Proviso: such Professorships not to give a seat in the Senate. Quorum of Senate may be (Omitted) Provided always, nevertheless, That none of such Professorships upon private foundation shall entitle the holder of the Chair of such Professorships, for the time being, to any seat in the Senate of the said University, or other share in the government thereof, unless the same shall be especially conferred upon such Chair, or Professor by a Statute of the said University, either Visitatorial or Senatorial, to be passed for that purpose. [VIII. And be it enacted, That, notwithstanding anything in the said Act of fixed by Statute. Parliament contained, the said University of Toronto shall and may, from time to time, by Statute, either Visitatorial or Senataorial, to be passed for that purpose, provide, determine and direct, how many, and what, members of the Senate of the said University shall form a Quorum thereof, for the despatch of business : Provided always, nevertheless, that such Quorum shall not, by any such Statute, be made to consist of less than nine Members of such Senate.] (Omitted Section) Section 12 of the to be affected. VIII. And be it enacted, That nothing in the three next preceding Sections of this Act Act of 1849 not contained shall affect, or be construed to affect in any way the Twelfth Section of the said recited Act of (of 1849), but that the provisions of the said three Sections shall, to all intents and purposes whosoever, be subject to, and limited by the provisions of the said Twelfth Section, as if it had been inserted in this Act. Third proviso of Sec. 58 of Act of 1849 to ap- Certain moneys by the authorities of U. C. College, under sec. 77 of the Act of 1849. IX. And be it enacted, That the third proviso to the Fifty Eighth Section of the said Act shall apply to such Statutes, Rules and Ordinances of the College Council of the College and Royal Grammar School of Upper Canada College, as have been, or shall be, passed by that Body, for prescribing, or regulating, the general duties of the Principal, or Masters, of the said College, or others employed to teach therein, in their respective Collegiate employments, or for prescribing the Course of S udy to be pursued, or the Discipline to be observed in the said College and Royal Grammar School, and to none others. X. And be it enacted, That all sums of money received by the Bursar of the to be receivable said University for, or on account of the said College and Royal Grammar School, and collectable at any time since the Royal Assent was given to the said Act of Parliament, and all debts of what nature, or kind, soever, at the time when such Assent was given to the said Act, due to the said College and Royal Grammar School, or in which such College and Royal Grammar School was then, or at any time after, beneficially interested, shall be deemed and taken to be available to, and collectable by, the Principal, Masters and Scholars of Upper Canada College and Royal Grammar School. in the same manner as the debts mentioned in the Seventy-Seventh Section of the said Act, are thereby declared to be recoverable, subject to the deduction therefrom of all moneys which since the Royal Assent was given to the said Act, shall, or may have been paid by the said Bursar for, or on account of, the said College and Royal Grammar School. Subject to certain deductions ANNO TERTIO DECIMO ET QUARTO-DECIMO: VICTORIE REGINE: CAPUT XCI. THE EARL OF ELGIN AND KINCARDINE, GOVERNOR GENERAL OF BRITISH NORTH AMERICA. Preamble ter 19, 1846. * WHEREAS in and by an Act passed in the Session held in the Fourth and Fifth chapter19, 1841.' years of Her Majesty's Reign, and intituled: An Act to make temporary provision for the appropriation of the funds derived from the sale of School Lands, in that part of the Province formerly Upper Canada, and for other purposes, as amended by an Act passed in the Ninth Year of Her Majesty's Reign, and intituled: "An 9 Victoria, chap- Act to amend the Act therein mentioned, relating to the appropriation of moneys derived from the sale of School Lands, in Upper Canada," it was, amongst other things, in effect enacted, That it should be lawful for the Governor in Council to authorize a sum not exceeding One Hundred pounds, (£100,) per annum for each School, out of the moneys arising from the sale of the School Lands in the said first above cited Act mentioned, to be paid to the Board of Trustees for Grammar Schools in any District in Upper Canada, for the use and support of two other Schools than the one in the Town where The Court House is situated, in any Town, Township, or Village, within any of the Districts aforesaid, in which the inhabit Case recited. *This Act is printed on pages 55, 56 of the Fourth Volume of this Documentary History. + This Act is inserted on page 58 of the Sixth Volume of this History. ants should provide a suitable School House, at which not less than thirty scholars should be educated, provided that any such additional School should not be within six miles of the District Town; and provided also, that nothing in the said first above cited Act should prevent the Governor-in-Council from extending such aid to four Grammar Schools, (including the said two,) other than the one established in the District Town, should it be deemed expedient. "Grammar AND WHEREAS His Excellency the Governor General-in-Council did, on The Provisional Twenty-ninth day of November, One Thousand Eight Hundred and Forty-eight, Grant to three authorize the Board of Trustees for Grammar Schools in the Home District, to pro- Schools. pose a grant for Seventy-five pounds, (£75,) to each of the Villages of Streetsville, Whitby and Newmarket, within the said District, being distant respectively, more than six miles from Toronto, the District Town, for aiding to support Masters