University; and also, a Statement of the progress which has been made, under such Commission, up to the present time. *

Ordered, That the said Address be presented to His Excellency, the Governor General, by such Members of this House as are of the Honourable the Executive Council of this Province.

Ordered, That Mr. Benjamin Holmes have leave to bring in a Bill to incorporate the Elgin Association for the Settlement and Educational and Moral Improvement of the Coloured population of Canada. He accordingly presented the said Bill to the House, and the same was received and read for the first time; and ordered to be read a second time, on Wednesday, the Tenth instant.

The Order of the Day for the House in Committee on the Bill for the Better Establishment and Maintenance of Common Schools in Upper Canada, being read;

The House accordingly resolved itself into the said Committee. Mr. Wolfred Nelson took the chair of the Committee. The Honourable Francis Hincks, who had charge of the Bill, stated that it was not intended to make any change in the System upon which the Schools in Upper Canada had been conducted for several veils, but merely to make some practical change in the working of that System, and of the Schools. He had taken a good deal of pains to ascertain the views of several persons intimately connected with the working of the present System,t-all of whom entirely disapproved of it as it now was, [under the Cameron Aot of 1849,] so that the present Hill, [drafted by the Chief Superintendent of Education,] was introduced to remedy the defects and evils in the practical working of the present System of the Schools.

Mr. Speaker having resumed the Chair; Mr. Wolfred Nelson reported, that the Committee had made some progress, and directed him to move for leave to sit again.

Ordered, That the Committee have leave to sit again to-morrow.

July 3rd, 1850. Pursuant to the Order of the Day, the following Petitions were read: (1), Of the Municipality of the Township of Osgoode, praying that the existing Common School Act (of 1849) may remain in operation, and that the Bill now before the House relating thereto be suspended during the present Session; (2), of the Municipal Council of the County of Peterborough, praying for the abolition of the Rectories and that the Clergy Reserves be sold and the funds therefrom accruing be appropriated to purposes of General Education.

July 3rd, 1850. The Order of the Day for the House in Committee on the Bill for the Better Establishment and Maintenance of Common Schools in Upper Canada being read, the House according resolved itself into the said Committee. Mr Wolfred Nelson took the chair of the Committee.

The following is the first of the discussions which took place, in regard to the salaries of the Chief Superintendent of Education for Upper Canada, and those of his Assistants. See also the second discussion on the subject, which took place on the 9th of July, pages 14 and 15.

On the Thirty-fourth Section of the School Bill in regard to the Salary of the Chief Superintendent of Education coming up the Honourable Francis Hincks moved that the first blank should be filled up with "Five Hundred Pounds," (£500.) He thought that it was little enough, considering the duties of the Chief Superintendent, and the heavy travelling expenses he was obliged to incur.

Mr. Joseph Cauchon thought that it was but fair that the salaries of the Superintendents of Education in Upper and Lower Canada should be the same.

The Honourable Louis H. Lafontaine said that the salary of the Superintendent of Education in Lower Canada was raised by the late Administration to Five Hundred Pounds, (£500,) per year, and, in 1847, they proposed to raise it to Six Hundred Pounds, (£600,) He was opposed to that increase ; but he was of opinion that Five Hundred Pounds, (£500,) was not too much. Whether these were days of "retrenchment," or not, he would assert that every Public Officer ought to be paid in proportion to the service expected from him.

The Honourable John Hillyard Cameron was prepared to concur in retrenching all unnecessary expenses; but he was not prepared to pare down one man's salary, instead of bringing in a general measure on the subject.

Mr. Hincks said that he did not believe there was any general desire to place the Chief Superintendent of Upper Canada on a worse footing than the same Officer in Lower Canada. Now he was prepared with a proposition to reduce the salary of the Lower Canada Superintendent; and he thought it but justice to put both on the same footing. At the same time he thought it but justice to the Upper Canada Superintendent to say that, although he had received a very valuable assistance

* For a copy of this Commission, see pages 236, 237 of the Seventh Volume of this Documentary History.

+ The views and opinions of the parties to whom Mr. Hincks here refers are, as condensed and abbreviated, given in Chapter III. of this Volume, pages 54-71.

from that Officer in framing the Bill, yet he had never received a single communication from him on the subject of Salary.

