Duty of the Proviso: First Proviso: VIII. And be it enacted, That it shall be the duty of the Chief Superintendent of Schools to see that the County Grammar School Fund apportioned by him, is, in all cases, applied to the purposes herein before prescribed; and that each County Grammar School is conducted according to the Rules and Regulations provided according to law; and to prepare suitable forms, and to give such instructions as he shall judge necessary and proper for making all reports and conducting all proceedings under this Act, and cause the same, with a sufficient number of copies of this Act, and such general Rules and Regulations as shall be approved of, by the Council of Public Instruction for the better Organization and Government of Grammar Schools, to be printed in a convenient form and transmitted to the parties required to execute the provisions of this Act: Provided always, that no such School shall receive any part of the County Grammar School Fund, which shall not be conducted according to the provisions of this Act, IX. And be it enacted, That it may and shall be lawful for the Municipal Council of Trustees to be each County and City, to appoint not less than six, or more than eight, fit and proper appointed by the persons, (three of whom shall be a Quorum for the transaction of business), as a Board of County Councils. Trustees for each Grammar School in such County: Provided always, that two persons thus appointed, (to be determined by such Council,) shall retire from office annually, (but may be re-appointed,) and their places, as also any occasional vacancy, shall be filled up by such Council: Provided also, that the person appointed to fill such vacancy Second Proviso: shall hold office only for the unexpired part of the term for which the Person whose place shall have become vacant, was appointed to serve: Provided likewise, that the present Boards of Trustees of Grammar Schools shall continue in office until their successors shall have been appointed, according to the provisions of this Act. Third Proviso: Duties of each tees. To determine modes of proceeding. To take charge of the Grammar School, appoint Masters, etcetera. To levy rate bills, etcetera. May unite Common Schools with the Grammar School. Conditions of such Union. To see that pupils are provided with proper text. X. And be it enacted, That it shall be the duty of the Board of Trustees of each County Grammar School, (the first meeting of whom may be called by any Member :) First, To appoint annually, or oftener, a Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer, the times and places of their meetings, the mode of calling and conducting such meetings, and of keeping a full and correct account of their proceedings: Secondly,-To take charge of each County Grammar School and the Buildings and lands appertaining to it; to appoint, or remove, the Master and other Teacher, or Teachers, in such School: to fix their salaries and prescribe their duties; to appoint any other Officers, or Servants, in such School, as they may judge expedient, and fix their remuneration; to do whatever may be expedient, with regard to erecting, repairing, warming, furnishing, or keeping in order, the Building, or Buildings, of such School and its appendages, lands and enclosures, and to apply, (if necessary,) for the requisite sum, or sums, to be raised by municipal authority for such purpose, or purposes : Thirdly,-To cause, in their discretion, to be levied by Rate Bill upon the parents and guardians of pupils attending such School, such additional sum, or sums, as they shall judge expedient towards making up the salaries of Teachers, providing the proper apparatus, text-books, and registers, and for any other necessary expenses of such School, and they shall have the same authority, and proceed in the same manner as Common School Trustees in the levying and collecting of Rate Bills for Common Schools: Fourthly, To employ any lawful means, which they may judge expedient, in concurrence with the Board of Trustees of Common Schools in the Township, Village, Town, or City, in which such County Grammar School may be situated, for uniting one, or more, of the Common Schools of such Township, Village, Town, or City, or departments of them, with such County Grammar School: Provided always, that no such union shall take place without ample provision being made for giving instruction to the pupils in the elementary English branches, by a duly qualified English Teacher, or Teachers: Provided also, that, under such circumstances, such County Grammar School may be regarded, as a County Model School also, and perform the functions of such Model Schools, as far as the Trustees shall deem it advisable : Fifthly,-To see that the pupils of such County Grammar School are supplied with proper text-books; that public half-yearly examinations of the