606 REPORT— 1905. 
own language led to the modification of the adopted one into the interesting form 
now surviving in ‘the Taal.’ 
In the absorbing cares of a new settlement, little attention was paid to educa- 
tion, and the office of schoolmaster was for many years combined with that of 
‘ Ziekenrooster,’ or sick visitor; later, with that of ‘precentor’ to a country 
church. The disturbed state of Europe at the close of the eighteenth and the 
beginning of the nineteenth century affected the Cape, leading to its passing 
finally under English rule in 1806. The arrival of the British settlers in 1820 
introduced a new element into the population of the Eastern Province, giving it a 
distinctive character to-day. Although a few schoolmasters were imported from 
Scotland in 1822, and the South African College founded in 1829, there was no 
organised scheme of education until the introduction, in 1839, of the ‘ Herschel 
System,’ based upon certain recommendations of Herschel, the astronomer, who 
resided at the Cape from 1834 to 1838. A Superintendent-General was appointed, 
Mr. Rose-Innes, who acted as inspector of all schools for twenty years. Certain 
‘ Establisbed ’ schools, entirely supported by Government, provided instruction to 
the burgher children in English. Other schools receiving subsidy only were called 
‘aided schools,’ The great difficulty continued to be the provision of education 
for a thin population scattered over an enormous pastoral area. The itinerant 
schoolmaster was chiefly employed, teaching a few months here and a few months 
there, imparting in that brief period all the instruction many children ever had. 
The pastoral habit, and the isolation of the farmhouses, tended to develop 
that character of independence so marked in the farming community to-day. 
For the problem of providing education for the rural population various solutions 
have been offered by Education Commissions and experts from time to time, but 
the question is still a most serious one. The progress of education during Mr. 
Rose-Innes’s term of office was quiet and steady, the most remarkable develop- 
ment taking place towards the close of that period in the appointment of a 
Board of Seven Examiners, the nucleus of the present University of the Cape of 
Good Hope. Certificates were to be granted of a standard corresponding to that 
of a degree in arts in Universities in the United Kingdom. : 
When Dr. Dale assumed office, in 1859, the ‘ Herschel System ’ had practically 
served its purpose, and an Education Commission, appointed in the early sixties, 
led to the Education Act of 1865, the basis of the system in operation to-day. A 
local guarantee was first necessary, and the Government subsidy was to be on the 
principle of pound for pound for schools for the children of such parents as could 
afford to pay half the cost. Other schools of a lower class were designed for the 
poorer Europeans and the aborigines. A Board of Guarantors, appointed every 
three years, was responsible to the Government for the proper conduct of each 
schoul, but the weakness of the whole system lay in the lack of provision for con- 
tinuity and permanent buildings. The highest tribute to Dr. Dale’s administra- 
tion lies in his success in enlisting in the management of the schools the co-operation 
of so many of the best representative men in the colony. In the larger centres the 
system worked satisfactorily, but in swall villages and country districts the life of 
the school was often precarious. In 1872 the appointment of two deputy-inspectors 
relieved the Superintendent-General of that part of his duty. In the following 
year came the establishment of the University, superseding the old Board of 
Examiners. It was to be an Examining University, like the London University, 
granting degrees in arts, law, &c., and certificates in land surveying. Grants were 
to be issued to certain institutions preparing for these higher examinations, but, 
unfortunately, still on the pound for pound basis. 
In Elementary Education the lack of teachers continued to be the great 
obstacle. The establishment of a Normal Institution in 1840 had produced 
nothing, and the attempts at developing a pupil-teacher system had also failed to 
remedy the defect. In 1879 the Dutch Reformed Church established a Normal 
College, which, under Mr, Whitton, has rendered great services in the last twenty- 
five years. 
Senombuntitindl effort had also contributed its share to the development of 
edneation, the Diocesan Co!lege at Rondebosch being the most distinguished of 