Mr. Joseph C. Morrison said that honourable gentlemen, who knew anything about the duties of the Chief Superintendent's office, and the heavy travelling expenses caused by his numerous visits, could not believe that Five Hundred Pounds, (£500,) per year was too much for the salary of that Officer. That sum was considered a fair remuneration for the Chief Superintendent of Lower Canada, where there were only eighteen Hundred (1,800) Schools, while in Upper Canada there were one thousand more, (2,800), and the duties were consequently far heavier: But this fact was lost sight of altogether by honourable gentlemen who contended for a reduction. It was customary for many of them, who knew nothing whatever about this subject, to sit perfectly silent when a School Bill was introduced; but the moment they came to the consideration of details to raise cavils at every clause.

Mr. Solicitor General John S. Macdonald could not conceive that Five Hundred Pounds, (£500,) was too much for the Chief Superintendent; if a local, or County, Superintendent were to receive nearly Two Hundred Pounds, (£200,) The first named Officer has very arduous duties to perform, and was subject to great expense in performing them.

Mr. David M. Armstrong was prepared to vote for Five Hundred Pounds, (£500,) in order that no invidious distinctions should be made between Upper and Lower Canada in this matter of Salary. Mr. Dunbar Ross hoped that the House would not give way so far to a surreptitious cry of retrenchment, as to deprive a worthy Officer of the salary justly due to him for his services. The duty of the House was to do justice to every man, without regard to any momentary clamour.

Mr. George E. Cartier thought it would be a gross injustice to the Gentleman who now filled the highly important office of Chief Superintendent of Education in Upper Canada, to give him a smaller amount of remuneration than his talents and zeal in the performance of his duties fairly entitled

him to.

Mr. Hincks wished to state that the Act passed while the late Administration was in office, fixed £500 as the maximum of the salary of the Chief Superintendent, since that time the population has increased rapidly, as the Census would show, and the duties of his office had increased in a corresponding degree. He wished that honourable gentlemen would divest themselves of all personal, or political, feeling on this subject, as he had done. No person ought to permit himself to be actuated by any reflection as to the party who filled the situation, but resolve to do justice to the individual, who showed so much talent and ability in performing its duties.

Mr. Hincks amended his motion by striking out the words "Five Hundred Pounds" (£500,) and framing it in such a manner as to express the wish of the Committee of the House that the salaries of the Chief Superintendents of Upper and Lower Canada should be on the same footing. YEAS, 21,NAYS, 5.

Mr. Hincks then moved that the second blank in the Section should be filled up. It was for the purpose of fixing the salaries of the two Clerks in the Education Office. He proposed that they should be put on the same footing as the Clerks of the Education Office in Lower Canada.

Mr. James H. Price had heard it repeated over and over again that the Officers in the Public Departments were over-paid. The truth was that they were not over-paid, and that a man on One Hundred and Seventy-five pounds (£175,) a year could scarcely support a wife and family. A Clerk on such a small salary was sometimes placed in the greatest straits. He would advise the Committee not to procced recklessly in cutting down all salaries, but to dismiss the drones, and pay the others well. They would then get their work done better and cheaper.

Mr. Hincks had been informed that it would be a very difficult matter to replace the Chief Clerk (Mr. Hodgins) in the Education Office. His duties could only be performed by a man of a great deal of talent and assiduity, and, if the salary were reduced too low, it would be impossible to get them performed properly. The scale of salaries proposed by some honourable Members would have the effect of driving every man of ability out of the public service.

Mr. Louis T. Drummond, Solicitor General, hoped that they would never reach that point when all the talent of the Country was directed, as proposed by an honourable Member, to the working of machinery. He trusted that young men would aspire to take a share in the Government and Legislation of the Country, and that they will not devote their time to the manufacture of hammers and adzes these things which an honourable Member thinks proper to exhibit here as of more importance than the government of the Country. He thought that to fulfil the office of first Clerk in the Educational Department of Upper Canada it would require as much capacity as to fulfil the office of a good Book-keeper in a Manufacturing Establishment. He had known gentlemen in that capacity in Montreal, with salaries up to Five Hundred pounds, (£500); and he thought to fill the Office of Chief Clerk in the Educational Department required more energy than to be a good Book-keeper. Mr. Hodgins, the Gentleman who fills this office at present, has acquired great knowledge of the affairs he has taken in hand. He went from this Country to Dublin, for the purpose of making himself master of the system of Education taught there, and after a year there, he came to this Country qualified to perform his duties in a manner in which no other person in this Country, except perhaps the Superintendent himself could perform them. And taking into consideration the fact that offices in other establishments, requiring less talent to fill, receive higher salaries he could not see why honourable Members should object to the sum mentioned in the Bill.

The motion was then put that the blanks in the section be filled up with the words-The salaries to be the same as those of offices are in Lower Canada, and was carried by a vote of 33 to 16.