pupils are held, and due notice given of them; and that such School is conducted in accordance with the Regulabooks, etcetera. tions which shall be provided according to law: Provided always, that, the Master and Duties of Masters other Teachers of such School shall observe the same Regulations, in respect to teaching, discipline, keeping Registers and Visitors' books, as are required by Law, of each Teacher of a Common School: and Teachers. Sixthly,-To give the necessary orders upon the County Treasurer for the amount of public money to which such School is entitled, and upon their own Treasurer for any balance in his hands for the payment of the salaries of the Officers of such School, and of any necessary expenses; to prepare and transmit, before the Fifteenth day of January, to the Chief Superintendent of Schools, an Annual Report, which shall contain a full and accurate account of all matters appertaining to such School, in accordance with a form of Report which shall be provided according to law. XI-And be it enacted, That each County Grammar School shall be distinguished by prefixing to the term "County," the name of the City, Town, or Village, within the limits of which it may be situated. XII-AND WHEREAS it is desirable at all Seminaries and places of Education to Masters of certain Grammar direct attention to natural phenomena, and to encourage habits of observation; Schools to keep AND WHEREAS a better knowledge of the climate and meteorology of Canada will be Meteorological serviceable to agricultural and other pursuits, and be of value to scientific enquirers : Be it therefore enacted, That it shall be part of the duty of the Master of every senior County Grammar School, to make the requisite observations for keeping, and to keep, a Meteorological Journal, embracing such observations, and kept according to such form as shall, from time to time, be directed by the Council of Public Instruction; and all such journals, or abstracts of them, shall be presented annually, by the Chief Superintendent of Schools to the Governor General, with his Annual Report: Journals. Every County Grammar School shall, on, or before, the last day of November, One Instruments to be provided. Thousand Eight Hundred and Fifty, be provided at the expense of the County, with the following instruments: One Barometer: One Thermometer, for the temperature of the air: One Thermometer, for the temperature of evaporation : One Rain-guage and measure. and One Wind vane. And it shall be the duty of the Chief Superintendent of Schools, to procure these instruments, at the request of the Municipal Council of any County, and to furnish the Master of each senior County Grammar School with a Book for registering Observations, and with forms for abstracts thereof, to be transmitted to the Chief Superintendent by such Master, who shall certify that the Observations required have been made with due care and regularity. XIII-And be it enacted, That it may and shall be lawful for the Governor-in-Coun- School of Art and Design for cil to appropriate out of the moneys referred to, in the first section of this Act, a sum not exceeding Five Hundred Pounds, (£500), in any one year, for establishing and main- Upper Canada. taining a School of Art and Design for Upper Canada, under the direction and control of the Council of Public Instruction, which shall establish such School in connection with the Normal School, or otherwise, as it shall judge expedient, and shall employ the Professors, or Teachers, and make all regulations for the said School of Art and Design, and shall manage all the affairs thereof, as is provided by law, for the superintendence and management of the Normal School. repealed. XIV-And be it enacted, That all former Laws and Statutes relating to Grammar Former laws Schools, or Grammar School moneys in Upper Canada, so far as they are contrary to provisions of this Act, shall be, and the same are hereby, repealed: Provided always, that all appointments of Trustees, Masters, or Teachers, of Grammar Schools shall continue in force, as if made under the authority of this Act, until revoked, or changed, according to the provisions of the same. August 5th, 1850. An engrossed Bill to provide for the payment of the sum of money therein mentioned, for the use of three additional Grammar Schools in the County of York for the year 1849, was, according to Order, read the third time. : Resolved, That the Bill do pass, and the Title be "An Act to provide for the payment of the sum of money therein mentioned, for the use and support of three additional Grammar Schools in the County of York, Upper Canada, for the year One Thousand Eight Hundred and Forty-nine," (1849.) Ordered, That Mr. Solicitor General, John Sanfield Macdonald, do carry the Bill to the Legislative Council and desire their concurrence. The Order of the Day for the House