of Grammar Schools, provided such Masters should be established in Buildings permanently appropriated to such Schools during the year One Thousand Eight Hundred and Forty-nine: AND WHEREAS such a Master was established in each of the said Villages, in a Less than 30 Building permanently appropriated to such a School, during the year One Thousand Scholars. Eight Hundred and Forty-nine; but, owing to the number of Scholars educated at each of the said Schools, during the said year, having been less than thirty, the above mentioned sums of Seventy-five pounds, (£75,) cannot lawfully be paid to the said Board of Trustees for the use and support of the said Schools, but it is just and right, under the circumstances of the case, to enable The Governor General-inCouncil to authorize the payment thereof: Be it therefore enacted by the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council and of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada, constituted and assembled by virtue of, and under the authority of an Act passed in the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and intituled : 'An Act to Re-unite the Provinces of Upper Act of 1840. and Lower Canada, and for the Government of Canada," and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same,—That it shall, and may, be lawful for the Governor Governor in General-in-Council to authorize a sum of Two Hundred and Twenty-five pounds, Council may authorize pay. (£225,) out of the moneys arising from the sale of the School Lands in the said first ment of £225. above cited Act mentioned, to be paid to the Board of Trustees for Grammar Schools, in the County of York, for the use and support of the three additional Grammar Schools above mentioned, for the year One Thousand Eight Hundred and Forty-nine; any thing in the said Acts, or in any other Act, or law, to the contrary thereof, in any wise, notwithstanding. ANNO TERTIO-DECIMO ET QUARTO-DECIMO: VICTORIÆ REGINÆ CAPUT CXLIII. THE EARL OF ELGIN AND KINcardine, GovERNOR GENERAL OF BRITISH NORTH AMERICA. WHEREAS it hath been represented to this Legislature that the objects and use- Preamble. fullness of Victoria College would be greatly promoted by the Site of the said College being removed from the Town of Cobourg, or its vicinity, to the City of Toronto, or its vicinity. BE IT THEREFORE ENACTED by the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council and of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada, constituted and assembled by virtue of and under the authority of an Act passed in the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, intituled: "An Act to re-unite the Provinces of Upper 1840. and Lower Canada, and for the Government of Canada," and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same— Imperial Act of Victoria College I. That it shall and may be lawful for the Board of Trustees and Visitors of the College incorporated by an Act of this Province passed in the Session held in the Fourth and Fifth Years of Her Majesty's reign, and intituled: "An Act to incorporate the Upper Canada Academy under the name and style of ‘Victoria College," if at any time they shall deem it expedient to remove the Site of the said College Act of 1842. from the Town of Cobourg, or its vicinity, to the City of Toronto, or its vicinity, and to establish the same at, or near, the said City of Torontc, and all the provisions Removal of Colof the above cited Act of the Parliament of this Province, shall be and remain in lege to Toronto full force, and shall apply to the said College at, or near, the City of Toronto, as authorized. they have heretofore applied and do now apply to the said College at or near the Town of Cobourg. CHAPTER III. THE HONOURABLE FRANCIS HINCKS' TEST OF PUBLIC OPINION, IN REGARD TO THE COMMON SCHOOL ACTS OF 1846, 1847 AND 1849. At the suggestion of the Reverend Doctor Ryerson, the Baldwin Government decided to suspend the operation of the Cameron Common School Act of 1849. To the Honourable Francis Hincks, Inspector General, was assigned the duty by the Government, of submitting a new School Bill, to the Legislature. Before doing so, he addressed a Circular Letter, dated the 9th of January, 1850, to the County Common School Superintendents, to Teachers and others in Upper Canada, asking their opinion on the general subject of School Legislation, and, particularly, in regard to the operation of the School Acts of 1846, 1847 and that of 1849. On receiving the replies to his Circular, Mr. Hincks sent them to Doctor Ryerson, for his information, and as suggestions to aid him in the preparation of the School Bill of 1850,-which the Inspector General proposed to take charge of in the House of Assembly. I have reproduced here all the more important and suggestive replies to his Circular, which were received by Mr. Hincks. For the greater convenience in the classification of these replies I have divided them into four groups, or parts. Part I includes the replies received from County School Superintendents; Part II, those received from Teachers and Teachers' Associations; Part III includes the Letters on the subject received from private parties, to whom Mr. Hincks had sent his Circular. All irrelevant and extraneous matter has been omitted from these replies. GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE ON THE COMMON SCHOOL ACT, WITH SUGGESTIONS AS TO A NEW SCHOOL BILL, 1850. PART I. REMARKS AND SUGGESTIONS BY COUNTY SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENTS. [I. SUGGESTIONS AS TO A PROPOSED COMMON SCHOOL BILL, 1850. BY MR. JAMES HALL, M.P.P. FOR THE COUNTY OF PETERBOROUGH.] 