Mr. Speaker having resumed the Chair; Mr. Wolfred Nelson reported, that the Committee had made some progress and directed him to move for leave to sit again.

Ordered, That the Committee have leave to sit again, on Friday next.

July 4th, 1850. On motion of the Honourable Henry J. Boulton, seconded by Mr. Caleb Hopkins, it was

Resolved, That an humble Address be presented to His Excellency, the Governor-General, praying that His Excellency will cause to be laid before this House, a Tabular Return of the names of the Medical Students who have regularly attended the Lectures on Anatomy, Physiology, Surgery, Medicine, Materia Medica, and Midwifery, in the University of King's College, Toronto, since the commencement of the Lectures to the present time, specifying also, how many of these branches each Student has regularly attended annually, and how many of such Students had matriculated in the said University.

Ordered, That the said Address be presented to His Excellency the Governor-General, by such Members of this House as are of the Honourable the Executive Council of this Province. July 5th, 1850. Ordered, That the Honourable Mr. Attorney General Baldwin have leave to bring in a Bill to remove certain Doubts respecting the Intention of the Act of the last Session of the Parliament of this Province for amending the Charter of the University of Toronto, and to provide for the institution and endowment of Regius and other Professors ips, Lectureships, Fellowships, Scholarships, Exhibitions, Prizes and other Rewards, in the said University, and for other purposes connected with the said University, and with the College and Royal Graumar School of Upper Canada College forming an Appendage thereof.

He accordingly presented the said Bill to the House, and the same was received and read for the first time; and ordered to be read a second time on Wednesday next.

NOTE. The following is a copy of part of this Bill in Manuscript as originally drafted by the Honourable Robert Baldwin. His endorsement on the back of the Manuscript copy of the Bill, as he gave it to the Reverend Doctor Ryerson, states that it is a "Copy of Rough Draft, as proposed, but not yet settled. R. B." It will be observed that the Preamble is much more explicit than the one prefixed to the Bill, as introduced into the House of Assembly.

An Act to declare groundless certain doubts respecting the intentions of the Act of last Session of the Parliament of this Province for Amending the Charter of the University of Toronto, and to provide for the institution und endowment of Regius and other Professorships, Lecturerships, Fellowships, Scholarships, Exhibitions, Prizes and other Rewards, in the said University.

WHEREAS, in the Preamble of the Act passed in the last Session of the Parliament of this Province, Chaptered Eighty-two and intituled: "An Act to Amend the Charter of the University established at Toronto by His late Majesty King George the Fourth, to provide for the more satisfactory Government of the said University and for other purposes connected with the same, and with the College and Royal Grammar School forming an Appendage thereof," the promotion of the Religious and Moral Improvement, as well as the secular education of the people of this Province is expressly set forth as the object of its enactments, and, as a means of accomplishing such object in a community consisting of various Denominations of Christians, the necessity is asserted of having the said University entirely free in its Government and Discipline from all Denominational bias, so that the just rights and privileges of all might be fully maintaine without offence to the Religious Opinions of any.

AND WHEREAS the said enactment originated in a sincere desire for the advancement of true Religion and a tender regard for the conscientious scruples of all classes of professing Christians and not from any indifference to the importance of imparting Religious Knowledge in the education of youth;

AND WHEREAS, notwithstanding the distinct avowal of the principles on which the said Act was based, doubts have been raised as to the Christian character of the said Institution and of the powers of the University by Statute, or otherwise, to make the necessary Regulations for insuring to its Members the opportunities of Religious Instruction and attendance upon Public Worship by their respective Ministers and according to their respective forms of Religious Faith;

AND WHEREAS, for the satisfaction of all whose minds have been disturbed by such doubts, it is desirable to declare, and

It is hereby accordingly declared and enacted by the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty, etcetera, and by the authority of the same, that it hath been now is and at all times hereafter shall continue to be fully competent to, and for, the said University, by Statute, either Visitatorial, or Senatatorial, to

be passed for that purpose, to make any Regulations that may be deemed expedient for the Religious Instruction and attendance upon Public Worship of the undergraduates, and students, attending Lectures, in the said University, by their respective Ministers, and according to their respective forms of Religious Faith, provided that no part of the funds of the Institution be expended for that purpose, but that it be left to the Authorities of each Denomination of Christians to provide for the Religious Instruction of its own adherents attending the said University, or Members thereof.

