112 Timehri. 
Catholic schools, where religious instrvction is regarded as of the greatest 
importance there is the highest grant earned per caput, $4.25, of any of the 
Denomination. If we compare the expenditure of Government money per 
head here with that in Tmmidad, we find that the total money expended for the 
year 1910-1911 in this colony including teachers’ certificate salaries, but ex- 
cluding as the Trinidad computation also does, the salaries of the Education 
department was $128,162.03. This wich the average attendance for the year 
of 21,555 children gives $5.94 per head total expenditure, or £1 4s. 9d., which 
is much lower than the cost per head in Trinidad. And this will be lower still 
if we reckon the number of the children examined, not tu mention the number 
in the books of the schools. 
Before concluding this subject, I should say something with regard to a real 
grievance. The Code of 1904 was devised with the object of keeping the anmual 
Education vote stationary. The obvious injustice of this was soon apparent, 
when the more efficient enforcement of the compulsory clauses of the Ordinance, 
brought a great increase of numbers to the rchools. Each year the amount 
earned by the schools, as grant, has been proportionally diminished to suit the 
vote, and subsequently granted in answer to an appea! ad misericordiam. Tf in 
the scheme, a provision were made for the increase of the vote, in proportion to 
the increased number of children in average attendance, this injustice would 
beremoved. In the Inspector's report for 1903-1904 the average attendance 
appears as 17,323 and in 1910-1911 as 21,555, which gives an increase of 4,232 
children. It is only just that the Education vote should take this increase into 
account. 
This niggardly policy on the part of the Combined Court accounts for 
another real grievance. That is the miserable pay given to Assistant Teachers. 
With higher pay a class of more efficient Assistants, which is the great 
want, would be obtained. 
To sum up. There seems to be no real reason for wishing to change the 
present Denominational system. Government or Colonial schools would not 
only entail an enormous initial outlay, but would probably in the end be far 
more costly to maintain and not as efficient. A purely secular system which 
the present Minister of Education in England recently called ‘‘ the counsel of 
despair” would fail to give our children, that moral training, which cannot 
have any secure foundation except in definite religious teaching. It would 
be far better honestly, to work the system we have and allow new denomina- 
tional schools to be opened, where a considerable number of the parents in a 
district, desired a school of a particular denomination. 
It should likewise be borne in mind, that the Government owes special 
consideration to the Denominational bodies, which trusting to the good faith 
of the Government, have saved the colony a great amount of expenditure in 
the past by building and equipping schools in accordance with the Ordinance, 
regulating Education, and which have done good work in producing good 
citizens as far as they were able. No one, I think, will fairly contend that 
the result in that way would have been better, if the Government had opened 
Colonial schools, as the Ordinance contemplated, in which there was no definite 
religious or moral training. 
