482 



REPORT — 1902. 



case may be, and that consent, if given, is limited to the current school 

 year. In the majority of cases that consent has been freely given, though 

 in some instances schools have had to be closed in consequence of the 

 consent being withheld. The uncertainty as to the future is a great cause 

 of discouragement both to the managers of schools and to the scholars. 



There have been no changes of importance in the code of regulations 

 for Day Schools, but that for Evening Schools has been remodelled much 

 more on the lines of the South Kensington branch of the Board of Educa- 

 tion, and it is issued from that office, as these scliools are now regarded 

 by the Government as giving Secondary Education. 



The Higher Elementary Schools, for which special provision was made 

 two years ago, have not to any large extent superseded the Higher Grade 

 Schools which had been previously established in most of the large towns. 

 The additional grants offered have scarcely proved to be an equivalent 

 for the increased cost of conducting these schools, and this fact, coupled 

 with the stringent regulations imposed, has discouraged the transfer of 

 the Higher Grade Schools. 



The exhibitions which have been held this summer in London by the 

 London School Board and the Nature-Study Exhibition Association 

 indicate the progress of practical work in science, especially in the region 

 of Physics and Biology. The School Board has sought to encourage the 

 making of scientific apparatus by the science masters and their scholars out 

 of ordinary and inexpensive materials, as more instructive than the mere 

 manipulation of purchased articles ; and the exhibition of what has been 

 thus produced in the schools during the last twelve months shows a very 

 marked advance, both in quantity and quality, over that of the preceding 

 year. The exhibits — 651 in number — ranged over Botany, Chemistry, 

 Heat, Light, Hygiene, Magnetism and Electricity, Mathematics, Mechanics, 

 Natural History, Physiography, Physiology, Sound, and Steam. The 