2. And be it enacted, That it shall at all times be lawful for the Caput of the University, in reporting upon the testimonials of candidates for any vacant professorship, as directed by the Twenty-fourth Section of the said Act, to report also the names of any men of distinguished Literary, or Scientific, reputation whose accession to such Chair would, in their opinion, be an acquisition to the public character of the University, as a seat of learning, and who they may have ascertained, or have reason to believe, would accept such Chair, if offered to them, and, thereupon, the Senate of the said University, if they shall concur in that part of the Report of the said Caput shall report the names of such persons, or of those of them, with respect to whom they shall so concur with the Caput, to the Governor of the Province, with those of the three candidates required to be transmitted to him by the said Twenty-fourth Section of the said Act, and, in every such case, it shall, and may, be lawful for the Governor, if he shall deem it expedient so to do, to appoint any one of those persons to such Chair who may be willing to accept thereof, instead of appointing to the same any of the three candidates whose names shall have been so transmitted to him, as aforesaid, anything in the said Twentyfourth Section of the said Act to the contrary thereof notwithstanding.

3. And be it enacted That it shall, and may, be lawful for Her Majesty, from time to time, by Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the Province, to institute, establish and endow such, and so many, Regius Professorships and Regius Lectureships in any of the Faculties of the said University, as She shall think fit, and, from time to time, by Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the Province, to appoint some fit and proper person to such Regius Professorship and Regius Lectureship respectively; and, to every such Professorship and Lectureship, and the person, who shall fill the same, shall belong all and singular the like rights, powers, and privileges which shall be attached to, or vested in, the other Professorships and Lectureships, Professors and Lecturers of the said University respectively.

Provided always, Firstly, That no such Regius Professorship, or Lectureship, shall be so instituted without an endowment, either by charge on the public Provincial Revenue, or by invested capital in land, or other property, sufficient to secure to the holder thereof an income equal at least to that of the smallest salary assigned by Statute of the said University to any of the Chairs, or Lectureships, respectively, on the foundation thereof in the same Faculty to which such Regius Professorship, or Lectureship, may be attached; and provided also; Secondly. That every such Regius Professorship and Lectureship, Regius Professor and Lecturer, shall be subject to all and singular the Statutes, Rules and Ordinances of the said University, as may other Professorship, Lectureship, Professor, or Lecturer, in the same; and provided also; Thirdly. That the appointments to all such Chairs and Lectureships shall be made by the Crown of its mere motion, and during its pleasure, without the necessity of any report from the Caput, or Senate, as provided with respect to the Chairs on the foundation of the said University.

4. And be it enacted, That it shall, and may, be lawful for Her Majesty, from time to time, by Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the Province, to institute, establish and endow such, and so many, Regius Fellowships, Scholarships, Exhibitions, Prizes and other Rewards in the said University as She shall think fit, and to prescribe, in such Letters Patent, all such Rules and Regulations, as She may think proper, for the conferring the same all which Rules and Regulations the Authori ties of the said University are hereby required to observe and give effect to, as in the said Letters Patent shall be directed.

5. And be it enacted, That it shall and may be lawful for any person, or persons, bodies politic, or corporate, whomsoever to found such, and so many, Professorships, Lectureships, Fellowships, Scholarships, Exhibitions, Prizes and other Rewards in the said University as they may think proper, by providing a sufficient endowment in Land, or other Property, and conveying the same to the Chancellor. Masters and Scholars of the said University in trust for that purpose, and thereupon suing out Letters Patent from the Crown, instituting, establishing and endowing the same with the property so provided for that purpose as aforesaid. In all which Letters Patent shall be set forth such Rules and Regulations, for the appointing to and conferring of such Professorships, Lectureships, Fellowships, Scholarships, Exhibitions, Prizes, or other Rewards as the respective founders thereof, with the approbation of the Crown, shall think fit to prescribe for that purpose. All which Rules and Regulations the Authorities of the said University are hereby required to observe and give effect to as in the said Letters Patent shall be directed. Provided always, nevertheless, that none of such Professorships upon private foundation shall entitle the holder of the Chairfor the time being to any seat in the Senate of the said University, or other share in the Government thereof, unless the same shall have been expressely conferred upon such Chair by a Statute of the said University Visitatorial, or Senatatorial, to be passed for that purpose.

The Order of the Day for the House in Committee on the Bill for the Better Establishment and Maintenance of Common Schools in Upper Canada, being read; The House accordingly resolved itself into the said Committee. Mr. Wolfred Nelson took the chair of the Committee; and after some time spent therein,

Mr. Speaker resumed the Chair; and Mr. Nelson reported, That the Committee had gone through the Bill, and made amendments thereunto.

Ordered, That the Report be received on Monday next.

