GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 



373 



proficiency of the class. They were formerly 

 limited to grammar, geography, history, and 

 needle-work, but now include many other ele- 

 mentary subjects, such as can be taught from 

 graduated text-books. A great improvement 

 in the character of school-books has resulted 

 from the new demand. Over 100,000 scholars 

 went through satisfactory examinations in spe- 

 cific studies, having attained the highest grade 

 in the regular course of elementary instruc- 

 tion; the favorite subjects were English, ani- 

 mal physiology, physical geography, and domes- 

 tic economy. There were 41,426 certificated 

 teachers, being an increase in a year of over 

 3,000, and 33,733 pupil- teachers, an increase of 

 538. The cost of maintenance was 2 Is. llf$. 

 in the board schools, and 1 14s. 7$d. in the 

 voluntary schools, the Government subsidy be- 

 ing 15s. 7|d. per child in the former, and 15s. od. 

 in the latter. The effect of the act of 1870 has 

 been to stimulate the growth of the voluntary 

 schools rather than to replace them with the 

 board schools. The number of voluntary 

 schools increased from 8,281 to 14,181 in ten 

 years, while the national schools numbered in 

 1880 only 3,433, and had only two pupils to 

 every five in the others. The teachers are re- 

 cruited mainly from the training colleges, those 

 at Battersea and Culham being the principal 

 ones. These are so overcrowded, that certifi- 

 cates have been given to pupil-teachers to the 

 number of about 3,000. The average salary 

 has been increased from 95 to 127 for mas- 

 ters, since 1870, and from 57 to 72 for mis- 

 tresses. The whole cost of the schools in 1880 

 was 5,017,253, of which 143,000 proceeded 

 from endowments, 731,000 from voluntary 

 subscriptions, 756,000 from rates, 1,431,000 

 public grants, 1,982,000 school-pence, and 

 65,000 from other sources. 



Important changes have been made in the 

 education code, the most significant of which 

 is one which opens the way for graduates of 

 the universities to become teachers. Mr. 

 Mundella, Vice-President of the Committee of 

 Council, stated, in presenting to Parliament 

 the annual estimates, that the department has 

 had applications, almost by the hundred, from 

 university men who want occupation. The 

 new code proposes to admit as assistant teach- 

 ers in the schools graduates from any of the 

 universities, and women who have passed cer- 

 tain of the higher examinations held by the 

 universities; and after they have served for 

 one year, if the inspector reports favorably of 

 their skill in teaching, reading, and, in the case 

 of women, in needle-work, to admit them to 

 examination for certificates. The system of 

 inspection has been reorganized, the country 

 being divided into districts, each in charge of 

 a chief inspector, assisted by sub-inspectors 

 taken from the ranks of the assistant inspectors 

 and schoolmasters. The Government grant is 

 made dependent, in the revised code, upon the 

 average attendance, instead of on the proficiency 

 of the classes prepared for the annual inspection 



in schools which can show an attendance of 250 

 pupils. Power is given, moreover, to inspectors 

 to recommend grants for the special merits of 

 the teaching in the separate schools. 



From the excise returns it is possible to make 

 a close estimate of the total cost of the beer 

 and spirituous liquors consumed by the British 

 public, and to give the quantities. The change 

 of the malt duty into a tax on beer has resulted 

 in affording more accurate returns of the con- 

 sumption of beer. Advocates of the suppression 

 of the drinking luxury by law are accustomed 

 to publish statements of the national "drink 

 bill." The following table gives the amount 

 of money expended by the public in intoxicat- 

 ing beverages in the years 1879 and 1880, esti- 

 mating the average price of beer at Is. Qd. a 

 gallon, of domestic spirits at 20s. and imported 

 spirits at 24s. a gallon, and of wine at 18s. a 

 gallon : 



The decrease in consumption in 1880, as com- 

 pared with 1879, was 5,864,588, or 4-6 per 

 cent. In 1860 the drink bill was 86,897,683. 

 "With two or three trifling exceptions, it con- 

 tinued to grow, year by year, until in 1876 it 

 reached the enormous total of 147,288,760. 

 In 1877 it fell to 142,009,231 ; in 1878 it rose 

 a little, being 142,188,900; since 1878 it has 

 fallen, as the table shows. 



An analysis of the expenditures of the people 

 by a leading statistician, Leoni Levy, makes 

 out the annual sums and the proportion of the 

 total national income expended on various 

 classes of necessaries and superfluities as fol- 

 lows: 



The cost of distribution is reckoned at 20 

 per cent of the retail prices. Items not in- 

 cluded in ,tho estimate are domestic service, 

 medical attendance, traveling, carriages and 

 horses, charity, etc. The total national income 

 is estimated to be 915,000,000, on 495.000,- 

 000 of which income-tax is paid, and on 420,- 

 000,000 none. Taking the number of popula- 