in Committee on the Bill to incorporate the Elgin Association for the Settlement and Moral Improvement of the Coloured population of Canada, being read; The House accordingly resolved itself into the said Committee. Mr. Read Burritt took the chair of the Committee; and after some time spent therein, Mr. Speaker resumed the Chair; and Mr. Burritt reported, that the Committee had gone through the Bill, and directed him to report the same, without amendment. Ordered, That the Bill be engrossed, and read the third time to-morrow. August 6th, 1850. Mr. Edward Malloch, from the Committee of Supply reported several Resolutions, which were read. Among them were the following. Resolved that a sum of Five Hundred Pounds (£500,) be granted to each of the following Colleges: 1. Victoria College, Cobourg 2. Queen's College, Kingston 3. Regiopolis College, Kingston 4. To Upper Canada College Toronto Eleven Hundred and Eleven Pounds, (£1,111). 5. For acquiring a Site and erecting a Building for the Upper Canada Normal School, Fifteen Thousand Pounds, (£15,000.) August 7th, 1850. An engrossed Bill to incorporate the Elgin Association for the Settlement and Moral improvement of the Coloured population of Canada was, according to Order, read the third time. Resolved, That the Bill do pass. Ordered, That the Honourable Malcolm Cameron do carry the Bill to the Legislative Council, and desire their concurrence. The Order of the Day for the second reading of the engrossed Bill from the Legislative Council intituled: An Act to authorize the removal of the Site of Victoria College from Cobourg to Toronto," being read; The Bill was accordingly read a second time. Ordered, That the Bill be now read the third time, and the Rules of this House suspended as regards the same. The Bill was accordingly read the third time. Resolved, That the Bill do pass. Ordered, That Mr. Joseph C. Morrison do carry back the Bill to the Legislative Council, and acquaint their Honours, that this House hath passed the same, without any amendment. A Message from the Legislative Council, by John Fennings Taylor, Esquire, one of the Masters in Chancery, was read as follows: Mr. SPEAKER, The Legislative Council have passed the following Bill, without amendment, videlicet:Bill, intituled : "An Act to provide for the payment of the sum of money therein mentioned, for the use and support of three additional Grammar Schools in the County of York, for the year One Thousand Eight Hundred and Forty-nine, (1849)." LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL, 7th August, 1850. RENÉ E. CARON, Speaker. August 8th, 1850. The Honourable James Harvey Price, one of Her Majesty's Executive Council, laid before the House, by command of His Excellency the Governor General, the Annual Report of the Normal, Model and Common Schools in Upper Canada, for the year 1849, by the Chief Superintendent of Schools. Ordered, That the said Report be printed for the use of the Members of this House; and that a sufficient number of additional copies thereof be also printed, so as to furnish a copy to each Municipal Council, Local Superintendent, and Common School Corporation, in Upper Canada. August 9th, 1850. A Message from the Legislative Council, by John Flennings Taylor, Esquire, one of the Masters in Chancery, was read as follows:: Mr. SPEAKER, The Legislative Council have passed the following Bill, without Amendment, videlicet :— Bill intituled: "An Act to incorporate the Elgin Association for the Settlement and Moral improvement of the Coloured population of Canada." LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL, 9th August, 1850. RENÉ E. CARON, Speaker. ADDITIONS MADE TO THE SCHOOL ACT OF 1850 BY THE GOVERNMENT. Apart from the changes in phraseology, as well as alterations made in certain Sections of the Common School Act of 1850 by Members, during the passage of the Bill through the House of Assembly, several additions were made to it by the Honourable Francis Hincks, (Inspector General) who had charge of the Bill in the House, on behalf of the Government. These additions were as follows: To Section Nineteen, providing for the regulation of Separate Schools : Instead of the Section beginning with the words: it shall be lawful for the "Municipality of any Township, if it shall judge expedient," etcetera, which, Mr. Hinct s proposed to omit and to insert the following : And be it enacted, That it shall be the duty of the Council of any City, Town, or Incorporated Village, or Township, on the application in writing of twelve, or more, resident heads of families to authorize the establishment of one or more Separate Schools for Protestants, Roman Catholics, or Coloured People; and, in such case, it shall prescribe the limits of the division, or Sections, for such Schoo's, and shall make the same provision for the holding of the first meeting for the election of