1. Constitute a County Board, to consist of (say) seven Members,-four chosen by the County Council, three appointed by the Government. Its Duties:-To examine Masters as to Qualification and Moral Character; give Certificates and cancel them; to name what Text Books shall be taught, to make General Rules for the Schools; to hear and finally determine all disputes between Masters and others. 2. To have a Secretary, whose salary should be fixed and paid by County Council; such Secretary to be also County Superintendent of Schools. His Duties:-To examine and report on the state of Schools at least four times a year; to appoint Masters from certified candidates; to receive complaints against Masters, as to character and neglect of duty; to suspend, or dismiss such Masters as are found incompetent, or unworthy;-such Masters to have a right of appeal to the Board. Dismissal of a Master to operate as an annulment of his certificate; to see that the Text Books are taught and the General Rules of the Board are adhered to; to give Masters orders on the Township, or County, Treasurer for salary, and make reports, as provided in the present Act. 3. School Trustees' Duties:-To provide for the wants of the School House by a rate on the property in the School Section; to see that the Master faithfully performs his duties; to report to Secretary-Superintendent all observable faults. 4. Treasurers of School Moneys :-To receive all School moneys from the Government, or otherwise; and to pay the School Masters on the order of the Secretary-Superintendent. 5. Township Council :-To hold all School property; to provide for the building and repairing of School Houses by a rate on the property or the School Section. 6. General School Rate Instead of a Rate-Bill on parents in each School Section, as at present, let the County Council levy a general rate on the County, adequate to an equivalent of the Government Grant, and also sufficient to raise the salary of each Master to a reasonable amount. Let this money be paid to each School Treasurer, and, with the Government Grant to form a fund, out of which each Master shall receive his salary, payable on an order given to him on the Treasurer by the Secretary-Superintendent. In addition to this salary let each Master be entitled to receive from each scholar attending his School a small quarterly fee. 7. Grammar Schools to be under the control of the Board, and to be subject to the same Regulations as other Schools.] II. THE REVEREND CHARLES FLETCHER, GODERICH, WITH THE VIEWS OF EXPERIENCED PERSONS ON SCHOOL MATTERS. 1. I have obtained the views, (as many as possible,) of persons experienced in School matters, upon the School Bill of 1849, so that my statement might not be a mere declaration of my own individual opinions 2. I think the establishing of County Boards of Education, in the room of one Central Board at Toronto, is a great improvement. A Central Board, at Toronto, must make a considerably extended list of Text Books to meet the wants of Schools in every variety of circumstances. This list will be no sufficient index to those, who would be inclined to purchase stocks of Books for the supply of Schools. This evil has already been experienced in the united Counties of Huron, and elsewhere, not only have parents been reluctant to purchase new School Books of the proper kind, but, in those cases where there was every desire to have the most approved Text Books and Apparatus, the question has been always put, where can we find those Books, etcetera ? We cannot send to Toronto, or Hamilton, for them, and the declaration of the Store-keepers is, that they cannot afford to purchase a stock from so extended a list, as that required, as indicated, because a large proportion of these Books might be left upon their hands I have no sympathy with the fear, that the action of County Boards would, in any degree, disturb the uniformity necessary to the efficient carrying out of the Normal School System. The influence of that Institution on the minds of all the Teachers, trained at it, is in favour of that system, and the Text Books used there, will be sought for, so that that influence will be deepened, and rendered subservient to the interests of Education, by every man of intelligence and liberality. (NOTE. I have omitted the remaining part of this letter, as it deals theoretically, rather than practically, with the powers of School Teachers, and other matters.) III. THE REVEREND W. H. LANDON, COUNTY SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT, WOODSTOCK.-LOANS FOR BUILDING SCHOOL HOUSES. I would recommend that the several Boards of School Trustees shall be empowered to borrow money to build, or exchange, School Houses and Teachers' Residences in their School Sections respectively. The advantages of such a provision will, I trust, be sufficiently obvious. The To erect a comfortable and substantial Building for a country School, and to furnish it with the most necessary fixtures and appendages will cost, on the average, about One Hundred pounds, (£100.) This extra amount, if collected in a country School Section in a single year will, in many cases, bear too heavily upon the people, and, consequently, it is seldom that they can be induced to submit to it: and they generally, therefore, expend on their School Buildings only about half that amount. consequence is, that most of the country School Houses are inconvenient and ill-adapted for the purposes for which they are intended. Besides, they are shabbily put together, and so frail in their structure, that the additional amount which should have been expended upon them at first, is required in the course of a few years in the form of repairs, in order to keep them in a state at all habitable. But, if Trustees could be authorized to borrow money, as here proposed, it is believed that a better class of Buildings would generally be decided on. To raise a hundred pounds by loan, to be paid off in twelve years, would be, comparatively speaking, but a light affair