4o8 



PARLIAMENTARY PUBLICATIONS. 



Report of the Commissioners of National Education in Ireland 

 1898-9. [C. — 9446.] Price is. id. 



The Commissioners, reporting as to the position of agricul- 

 tural education, state that 81,208 pupils were examined in 

 agriculture in 1897-8 in the national schools, and that 55,056 

 passed. Instruction in the theory of agriculture, for which 

 ordinary results fees are payable, is compulsory in the 4th, 

 5th, and 6th classes in all rural schools conducted by 

 masters in Ireland. It is optional in the case of girls' 

 schools where the teacher is qualified to give instruction. 



There were 48 school farms in connection with the national 

 schools in 1898. The boys in the advanced classes in these 

 schools are examined in the practice as well as the theory of 

 agriculture, and special fees are paid on the proficiency of 

 the pupils, and on the satisfactory state of the farm. 817 

 pupils, of whom 702 passed, were examined in practical 

 agriculture. In 37 of these schools payments were made to 

 the pupils of agricultural classes for working on the small 

 farms or gardens, under the direction of the teachers, assisted 

 by agricultural monitors. There were 109 schools with 

 gardens attached, for the management of which, and for the 

 practical knowledge displayed by the pupils, special fees are 

 also granted. 



The total number of students of all classes attending the 

 Albert Agricultural Institution at Glasnevin in 1897-8 

 amounted to 356. Arrangements were tentatively made for 

 providing instruction in agricultural science to the classes 

 attending the teachers' sessions ; the experiment is stated to 

 have been successful. 143 students in all attended the 

 Munster Institution, Cork, in the session of 1898. The 

 itinerant dairy instruction in the province has been produc- 