Trustees of each such Separate School, or Schools, as is provided in the Fourth Section of this Act. Provided, That none but Coloured People shall be allowed to vote for the election of Trustees of the Separate Schools for their children, and none but the parties petitioning for the establishment of a Separate Protestant, or Roman Catholic, School shall vote at the election of Trustees of such School; Provided, also, That each Separate Protestant, Roman Catholic, or Coloured, School shall be entitled to share the School Fund according to the average attendance of pupils, a compared with the whole number of pupils attending the Common Schools of such Town, Village, or Township. Provided also, that no Protestant Separate School shall be allowed except when the Teacher of the Common School is a Roman Catholic, and no Separate Roman Catholic School shall be allowed except when the Teacher of the Common School is a Protestant, etcetera. Mr. William H. Boulton was rather surprised at this amendment as he understood the Ministry intended to stand or fall by the Nineteenth Section The Honourable John Hillyard Cameron said that the amendment now proposed appeared as the result of pressure from without. He could not believe that it was a spontaneous production of the Inspector General. THE REVEREND DOCTOR RYERSON'S EXPLANATION OF THE CAUSE WHY THIS AMENDMENT WAS PROPOSED BY THE INSPECTOR GENERAL. In a Letter to the Honourable George Brown, published in 1859, the Reverend Doctor Ryerson thus explained why this amendment was made by Mr. Hincks to the original Nineteenth Section of the Common School Act of 1850. He said: "In the original Draft of the Nineteenth Section of the School Act of 1850, I proposed to place the authority for establishing Separate Schools upon the same footing as that on which it had been placed in Cities and Towns by the Act of 1847 - namely, to leave it in the hands of the Township Council, as it had been left in the hands of the City, or Town, Board of Trustees. I had heard of no instance of refusal on the part of a Town, or City, Board of Trustees to grant an application for a Separate School; neither did I apprehend a refusal to any reasonable request on the part of a Township Council, while it would render that provision of the Act less objectionable to those who did not approve of it. But the Authorities of the Roman Catholic Church, having had their suspicions and fears excited by the unexpected and unnoticed omission of the Separate School Sections from the Act of 1849, had representatives, both clerical and lay, in attendance, to watch the nature and progress of the School Bll of 1850, and they protested against the provisions of the 19th Section as originally introduced. Several leaders of the high Episcopalian party were also in attendance to get a clause providing for Church of England Separate Schools introduced into the Bill. An amendment to ti e 19th Section was concerted and agreed upon by the clerical Roman Catholic and high Episcopalian parties, by which any twelve members of either Church could demand a Separate School in any School Section of Upper Canada; so that a Protestant and Roman Catholic Bishop, or other Clergyman, and eleven others of either Church in Toronto could not only demand and establish a Separate School in Toronto, but in every City, Town, Village, and School Section in Upper Canada-not requiring the choice, or action, of the laity in any School Section out of Toronto for the establishment of a Separate School. The leaders on both sides of this new combination were very active, and, in the course of a few days, boasted that they would have a majority of fourteen, or twenty, votes against the Government, on the 19th Section of the Bill. A copy of the amendment of the combinationists was procured for me, and I was informed of the probable defeat of the Government on the question. I saw, at once, that the proposed amendment, if carried, would destroy the School System, and in order to break up the combination and save the School System, I proposed to amend the 19th Section of the Bill, so as to seoure the right of establishing Separate Schools to the applicants, as provided in the School Acts of 1843 and 1846, only substituting twelve heads of families for ten freeholders, or householders. This was acceptable to the authorities of the Roman Catholic Church, who said they did not wish to oppose the Government of Messieurs Lafontaine and Baldwin, unless compelled to do so; and they then advised all the Roman Catholic Members of the House to vote for the Government Section of the Bill, as amended. When the question came up in Committee of the whole House, the leader of the high church combination, who was not aware of the counter movement, rose to move the famous amendment which was to defeat, if not oust the Government; but he was surprised to find that not