definiteness it but appears to want as an intellectual discipline. We believe in the day when the best endowed chair at our colleges will be that of the Professor of Education. copied from London, and granted degrees without college residence, they would afford supreme aid to a great movement, requiring this special privilege from the wide extent of its influence. At We summon the friends of scholastic registra-Owen's College, Manchester, and at University tion to energize in this direction. The whole College, London, there have been classes expressly purpose of their crusade would thus be served. for schoolmasters and ushers. If this scheme of Degrees in education would give every distinction a faculty of education came to anything, it would a schoolmaster could wish for, and all the con- vitalize the munificent endowment by an unknown fidence that parents want to possess in him. friend, for scholastic purposes, which for a long Academical honours are believed in. Every while has been a greater puzzle than benefit to teacher who can append to his name a D.D. or the council of University College. It would also LL.D., an M.A. or B.A., does not fail to do so, provide the best of registrations, that of proved and finds his account in it. The intelligent public capacity and knowledge. It would open the way are not slow to admit the merit of these titles. to teachers becoming a corporation. It would The diplomas also of the College of Preceptors, create an esprit de corps amongst us, and a loyalty and kindred societies, are similarly and eminently to our faith. Lastly, it would not interfere with useful; we mean, of course, when honestly used. the usefulness of the humbler teachers. Just as We leave out the quacks of the craft, who parade lawyers are helped by clerks, the church by litein big capitals M.R.C.P. at the end of their name, rates, so would the scholastic profession,-while never omitting the "Royal," which does not occupying a distinct and high status, worthy of really belong there, and which the College itself the world's respect, command the services of subdoes not affect, as on a level with the rest who ordinates in the lower departments of its duty. buy German doctorships, their own degradation, Scholastic registration is of repute as a middle and the contempt of the cloth, all in one transac-class teachers' scheme. The academies enter into tion. Membership of the College of Preceptors it, or profess to do so. It began with the College is a valued privilege. It was never intended to delude the public, which is unaware that the extent of the meaning of membership is a ballot and an annual subscription. When we see charlatans flourish their letters of guilt, we are tempted to beguile the secretary out of his secrets, and learn from him how many of these our brethren content themselves with the right the ballot gives them, and ever after forget the subscription. They are of Preceptors; it is associated with the college; It is not necessary in this place to define the work of a faculty of education. The faculty of arts, which is indeed the preliminary step to the higher degrees of all the faculties, would have much in common. The elements of every subject If, then, these difficulties rise up in the conembraced in arts would be of service in an educa-sideration of the subject merely as a middle class tional course. Thus mental, moral, and political school movement, by how much do we add to philosophy would find a place. Language and them when we take other teachers into account? science, pure and natural, would necessarily be What constitutes a school? What a schooldemanded. Beyond these, a knowledge of the master? Is a tutor to undergo registration? principles of education, both as a science and an Am I a schoolmaster if I receive two or three art, the principles of training and teaching, would pupils only, and quite privately? Is a professor be an indispensable subject. of one subject, or of any number of subjects, who The pre-eminent importance of education in goes to schools and to homes, and his pupils come the present day is a valid reason for its recogni- to him, a schoolmaster in the registration sense? tion as a faculty, while the benefit to the profes- Are college professors teachers? When an elesion, and to the community at large, would be mentary teacher, under Government inspection, equally great. It would give an impulse and fails to get a certificate of the first, second, or direction to young aspirants; it would place third grade, low as the requirements are, he still teachers in collateral dignity with what are called has a chance of being "registered." Is this registhe learned professions. If the older universities | tration to be recognised in the new movement? 1 If not, why not? If it is, what persuasion is to be employed to get the masters of Eton, Harrow, Rugby, and Winchester to register? The projectors of the registration scheme mean it to be a benefit to every one. Curiously, however, penalties were to be imposed upon those who failed to register! Compulsion has been discussed. Now, when we have to compel people to accept a benefit, the benefit itself becomes of doubtful value. One clause in the proposed bill (a clause given up) deprived unregistered teachers of the right to recover arrears of school fees! Here was an interference with private rights! If it had been retained, it would never have passed Parliament; that it was ever in the bill, indicates a divided spirit in the council. If I choose to educate my own children, surely I may do so without a schoolmaster's certificate. If I wish them to join a family whose parents are willing to teach them with their own children, is registration to stop me? If from confidence in any one's ability to educate, greater than my confidence in my own powers, or for any other reason, I entrust my children