CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



.1,445,625. As to the results, the following table 

 shews the percentage of children who presented 

 themselves for examination under the various 

 standards from Nos. I to 6, fixed by the Education 

 Code in 1871-72 : 



The percentage of children presented for ex- 

 amination in 1871-72, as given in the foregoing, 

 who failed to wield efficiently the ' knife, fork, and 

 spoon' of education i.e. who failed to pass in 

 reading, writing, and arithmetic was as follows : 



The inferences we draw from the above are, (i) 

 that the proficiency of a lamentably large num- 

 ber of scholars is never tested ; (2) that too few 

 attain proficiency enough to come up to the 

 higher Standards 4 to 6 ; (3) that either the 

 teaching must be better, or the pupils cleverer in 

 Scotland than in England ; (4) that the results 

 obtained from the night-schools are more satis- 

 factory than those from the day-schools. It must, 

 however, be remembered that in England the 

 examinations in day-schools were held under the 

 Code of 1871, whilst those in night-schools were 

 held under the Code of 1870 up to the end of 

 February 1871, and thereafter under the Code 

 of 1871 ; but in Scotland the inspections and 

 examinations were all under the Revised Code. 

 The total parliamentary grants for primary schools 

 in Great Britain amounted to 3,102,079 m 

 1881-82, an increase of about .124,000 on the 

 previous year. 



As regards Ireland, the money spent by the 

 Commissioners of National Education in 1881 

 was 729,868. At the close of 1882, the number 

 of schools was 7648, shewing an increase on the 

 previous year of 58 schools. There were 1,066,259 

 children enrolled, but the average daily attendance 

 was only 674,290, indicating a decrease of those 

 on the rolls of 16,761, and an increase of 205,733' 

 in daily attendance, as compared with the pre- 

 vious year. The state of education in Ireland is, 

 however, by no means satisfactory as yet. In 

 Ireland, government increases the number of 

 schools, but the people do not seem to care much 

 about taking advantage of them. In some years, 

 notwithstanding, two or three hundred applications 

 have been made for grants in aid to new schools. 

 Of the total number of schools, we find 2620 in 

 Ulster, 1170 in Munster, 1534 in Leinster, 1126 

 in Connaught, or 6914 in operation at the close of 

 1871. Of the children on the school-rolls in 1872, 

 79-98 per cent, were Roman Catholics; 11-19 per 

 cent were Presbyterians ; 8-04 per cent, were 

 Protestant Episcopalians, and 0-79 per cent, were 

 of other persuasions. 



There is no proper system of national technical 



186 



education in Britain ; but the Science and Art De- 

 partment, by grants in aid to schools, and capita- 

 tion grants to teachers who bring their pupils up to 

 a certain standard of proficiency, do a great deal to 

 supplement the want of such a system. Schools of 

 art and design, and mechanics' institutes, and vari- 

 ous adventure schools of the kind, have their teachers 

 licensed by the department, subject their students 

 to its examinations, and get its grants in aid. In 

 1872-73, the expenditure of the department, exclu- 

 sive of the vote for the Geological Survey, was 

 .209,117, or 17,596 more than in 1871-72. The 

 number of schools at the end of 1881 was 1360, an 

 increase of 412 as compared with the year 1871 ; 

 the number of pupils (61,177) was nearly doubled 

 in the same time. From these schools, 38,837 

 studentswent up for the examinations in May 1881 ; 

 besides self-taught students, and pupils of teachers 

 not licensed by the department. In May 1881, 

 the examinations were held at 987 provincial and 

 in metropolitan centres. The payments to 

 teachers of proficient students came to 43,519, 

 or 143. 2d. for each person under instruction. 

 There were loco of these schools in England and 

 Wales, 151 in Scotland, 209 in Ireland. The 

 number of persons instructed in art increased 

 from 212,501 in 1871,10 244,134 in 1872. Great 

 progress has, however, been made of late in 

 technical education proper, mainly in connection 

 with the City and Guilds of London Institute of 

 Technical Education. The great difficulty in the 

 way of establishing technical education was, that 

 the masses of the working classes, in the first 

 place, had no desire to be instructed in the 

 scientific principles of their craft ; and in the 

 second, their primary education was so bad, that 

 they could not understand scientific teaching 

 when they got it, and could have no taste for it. 



Industrial schools, ragged schools, or reform- 

 atories for young criminals, have been instituted 

 for supplying the lowest, or ' City Arab ' portion, 

 of our juvenile population with the rudiments of 

 education, and also with food and clothing in 

 cases of great destitution. 



ARMY AND NAVY. 



A detailed account of these services will be 

 given in MILITARY AND NAVAL ORGANISATION. 



FINANCES. 



The public revenue for the year 1881-82 was 

 85,822,281, and the expenditure 85,472,556. 

 The following table gives an analysis of the 

 income and expenditure for the year ending 

 1873, when there was a surplus of over 

 5^ millions, an indication of economy on the 

 part of the government, and great pros- 

 perity on the part of the country. Where does 

 the revenue come from ? Customs duties gave 

 the following net produce Chicory, 62,667 > 

 cocoa, 35,413 ; coffee, 202,601 ; currants, 

 318,059; figs, /37,645; raisins, 152,579 5 

 rum, 2,370,514; brandy, 2,085,849 ; Geneva, 

 94,830 ; various spirits, 330,373 ; sugar, un- 

 refined, 2,689,320 ; refined, 556,782 ; molasses, 

 36,979 ; tea, 3,191,981 ; tobacco and snuff, 

 7,046,930 ; wine, 1,686,629. How few know 

 that out of every shilling's-worth of cocoa they 

 buy, ifd. is paid to government ; of coffee, 2^d. 