one of the Roman Catholic members rose to vote for it; and only six, or eight, Episcopalians stood up-'few and far between'in its behalf, to the great amusement of the other Members of the House. "On Mr. Hincks moving to insert the Section, as amended, it was carried without a division and it constitutes the Nineteenth Section of the School Act of 1850, as it no stands." OBJECTIONS TO THE PROVISION FOR SEPARATE SCHOOLS FOR COLOURED CHILDREN. In the debate on the Nineteenth Section of the School Act of 1850, Colonel John Prince, Member for the County of Essex said that He did not think that the Coloured People would thank the Government for putting them in the power of the Municipalities. "They complained of it as an injustice, and infringement on their rights, and he was bound to advocate their cause. Now, he happened to live in the County of Essex where these people are very numerous, and where the strongest prejudices prevail against them-prejudices in which, he thanked God, he never shared. For as long as they were good, loyal, honest, industrious neighbours, and conducted themselves in conformity with the laws, they were entitled to as much regard as any other people." In reply to the Member for Essex, Mr. Hincks said : "For the information the hon. Member who expressed great sympathy with the Coloured population, and who spoke of this Nineteenth Section as an injustice to them, he would read a short extract from the Report of the Chief Superintendent of Education on the subject, and he (Colonel Prince), would thne be able to judge of the operation and reasonableness of the present System : "The Nineteenth Section of the School Act,-authorizing each District Council to establish one or more Schools for the children of Coloured People, -is submitted with extreme pain and regret. I had hoped that the Act of 1847, authorizing different kind of Schools in Cities and Incorporated Towns would, to a great extent, meet the case of this class of our fellow-subjects; but I was surprised to find, during my tour last Autumn to the Western District, (where there is a large number of Coloured People,) that there was not a single Incorporated Town in that District ! These people are taxed for the support of Common Schools, as are others; yet their childdren are excluded from the Schools there. I have exerted all the power that I possessed, and employed all the persuasion I could command; but the prejudice and feelings of the people are stronger than law. In the Western District there happened to be nearly Two Hundred Pounds (£200,) balance of School Moneys of previous years, in the hands of the District Superintendent; and under the authority of the Thirteenth Section, (lause Nine of the School Act, I requested the District Superintendent to aid the Schools of the Coloured People according to the number of their population,- -so as to place them upon equal footing with their White neighbours. I have done the same in other Districts, when appealed to. But this is only a contingent and imperfect mode of doing justice to the Coloured People. I therefore propose the Nineteenth Section of the annexed Draft of Bill to meet their case. EDUCATIONAL PROCEEDINGS OF THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL, 1850.* The Legislature met on the 14th of May, 1850. A Speech from the Throne was delivered by Lord Elgin, Governor General, as mentioned on page one of this Volume. May 15th, 1850. The Honourable J. Æmilius Irving presented a Petition from the Municipal Council of the County of York, praying for certain amendments in the School Act. May 16th, 1850. The Honourable Samuel Mills presented a Petition from the Municipal Council of the United Counties of Wentworth and Halton, praying that the office of Chief Superintendent of Education may be merged into one of the Government Departments. + May 27th, 1850. The Honourable James Morris presented a Petition from the Right Reverend Joseph E. Guigues, Roman Catholic Bishop of Bytown, praying that the College of Bytown may be placed on the same footing in the institutions of a like nature in Upper Canada ; also a Petition from the Very Reverend Angus Macdonald, President of Regiopolis College, Kingston, praying that a sum of money may be annually granted towards the support of the said College, and also that a further sum may be advanced to complete the grounds and outbuildings belonging thereto *A number of Petitions were presented to the Legislative Council, during the Session of 1850, praving that the proceeds of the Sale of the Clergy Reserved Lands be devoted to the purposes of General Education. As these Petitions were identical with those presented to the House of Assembly, and recorded in its Proceedings, in the former part of this Chapter, it was not considered necessary to record them here. A copy of this Petition is printed on page one of this Chapter. |