CHAPTER XII. 



EDUCATION. 



It was not till witliin the last lifty yuar.s that any serious 

 .attention was given to the cause of education in the Colony, or 

 any aid granted from the public funds towards the establishment 

 and maintenance of schools and academies. The circumstances 

 under which the colonization of the country was carried out, as 

 described in former chaj^ters, siifficiently account for this neglect 

 in regard to the means of education. "When the people were 

 poor and engaged in a hard struggle for the daily bread, and 

 Avhen settlements were small and widely separated, physical 

 Avants were too pressing to jiermit much attention being given 

 to educational claims. As a conseijuence, in those early days 

 many of the young grew up ignorant of tlie very rudiments of 

 knowledge, especially in the smaller and moi'e distant settle- 

 ments. 



COLONIAt, AND CONTINENTAL CHURCH SOCIETY. 



The beginning of common school education dates from 1823, 

 Avhen "The Newfoundland School Society" was founded in 

 London by Samuel Codner, a Newfoundland merchant. Its 

 name was afterwards changed to "The Colonial and Continental 

 •Church Society." The sshools it planted were maintained 

 mainly by the liberality of the uieuibei's of the society, aided 

 at a later date by a grant from the }tul)lic funds of the Colony. 

 It has still about twenty schools in operation. Its Central 

 School, in St. John's, is used by the Church of England Boards 

 of Education as a training school for their teachers. This So- 

 ciety has done excellent work in the cause of education. 



ACADEMIES AND COLLEGES. 



It was not till 1843 that tlie local Legislature granted the 

 annual sum of £'5,100 for the promotion of common school 