even for the new and poorer School Sections; while in those which are more wealthy the people would be encouraged to erect buildings of a better and still more expensive description. In many, if not most, places, too, enterprising and public spirited individuals would be found who would build these edifices and receive their pay as the money would be collected under the operations of the By-law. RESOLUTION ON EDUCATION, ADOPTED BY THE MUNICIPAL COUNCIL OF THE BROCK DISTRICT, AND FOUNDED ON THE FOREGOING LETTER TO THE INSPECTOR GENERAL OF THE COUNTY SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT: Resolved 1, That the Reverend W. H. Landon, County School Superintendent, be requested to read to this Council the suggestions as to the alterations of the School Law, contained in a Letter from him to the Honourable the Inspector General. Resolved, 2 That this Council fully concur in the recommendation of the Superintendent of Schools for the late District of Brock, in reference to amendments necessary to be made in the School Law in this Province, as contained in his Letter to the Honourable the Inspector General which has just been read. In amendment it was :- Resolved That the suggested alterations in the Common School Act, read by the School Superintendent be referred to a Select Committee of five to report to this Council at their earliest convenience. The Select Committee to whom was referred the Letter of the School Superintendent reported to the Council as follows : The Select Committee to whom was referred the Report of the late Superintendent of Common Schools for the District of Brock, relating to the suggested alterations in the present Common School Act, beg leave to report : That, having examined the Report referred to above, as it respects the inquiries of the Honourable Inspector General, concur in the chief alterations proposed in said Report, but would recommend that, instead of giving power to Boards of Trustees to levy taxes on the property of the School Section for paying Teachers' wages, it should be made the duty of such Boards to place a uniform RateBill upon the children between the ages of five and sixteen years residing therein, with power to charge reasonable fees on those pupils who are over sixteen and under five years of age, who attend the School. This Report was adopted by the Council on the 29th of January, 1850. IV. THE REVEREND WILLIAM CLARKE, SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT OF THE COUNTY OF NORFOLK, ON THE CAMERON SCHOOL ACT OF 1849. You have done well in resolving to reconsider the Malcolm Cameron Common School Act of last Session. That this is the decision of the Government has given much satisfaction to all parties here, who take an interest in the great subject of Education, and it is very generally considered that the Cameron Act of 1849 should be superseded as early as possible, as being ill-adapted to promote the objects intended by it. I am not aware that, in this County, any desire has been manifested that Township Superintendents should supersede the County one. The people generally are well satisfied with the present arrangement for the supervision of their Schools. It must not be forgotten that Township Councils will naturally prefer to give the appointment to persons residing in their own Townships, and there are many Townships where a really competent person cannot be found. In either case, whether you provide County, or Township, Superintendents, the appointment should be given to the County, rather than to the Township Councils, as being much more likely to secure competent and efficient Officers. The idea of County Clerks preparing the annual report, and forming the medium of communication with the Education Office and the local department is too inappropriate to be seriously entertained. The preparation of the County Annual School Report requires not only the greatest care, but also a particular local knowledge of School matters in the individual Sections, and the person preparing it, (if such documents need corrections,) must be familiar with the detail of school operations, and be thoroughly interested in the progress of education of his County. The local School Superintendent, under the provisions of the Cameron Act of 1849 would be a great somebody and a small nobody. He would have, under that Act, no control over the Teacher; he could not give a Certificate of Qualification, even of a limited character, nor could he annul one. This restriction on necessary powers, (as well as others,) would prevent highminded and competent persons from accepting the office of Local Superintendent. THE WRITER OF THIS LETTER SUGGESTS SOME AMENDMENTS IN THE ACT OF 1846. I have had a good deal of experience as the Superintendent of Common Schools in this Municipal District for the past six years; and I am happy to testify that the School Act of 1846, under the efficient Provincial superintendence of the Reverend Doctor Ryerson has contributed very much to the advancement of the educational interests of this part of the Country. To that gentleman Canada West is much indebted for bis able and untiring services. That Act, upon the whole, is regarded with very general favour. May I say to you let us "let well enough alone." Let such additions be engrafted on the Act of 1846 as are dictated by sound judgment and practical experience. Facilitating the education of the Country is certainly jeopardized by the continual changes which are calculated only to perplex and distract the public mind. If the Free School System can be universally carried out, it would be well to make such a disposi tion of the School Fund as would aid the poor and small Sections. Some families of small means may be found scattered in all the School Sections, and the wise provision of admitting gratuitous pupils |