203 REPORT— 1876. 



A family like Rust's shifts its residence out of London. The case drops out of 

 the cognizance of those who ha-ve long been watching it, and new officers have to take 

 it up from the very beginning. Tomlin's father is never at home except on Sim- 

 days ; and when the school board officer summons the mother, who has " the actual 

 custody," JNIrs. Tomhn slips through his fingers like an eel. Raymond's father pre- 

 tends that he has an impediment, and that schools won't take liim in. Poor War- 

 ner has a wife who won't let the lad attend school, and won't let Warner send him 

 there. There are forty cases for every one of these eveiy week ; two thousand 

 times as many of such stories are told annually before the police-courts of London, 

 every one of them with some ingenious variation of pretended excuse, or some 

 miserable and perplexing real difficulty. 



The statistics of Liverpool are as follow : — The cost of compulsion is about 2s. per 

 child on the roll (about 'ds. per child in average attendance), which is about twice 

 what it is in London. The increase in the average attendance on public elementary 

 schools in five years is from 3.3,827 to 41,192, being 21 per cent., as against the 8 

 per cent, of Ireland or the 75 per cent, of London. The average attendance has 

 fallen from 70 per cent, to 64 per cent, of the number on the roll, which is very sig- 

 nificant of the class of children brought in by the compidsory clauses. Besides the 

 public schools the authorities of Liverpool estimate that there were 10,058 on the 

 roll of all other elementary schools in 1871, and 14,.300 of aU others iir 1875. Liver- 

 pool has advanced, but very much more slowly than London. It started very 

 much better than London did, and had far less leeway to make up. It is difficult 

 precisely to compare its present educational position with that of London, because 

 the non-public schools occupy much more of the ground in proportion than in the 

 metropolis. Its population was 493,000 in 1871, and there were 14,000 seamen be- 

 longing to the port. So far as school attendance goes there is probably little now 

 to choose between the two cities. 



In Liverpool great attention is paid to the working of compulsory bye-laws. In 

 the year ending October 1, 1870, 6182 notices were issued to parents, and 1817 pro- 

 secutions took place in consequence. This woidd correspond to about 12,000 in Lon- 

 don, the rate there being 8000. Before the parent is prosecuted parents are brought 

 by the notices to meet a member of the board and the superintendent of visitors, 

 and such meetings are held two or three times a week. For instance, the author is 

 told, " In one small district, having about 2000 children, the parents of 355 were 

 brought before a member of the board, and the present result is that 124 are regu- 

 lars, 11 are delicate, 10 ha^e removed, 6 are over age, 1 has been exempt, and there 

 are 203 who are still irregular ; 24 of these have been summoned more than once. 

 Those from the 203 who are still irregidar who have not been summoned are not 

 considered irregular enough for a summons." 



The statistics of Manchester are somewhat similar to those of Liverpool. The 

 Manchester attendance returns were first collected by the board in December, 1871. 

 At that date the average attendance was 26,328, and the number on the roll was 

 39,240. The last quarterly returns for the quarter ending .lune, 1876, showed 

 32,220 children in average and 50,461 in roll attendance. Thus in 4^ years the 

 average attendance has risen 22^ per cent., or 5 per cent, per annum. The popula- 

 tion of Manchester has remained practically stationary during the time, so that the 

 same extent of increase was not to be expected as in the case, for instance, of Glas- 

 gow and of London. But the general effect on the results of making the allowance 

 would nowhere be of very great importance. 



The regularity of attendance may be measured as usual by the proportion which 

 the average bears to the roll attendance. It was 67 per cent, in Manchester before 

 compidsion, it is now 64 per cent. ; and the change signifies that a new class, whose 

 attendance it is unusually difficult to secure or to njake regular, has been brought 

 into school. Attendance in Manchester has not fallen much under the pressm'e of 

 the compidsoiy law ; but it was not higher before, and it is a Httle lower now than 

 the average for all England and for Ireland. 



The compulsory powers of the School Board are extensively used in Manchester. 

 The clerk of the Board tells me that the recent average is seventy or eighty cases 

 brought before the magistrate per week. The pressure is exercised on two grounds 

 — non-attendance and irregular attendance ; and the board at present aims to con- 