to another for education, who is and what is to restrain me? I simply exercise my individual right. To do so is surely better than not to educate them at all. But-and this condemns compulsory registration-no law steps in and says, You shall educate your children; no law is proposed to make me educate them: the law proposed says merely, "You shall only employ certain people; you shall not educate your family as you please." other professions, say the medical or the legal. Prohibitions exist here. We may not practise in either without registration; we may not even employ unregistered men; and these restrictions are a benefit to the community. But we are not likely to employ men who have failed to qualify for these professions, the personal consequences to ourselves being so onerous. If we make our own will, we have a fool for a lawyer. If we doctor ourselves, we abide the consequences; so too if we doctor others occasionally. The law moves not upon the act itself, but upon the result. Now, in the case of teaching, there are no consequences cognisable by the law. We choose a teacher from the results of his teaching,-from the children we know he has educated, each child being an advertisement for another; not, while these evidences of ability are before us, from the letters at the end of his name. Without these evidences, no doubt, a certificate of some kind is useful, assisting parents to decide. The evidence of results is, after all, the best. This is a kind of evidence easy to be got at in the scholastic profession, but not so easy in the medical and legal. Were we stupid enough to place our children with teachers who shewed evidence of power, neither by results nor by diploma, the saddest consequence would be ignorance instead of knowledge. consequence of this nature is legally intangible. We break no law of the community by thus acting. At the most we pay a penalty to public opinion. Nevertheless, the discussion which a Registration Bill must receive before and after it is matured, can be conducive to nothing but good. Much of the difficulty besetting education as a profession will be talked over, and true remedial principles will crop out. We are glad, therefore, that progress has been so far made that the bill will soon be in everybody's hands. We sincerely hope, for the object itself, that teachers will criticise the details of the bill as fearlessly and as thoroughly as we ourselves have gone into the general subject. A. J. A HOW THE BUSINESS OF THE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT IS CONDUCTED. AWA E extract the following evidence from the Report from the Select Commit tee on Education; together with the Proceedings of the Committee, Minutes of Evidence, and Appendix. The witness is Ralph W. W. Lingen, Esq. THE FUNCTIONS OF SECRETARY, VICE-PRESIDENT, AND PRESIDENT. "1. You are Secretary of the Committee of Council of Education, are you not?—Yes. "11. Will you be so good as to describe to the Committee the system under which the business of the office was transacted from the time when you accepted the Secretaryship up to the time of the passing of that Act in 1856, by which the Vice-President was appointed?-The daily correspondence of the office was conducted by the Secretary; he signed all the letters and was responsible for all the letters; any letter which he considered of sufficient importance he used to take himself or send, according to circumstances, to the Lord President; and orders for the payments of grants were made by the Lord President. That was the state of the business before the appointment of the Vice-President. "12. I apprehend from the answer which you have given that the principal part of the business of the office devolved upon the Secretary?—The current business of the office did so entirely. "13. I understand you to say that the whole of the correspondence devolved on the Secretary? Subject to his responsibility in taking the more important parts of it to the Lord President. "14. And that, you say, rested entirely in his discretion?—It rested entirely in his discretion. "15. In all cases in which he did not think it material to take any particular letter to the Lord President, he would, if I understand you rightly, dispose of that letter and answer it, and dispose of the business to which it related, as if he had been the sole Minister?-Yes. ence was settled by the Secretary, and that merely "19. During that period did the various Lord Presidents attend regularly at the office?—There were no fixed times at which they should come; but, during the Session of Parliament, a day would scarcely pass without the Lord President's being at the office during the afternoon; and the Secretary could at any time see him at his own residence, if for a day or two he were not at the office, or could communicate with him by letter; but there never were any fixed hours of attendance. "20. Speaking now of the whole period, from 1849 to 1856, can you state to what extent the money orders were signed by the Lord President? Grants for building were always signed by the Lord President, but annual grants for the maintenance of schools were not so signed by him. "21. Were they submitted to him?-No; not unless they presented some unusual feature. "22. They, like the letters, rested entirely with the Secretary?-They rested entirely with the Secretary. "23. Will you explain to the Committee what change took place in that mode of transacting the business after the appointment of the Vice-President in 1856?-The chief change was, that the Vice-President gave much more constant attendance at the office than had been usually the case under Lords President who were leaders in the House of Lords; and that the secretary was in more constant communication with the VicePresident, and referred to him infinitely more than he did under the previous constitution, when there was a single Minister. "16. Then do I rightly understand you to state, that all orders for payments of money during that period were signed by the Lord President?