312 
PROCEEDINGS OF THE VICTORIA INSTITUTE. 
Surinam, and of it Mr. H. C. Ten Brocke wrote in the West 
Indian Quarterly for April 1886 : — “ As in Holland, so in Suri- 
nam, the education of the people is the chief care of the Govern- 
ment. Every estate has its school or at least one in its direct 
vicinity and all the school-masters are paid by the Government. 
It is very rare that one meets in Paramaribo with anybody 
belonging to the lower class who does not understand his three 
Rs. One thing however, particularly strikes the British visitor to 
Suriman namely, the absence of all religious instruction in the 
schools.” The inculcation of religious ideas is left to the Church. 
The result as stated by Mr. Ten Brocke is as follows : “The 
statistics of the Magistrate’s Court in Surinam will bear a 
favourable comparison with those of other places under the same 
circumstances. As an instance may be quoted the celebration 
of the King’s Birthday. From before the dawn of day till long 
after midnight there are thousands of people who are keeping up 
the anniversary of their beloved Sovereign. But no fight dis- 
turbs the harmony of the throng, no abusive language is heard, 
very little drunkenness is seen.” 
To meet the necessities of our case the- enactment of a shoi t 
and simple law like that proposed by pie in 1889 might be a step, 
but only a step. And the position of the teacher must be im- 
proved by making him a public official appointed and paid in the 
same way as all other public officials. 
II . — School Fees. 
In dealing with the subject of school fees T have not to deal 
with any abstract or theoretical notions nor with anything 
■beyond our own experience and the operation of the school tee 
system as worked in our own schools. In other countries there 
is a maximum limit to the school fee with ample powers o 
remitting it and of establishing free schools and in the Unite! 
States and elsewhere the common school is absolutely tiee- 
I do not suppose that in any country so pernicious a system as 
that in force here could have been devised. The experience o 
my last fourteen years of office clearly proved to me that 
exaction of fees under the system then in force was nl0S , 
detrimental to education. The attendance was greatly injure^ 
thereby, and consequently the efficiency of the schools, 
believe that some mixlificaf.ions have been introduced since m) 
time, but I cannot believe that a fee system retaining any o 
features of that I left in operation in 1890 can be other" 1 * 
than hurtful. The compulsory exaction of fees in all k°' er ^ 
merit schools was enacted in 1876. Previous to that fees we .^ 
not charged in any but the model and borough schools. I ^v^ols 
Government schools because it is only in Government sc 0 
