon. W. E. Forster, M.P., the Vice-President of the Committee of Council, introduced his Bill to provide for Public Elementary Education in England and Wales.

The leading objects of Mr. Forster's Act are-(1) to provide sufficient school accommodation in every parish and borough throughout England and Wales, and (2) the establishment of school boards, and their power of passing byelaws for the compulsory attendance of children at school. We propose, therefore, to state from the recent report of the Committee of Council :-

I. What has been achieved during the past six years towards providing the required school accommodation, and what increased attendance has taken place during the same period; and

II. What districts have been furnished with school boards, and how many of these boards have put in force the compulsory powers of the Act.

I. SCHOOL SUPPLY AND SCHOOL ATTENDANCE.

The number and population of the school districts in 1871 was as follows:

1. In the Metropolitan District
2. In 222 Municipal Boroughs
3. In 14,094 Civil Parishes

3,266,987

6,512,491

12,932,788

22,712,266

The first object of the Act of 1870 was to secure an adequate supply of suitable schools in every one of these school districts.

The formation of a school board for London was prescribed by section 37 of the Act of 1870. In all other school districts the formation of a board depended upon the resolution of the ratepayers, or the compulsory action of the Department after special inquiry had been made in the district.

The Committee of Council state in their report, 1875-6, that "the inquiry into the school provision available, or in course of being supplied, for the whole of the population of England and Wales was completed in the spring of 1872, since which time the. Department has been busily engaged in issuing notices, under sections 9, 41, &c., of the Education Act, in all the districts in which school boards have not been voluntarily formed, setting forth the amount of the efficient accommodation already provided in each district, and the deficiency, if any, which has to be made up, either by voluntary effort, or, failing that, by the compulsory election of school boards.

"The issue of first notices, commenced on the 16th of May, 1872, is virtually completed. These notices showed that the existing school supply was sufficient in 5,720 school districts.

"We are dealing with the remainder as speedily as is compatible with a careful review of the detailed reports submitted to us by the inspector who visited each parish, and of the representations respecting those reports made to us by persons locally interested in our decision on each case.

"Up to the present date we have issued 2,255 final notices; 32 in respect of 32 boroughs, and 2,223 in respect of 3,226 parishes, preliminary to the publication of orders for the compulsory election of school boards, in the event of the accommodation called for not being supplied by voluntary effort within the time specified in the notices. These notices have resulted in the compulsory election of 870 school boards; 13 for boroughs, and 857 for 819 parishes in 306 united districts, and 551 parishes in single districts,

while 48 parishes have either been made contributory or have been united to existing school boards. In 4 boroughs and 174 parishes the time limited by the notices has not yet expired, and in the case of 15 boroughs and 1,634 parishes in which the time limited has expired, the required accommodation has either been or is in course of being supplied by voluntary effort, or the formation of school boards is being proceeded with."

We now proceed to show the increase in school accommodation effected either by voluntary effort or by the school boards.

The following table is also taken from the Report of 1875-6:

The Report proceeds to inquire what evidence is supplied by this table with respect to

School supply.

We find that the schools in England and Wales, visited by the inspectors, for the purpose of annual grants, which provided in 1869 for 1,765,944 scholars, or for 8.34 per cent. of the whole population, were in 1875 sufficient for 3,146,424 scholars, or 13·13 per cent. of the estimated population. An addition of room, in aided schools, for 1,380,480 (a) children, in six years, is satisfactory, and shows that accommodation in efficient schools is increasing in a much more rapid ratio than the population of the country. But much remains to be done before the three millions and a quarter of children who ought to be daily under instruction can be provided for in schools whose efficiency is tested by the yearly visit of one of Your Majesty's inspectors.

The increased accommodation to which we allude has been supplied in several ways:—

i. In the five years ending on the 31st of December, 1875, building grants to the amount of £286,597 have been paid by the Education Department, on the completion of 1,011 schools affording new or improved accommodation for 255,037 scholars. These grants have been met by voluntary contributions to the amount of £1,190,401.

ii. In the case of a large number of schools which have been enlarged or improved, without Government aid, certificated teachers have been appointed, and annual grants applied for on their behalf. No fewer than 1,538 acting teachers attended the examination for certificates held at Christmas 1875, and the success of 1,359 of these teachers will bring annual grants, annual inspection, and we trust increased efficiency, to their schools.

iii. The school boards have availed themselves freely of the power of borrowing, on the security of the rates, given by the Acts of 1870 and 1873. We have recommended to the Public Works Loan Commissioners

(a) In 1875 accommodation was provided by 1,136 board schools for 386,400 scholars, and 227,285 were in average attendance. The increase in the accommodation in voluntary schools since 1869, has therefore amounted to 994,080 places (or 56.3 per cent.), while the average attendance has increased by 546,896 (or 514 per cent.).