THE PRESIDENT S ADDRESS. 85 



Great Britain. Once every year the people choose anew who shall ex- 

 ercise for them these powers ; every township by itself; every county 

 by itself; every village ; every town ; and every city. Almost every 

 one who rents a cottage or owns a shanty has a vote in the selection. 

 The whole land is divided, too, into common school sections ; and the 

 school trustees of every section are also the nominees of the people. 

 Eoth houses of Parliament have a similar origin, though longer 

 terms of office. The power thus already possessed by the people 

 has sometimes been used well and sometimes ill, as all power is, 

 by whomsoever held, and as power in the hands of imperfect men 

 always must be. But it is satisfactory to perceive some of the past 

 results of popular power in our country. What for example has been 

 done for education ? What appreciation has been shown of higher 

 learning ? What recognition has there been of the claims of science ? 

 All these things interest us as members of the Canadian Institute ; 

 and the answers to such inquiries are not discouraging. 



The position and character of our public schools, the attendance 

 at them, the amount raised annually by voluntary taxation for their 

 support — all have been increasing in a greater proportion than our 

 population or our wealth. We have in Upper Canada one magni- 

 ficent University, endowed by the public and open to all. We have 

 several denominational colleges of most respectable character, some, 

 if not all of them, open also to every one ; and supported, either 

 wholly or chiefly, by the voluntary contributions of the people of 

 the various religious denominations with which they are connected. 



To go a little more into detail, I would remind you that over and 

 above the endowment out of which the Provincial University and 

 the Upper Canada College are maintained ; and over and above the 

 Grammar School fund in Upper Canada ; and the endowments of the 

 Universities and Colleges of Lower Canada, and of the denomina- 

 tional colleges of Upper Canada ; that over and above all these, the 

 grants made by the Canadian Parliament for the year ending 30th 

 June, 1864, for common and superior education, amounted to up- 

 wards of $300,000 ; and that in Upper Canada that portion of this sum 

 which goes there to Common Schools and Grammar Schools, was 

 supplemented from local sources, chiefly by self imposed taxes on 

 the school sections and municipalities, by an amount equal to five 

 times the Government grant, making the public expenditure for the 

 year, in Upper Canada alone, for Public Grammar Schools and 

 Common Schools, to exceed a million and a half of dollars. 



