223 



REPORT 1872. 



The writer suggested (1) that no girl be exempted from full-time scbool attend- 

 ance unless it be shown that her labour is absolutely necessary for the support of 

 the familjf ; (2) tliat in every case where a girl is exempted from attendance at 

 morning school, it should be a condition that she be exempted from needlework at 

 afternoon school, and the whole of her school time devoted to intellectual exercises. 



The imjiOTtance of provldhni additional facilities for tJie Instruction of ScJtool- 

 Boarcl Pxipils in the Higher Branches of Knowledge. By C. G. Bunting. 



The Elementary Education Act, spite of its deficiencies, will yet be regarded as 

 cue of the greatest benefits ever conferred by Parliament upon the country. 



Having laid the foundation of a sound elementary education and made provision 

 for its attainment, it is time to consider what steps shall be taken to provide for 

 those scholars who shall make the best use of the advantages now placed within 

 their reach the means of obtaining further instruction in the subjects now desig- 

 nated " extra " by the Education department. 



The power given to School Boards to exempt from compulsory attendance such 

 children as may pass examination in a specified standard, though attended with 

 some advantages, is a great drawback to progress in the advanced subjects. It does 

 not seem right to reward a scholar for proficiency in obtaining knowledge by 

 helping him to withdraw from the opportunity of adding to it. Such reward ought 

 rather to be facilities for additional instruction. 



In each School-Board district. Government scholarships should be open to all 

 students in advanced subjects. The examination upon which the attainment of 

 a scholarship would depend should be conducted in such a manner as to ensure 

 its possession being regarded as a high honour. It ought to be supplemented by 

 some useful prize, which should be presented to the successful candidate at a gather- 

 ing of memoers of school boards, school managers, and parents of the scholar. 

 Such scholarship should secure to its possessor the advantage of a sound university 

 education, for which it may be necessaiy to establish some half dozen colleges in 

 difierent parts of the kingdom. The scholarship should secure the right to three 

 years' residence in one of these colleges (provided its holder passes a yearly exami- 

 nation) and instruction in the higher branches of science, art, and literature from 

 some of the most proficient teachers the Government could secure. Each stu- 

 dent who shfiU pass a special examination at the end of his three years' course 

 shall be entitled to a fellowship worth from £80 to £100 annually, to be held till 

 he obtains employment at a salary equal in worth to such fellowship. Its possession 

 ought always to be considered a qualification for the civil service. As this fellow- 

 ship would be regarded as the " blue ribbon " of school-board educational contests, 

 the author sufjgested that it might be presented at the annual meetings of the 

 British Association by the President for the time being. 



On International Decimal Coinage. By Hekbeet Bijegess. 



The -writer assumes that the establishment of an international coinage is simply 

 a question of time, also that any such coinage vsall bo decimal. He then point's 