-The only grants which were made up to the year 1846 were for the building of schools. Those were issued in comparatively large amounts, and the number of cases was small. Every one of those orders for the building of schools was signed by the Lord President, but, in 1846, when grants began to be made for the maintenance of schools, those were much larger in amount, and the cases were far more numerous; and unless a case of that kind presented some unusual feature, an annual grant case would have been disposed of wholly and entirely by the Secretary. The In-There was no Order or Minute which exactly spector's report would have been read; it would have been ascertained whether it conformed to the Minutes under which those grants were offered, and on the Secretary's signature the grants would have gone forward. "17. Up to what period did that take place?— To a certain extent that lasts to the present time, but that was the regular practice up to 1856, until the appointment of a Vice-President. 18. Then the system of business which you have described, namely, that all the correspond "24. The position of the Secretary became materially changed then from that time, did it not?--I should say that less responsibility rested upon him after the appointment of a Vice-Presi dent. "25. And he had less independence of action? changed his position, but, from the very fact that a second officer was appointed who gave much more constant attendance at the office, the practice instantly became that the Secretary went to the Vice-President far more frequently than he had ever gone to the Lord President. "26. By the practice of the office after that change, had the Secretary still the control of the correspondence?--Yes. "27. What were held to be, and what practically were from that time, the duties fulfilled by the Vice-President?-On every question, and every letter which suggested any sort of doubt, and which was not completely a matter of settled routine, I always either went to the Vice-President or sent him the papers. "28. You state, as I understand, that from that time you exercised, and I presume that the prac. tice prevails up to this time, and that you still exercise a discretion with regard to each letter which comes to the office, as to whether or not you will submit it to one of the chiefs who are above you?—Yes. "29. In the event of your so submitting it, is it referred with a minute suggesting the answer which should be given, or are you in each case in the habit of seeing the Vice-President?-I usually write upon the letter what I think should be the answer, and then that is returned to me with the Vice-President's written approval upon it. "30. You send it to the Vice-President with a minute of your own, which he either accepts or with which he deals as he thinks fit?—Yes; but that is not invariably the case; if it were a matter, as it might be, of great doubt, I should write on the papers simply, 'Vice-President,' and the VicePresident would probably send for me, and hear what I had to say upon it. "31. Has it not been the practice of the office that any part of the official correspondence goes directly to the Vice-President in the first instance? -Not unless it goes to him by name. "32. Do you mean addressed to him personally by name?—If the envelope was directed 'VicePresident,' it would not be opened in the office. "33. Then has it ever been the habit for the Vice-President to take any share in the correspondence by drafting letters himself?-Very rarely. "34. Then the correspondence, in fact, with the exception of supervision, exercised as you describe, has still remained with the Secretary? -Yes. "35. Have you found that any change has taken place since that office of Vice-President was created, in the frequency of the attendance of the Lord President at the office?-I do not think that I could say that there had been. "36. Can you explain to the Committee what have been the separate functions and duties of those two offices, the Lord President and the Vice-President, since the creation of the latter office?—To myself, as Secretary, the immediate chief has been the Vice-President. I may say, I think, that I have transacted all business with the Vice-President, with the most trifling exceptions, and those quite accidental, such as appoint ments, or things of that kind. I have taken my orders from him. "37. From the time of the appointment of a Vice-President, I understand that your direct communications with the Lord President have ceased?-They have ceased to this extent. For all ordinary business, I go, in the first instance, to the Vice-President; but at any time, if I had anything to say to the Lord President about the business of the office, it is still open to me to go to him, and if I had a question to refer, and the Lord President happened to be there, and not the Vice President, I should, as a matter of course, go to the Lord-President. "38. You have now stated what have been your own relations with those two officers; but you have not quite answered the question as to what have been, officially speaking, the functions of those two officers since they have acted jointly? -The Lord President has been the controlling officer, so far as I have had the means of knowing, beyond the Vice-President. "39. In fact, is it an unfair inference from your answer, that you do not very accurately know what the functions of the Lord President have been?—I consider the Lord President to be the superior officer, when he chooses to give an order; but the greater part of the current business of the office is transacted by the Vice-President. "40. Have you yourself, in your position of Secretary, looked to the Vice-President as your immediate superior?