July 8th, 1850. Pursuant to the Orders of the Day, the following Petitions were read :— (1), Of the Very Reverend John Carroll, Administrator of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Toronto, and others, Catholics of the City of Toronto; and of the Very Reverend Angus Macdonell, Vicar General of all the Bishops comprising the Roman Catholic Ecclesiastical Province of Canada, and General Agent of the Catholic Clergy of Canada; praying that the Nineteenth Section of the Common School Bill, now before the House, may be so amended, as to enable the Catholics of Canada West to establish Separate Schools, wherever they may deem it expedient; (2), Of Mr. John Richardson and others, Coloured inhabitants of the Town of Niagara; praying that the word "Coloured" be struck out of the Nineteenth S. cti n of the Common School Bill now before the House; (3), Of Mr. Peter Hume and others of Niagara, praying for the passing of an Act to incorporate the Elgin Association for the Educational and Moral Improvement of the Coloured population of Canada; (4), Of the Municipality of the Township of Chatham, praying for the adoption of Legislative measures to discourage Negro Emigration into this l'rovince, and that the Bill to incorporate the Elgin Association may not pass into law.

The Order of the Day for receiving the Report of the Committee of the whole House on the Bill for the Better Estab'ishment and Maintenance of Common Schools in Upper Canada, being read; The Honourable Francis Hincks moved, seconded by Mr. Joseph C. Morrison, and the question being proposed, that the Report be now received;

Mr. Henry Smith moved in amendment to the Question, seconded by Mr. Alexander McLean, that all the words after That" to the end of the Question be left out, in order to add the words "the said Bill be now re-committe to a Committee of the whole House, for the purpose a amending the same, by inserting the words "by way of Rate Bill to be assessed upon the parents of the children in such School Section, "after the word "Rate" in the ninth line of the seventh paragraph of the Twelfth Section. And the Question being put on the Amendm-nt, the House divided; and the names being called for, they were taken down, and the vote was as follows: YEAS, 10 NAVS, 22. So it passed in the negative.

A good deal of further discussion ensued on the 12th Section, the 16th subdivision which says, "That it shall be the duty of the Trustees of each School Section, to be personally responsible for the fulfilment of any contract or agreement made by them, unless they can prove that they have exerted all the corporate powers vested in them by this Act for the fulfilment of such contract, or agreement."

The Honourable Francis Hincks said it was found necessary to make the Trustees personally liable to carry out the law, because in many places it had been held that these Trustees are not responsible for any neglect in the performance of their duties.

Mr. John Wilson said if the honourable Gentleman opposed to this Section would look at the question in a practical light, he would not press a division of the House upon it. All the Trustees were required to do was to carry out the corporation functions of the Act. The Act was to give the Teacher a remedy against the Trustees, if they refused to pay his salary. He was of opinion that it would be a vast deal more injurious to make the Trustees not personally liable.

Mr. John S. Macdonald, Solicitor-General, had seen more injury result to Teachers than to Trustees from the present practice, and was convinced of the necessity of making strict laws for the protection of these honest men. The Teacher was sometimes engaged for the year and does not get his pay until he has served his time, sometimes it happens that by the end of his term a new set of Trustees has been appointed who do not consider themselves bound for the acts of their predecessors, and thus the poor man is compelled to wait fron, day to day to get his small pittance, and is obliged sometimes to get a mandamus before he can effect it. The clause has been inserted there with a view to protect this class of people from any imposition which might be practiced upon them by parties. He would have agreed to it in first view but, as his Honourable friend, Mr. Sherwood, had proposed to alter it, to meet the views of Honourable Members he was satisfied with it.

Mr. Hincks alluded to the fact that in many cases Teachers had been unable to get their money in consequence of this want of responsibility on the part of the Trustees. The clause says simply that they shall exercise all the corporate powers vested in them, etcetera. An honourable gentleman talks about the office being forced upon School Trustees. There were many such offices. It was, however, necessary that they should take upon them this duty, and having accepted of it, if they were at liberty to do as they thought proper, it would not be for the interests of society. It would be practically impossible for any poor Teacher to come to the Attorney General for a mandamus for any money they had agreed to pay.

The Honourable Henry Sherwood suggested that it might read: "The trustees shall exercise all the powers vested in them by this Act for the fulfilment of any contract or agreement made therein, and, in case any of the trustees shall wilfully refuse to exercise these powers vested in him, he shall be personally responsible."

This having met the wishes of honourable Members, was unanimously agreed to.

And the Question being again proposed, that the Report be now received; Mr. William B. Richards moved in amendment to the Question, seconded by Mr. Benjamin Seymour, that all the words after "that" to the end of the Question be left out, in order to add the words "the said Bill be now recommitted to a Committee of the whole House, for the purpose of amending