310 REPORT—1883. 
the New Code; and some of these instructions have a bearing upon the 
matters referred to this Committee. In paragraph 5 it is laid down that 
where scholars of Standard I. are taught in the Infant department ‘ the 
course of lessons should include simple recitation and lessons in geography 
or elementary science to correspond to the class subjects intended to be 
taken up in the boys’ or girls’ school.’ Paragraph 20 runs thus: ‘In 
teaching geography, good maps, both of the county and of the parish or 
immediate neighbourhood in which the school is situated, should be 
affixed to the walls, and the exact distances of a few near and familiar 
places should be known. It is useful to mark on the floor of the school- 
room the meridian line, in order that the points of the compass should 
be known in relation to the school itself, as well as on amap.’ Para- 
graph 28 is as follows: ‘ In cases in which it is proposed to teach specific 
subjects, it will be desirable for you to ascertain that the teacher has 
given proof of his fitness to teach them by having acquitted himself 
ereditably at a training college, or at some other public examination. 
You will often find that these subjects are most thoroughly taught when 
a special teacher is engaged by a group of schools to give instruction in 
such subjects once or twice a week, his teaching being supplemented in 
the intervals by the teachers of the school. You will judge of all schemes 
of elementary science which may be submitted to you for approval by - 
their applicability to the school stay of the bulk of scholars, remembering 
that the whole course of study is primarily designed for those children 
who go to labour after they have reached the full-time standard.’ The 
allusion to the engagement of a special teacher for a group of schools 
evidently points to the practice at Liverpool and Birmingham. The 
merit grant being an important part of the New Code, their Lordships 
describe, in paragraph 32, what they consider necessary in order that a 
school should be assessed as ‘excellent.’ Inter alia, they lay it down 
that ‘if higher subjects are attempted, the lessons are not confined to 
memory work and to the learning of technical terms, but are designed 
to give a clear knowledge of facts, and to train the learner in the practice 
of thinking and observing;’ and also, ‘where circumstances permit it 
has . . . . an orderly collection of simple objects and apparatus adapted 
to illustrate the school lessons, and formed in part by the co-operation of 
the scholars themselves.’ 
The second document, while speaking of the accommodation required 
in these ‘ Higher Board Schools in Wales,’ states that ‘as the provision 
of a rather larger number of class-rooms than are necessary for an ordi- 
nary elementary school, and the establishment of one or more laboratories 
for practical instruction in chemistry, or branches of physical science 
which have a bearing on the industries of the district, may require the 
premises of the new school to be of a somewhat more expensive character 
than usual, their Lordships will feel themselves justified in relaxing the 
rule which limits the amount of the loan, which they are willing to 
recommend, to 101. per scholar accommodated.’ : 
All these regulations are quite in accordance with the opinions and 
desires of your Committee. 
Several Divisional Conferences were held last Easter with the leading 
Inspectors, and the Lords of the Committee of Council on Education have 
just communicated the conclusions at which they have arrived on some of 
the more important questions discussed at those meetings. They are 
contained in a ‘Circular of Instructions to Her Majesty’s Inspectors as to 