—Always. "41. And what may have been the relations between the Lord President and the Vice-President has not been, I presume, within your own immediate knowledge?-I have heard the Lord President state, in the clearest manner, when these subjects have been under discussion, that he considered his own authority supreme in tne office; and that when he made an order, there could be no question at all, if there was a difference of opinion between himself and the VicePresident, that his own opinion should prevail, and not the opinion of the Vice-President. That I have heard said by Lord Granville." We may state that in the subsequent examinations of Vice-Presidents and Presidents, a considerable difference of opinion was found to exist among them as to the responsibility of the VicePresident. Organisation of the Council Office. "330. In one of your answers you stated that certain details were disposed of which never came before you at all; will you state to the Committee "382. Did you frame it under instructions from the Lord President?-The direct instructions that came to me were from the Vice-President. what sort of details those are ?-The Council Office is organised in this manner: above the clerks, who are employed merely in copying and drafting letters, there are a certain number of "383. Are you of your own knowledge able to officers called examiners; the letters of the day state whether he acted under the instructions of are divided among those officers, and they make the Lord President?-There was a repeated and upon them the Minutes which the cases seem to continued discussion after that Report of the require; perhaps three out of four of them re- Royal Education Commissioners, as to what quire only the despatch of a certain printed form should be done upon it; and when the decision to be minuted upon them; in other cases letters had been arrived at that something in the nature may have to be written; the cases about which of the Revised Code should be prepared, concernthose officers doubt are referred to the two assis-ing which I had general instructions, putting me tant secretaries, and if they feel any doubt about them they send them on to me; the whole of each day's letters being minuted in this way by the examiners, and their Minutes being made into fair drafts of letters come with the original papers before the two assistant secretaries; they, as a rule, sign the day's letters, and they send on to me any about which they have any doubt, and in the same way I take on any letters about which I have any doubt to the Vice-President; once a week, instead of the assistant secretaries signing the letters, I sign the whole of them myself, in order that I may, as far as I can, observe the working of the office; that is the daily practice. "331. Do those matters which are decided by subordinate officers ever concern the reduction or the refusal of grants, either building or annual? —Of building grants, certainly not the refusal; and in the case of annual grants, no subordinate officer against the recommendation of the inspector would venture to reduce them. in possession of what were the views of my superiors, I drew it just as, if I had remained at my old profession, I might have drawn a man's will or his marriage settlement. "384. When it was framed by yourself, was a Committee of Council convened to consider it?— Yes, several Committees. "385. Were you always present?—Not at the whole of the meetings. "386. Then, does it not form part of your office to be always present at the meetings?—Not unless I am sent for. "387. Suppose a remonstrance against the operation of a great change in the law comes, to whom is that remonstrance addressed?—That must entirely depend upon the writer. An ordinary official letter is addressed to the Secretary, but any one is at liberty, if he is so minded, to write direct to the Lord President or the VicePresident, and many do. "388. Supposing a remonstrance comes to you, "332. But would he do so on the inspector's addressed by the National Society, against the recommendation ?-He would. "333. Would he decide the amount of reduction?-That is on the inspector's recommendation. "334. Is the inspector's recommendation never vague? The report would be referred back to him if it were so, but reductions are never indefinite; they always express one-tenth or twotenths, or whatever it may be, under the 52d article of the Code. "335. The practice of the office is, that if an inspector recommends a reduction, that reduction is made by the inferior officials of the Department without reference even to you?-In most cases, I think that would be so." WHO WAS THE AUTHOR OF THE REVISED CODE? "380. To go to facts, who initiated the Revised Code? The Royal Commissioners of 1858, I suppose, were the first cause of it. "381. That was the groundwork for the great step that was then taken; but who framed the Revised Code ?—I did. operation of the Revised Code, what steps would you take?—An important paper of that kind I should acknowledge, and take it at once to the Vice-President. "389. But, supposing it came only from the managers of a school, would you not feel it equally your duty to consult him?-If it came from the managers of an individual school, objecting to the Revised Code in general terms, if it were a general argumentative letter, I might or might not take it to the Vice-President, according to the estimate which I formed of its importance. "390. Then it would appear from that answer that you have a very large discretionary power in dealing with these communications, to the extent of yourself judging whether or not you can answer them, or whether or not it is necessary to consult your superiors?—Yes." How a Minute is Prepared. "71. What has been the system of the office with regard to the preparation of Minutes; can |