pality, of which you are Clerk. You will please notify each Local School Superintendent in your County of this Apportionment, so far as it relates to his charge, as provided in the first clause of the Thirty-first Section of the School Act of 1850. 2. For the convenience of the public, His Excellency the Governor General has been pleased to direct that, hereafter, the Legislative School Grant for Upper Canada shall be payable by this Department, at Toronto, instead of at the Office of the Honourable the Receiver General, at Quebec. 3. The amount of the Legislative School Grant apportioned to your County will be paid to your County Treasurer, or his Attorney, at this Office, upon application, in terms of [the foregoing] Circular to Wardens of Counties, dated the First of May last. In addition, I have to state, that no part of the Apportionment, although made, will be paid to any of those Counties and Townships, (as enumerated in the annexed Note), [not inserted], from which no certified Abstract of the School Accounts for last year has been transmitted by you to this Office, as required by the Fifth clause of the Twenty-seventh Section of the School Act of 1850,-nor until such Abstract shall have been received at this Department. From those Counties and Townships, not enumerated in that Note, satisfactory Abstracts of School Accounts have been received, and are hereby acknowledged. The clause of the Act referred to,requires each County Council “to appoint annually, or oftener, Auditors, whose duty it shall be to audit the Accounts of the County Treasurer, and other Officers, to whom School Moneys shall have been intrusted, and to report to such Council; and the County Clerk shall transmit to the Chief Superintendent of Education, on or before the First day of March in each year, a certified copy of the Abstract of such Report, and also give such explanation relating thereto, as far as he may be able, which may be required by the Chief Superintendent." In the Fortieth Section of the Act of 1850, it is provided :— "That no County, City, Town, or Village, shall be entitled to a share of the Legislative School Grant, without raising, by assessment, a sum at least equal, (clear of all charges for collection), to the share of the said School Grant apportioned to it; and provided also, that should the Municipal Corporation of any County, City, Town, or Village, raise in any one year a less sum than that apportioned to it out of the Legislative School Grant, the Chief Superintendent of Education shall deduct a sum equal to the deficiency from the Apportionment to such County, City, Town, or Village, in the following year." 4. Now, I cannot officially know, or ascertain, whether these conditions of the law have been fulfilled in each Township, or other Municipality, without the County Auditors' Abstracts, which should be transmitted to me, on or before the First day of March in each year; whereas, such Abstracts from some whole Counties, and from many Townships, are not forthcoming even at the present time; nor can the Legislative School Grant, as intimated, be paid, (although apportioned), in behalf of such Townships, until the provisions of the law are complied with; and all parties concerned will know to whom the blame is attributable for any delay in the payment of any part of such Grant, or in the loss of it altogether, whether it be on the part of County, or Township, Officers, or both. 5. One reason assigned, in some instances, for not making these Returns, is, that the Accounts could not be obtained from the Township Treasurers, who had been appointed County Sub-treasurers for the receipt and payment of School Moneys. Now, no County Council is required to appoint a Sub treasurer for School Moneys, unless it shall judge it expedient; nor ought it to do so without providing that every Sub-treasurer, thus appointed, shall perform every duty in the payment and accounting for School Moneys, as would the County Treasurer himself. The provisions of the law are very explicit on this point, requiring each County Council : Fourthly, To see that sufficient security be given by all Officers of such Council to whom School Moneys shall be entrusted; to see that no deduction be made from the School Fund by the County Treasurer, or Sub-treasurer, for the receipt and payment of School Moneys; to appoint, if it shall judge expedient, one or more Sub-treasurers of School Moneys, for one or more Townships of such County; Provided, always, That each Sub-treasurer shall be subject to the same responsibilities and obligations, in respect to the accounting for School Moneys, and the payment of lawful orders for such moneys given by any Local School Superintendent within the parts of the County, for which he is appointed Sub-treasurer, as are imposed by this Act upon each County Treasurer, in respect to the paying and accounting for such moneys. 6. In the neighbouring State of New York, the law has not allowed, from the beginning, any part of the School Moneys provided by the State, to be paid, (though apportioned) to any City, Township, or County, without such municipality previously raising an equal sum, by local tax, and attesting, under oath, to the State Department of Common Schools, that such sum had actually been assessed and paid for the support of Common Schools. Our law provides for the apportionment and payment of the moneys, provided by the Legislature, before the raising of a like sum by tax, or assessment, in each Municipality,-only requiring that such sum shall be provided in each Municipality by assessment in the course of the year, and that this shall appear by returns from each Municipality, on or before the First day of March of the year following. Now, the efficiency and progress of the School System cannot be maintained, and its noble objects accomplished, unless the provisions of the law are punctually and thoroughly acted upon by all parties concerned. These are not mere arbitrary provisions; they are means to a great end, the social elevation of the whole population of the land. And this elevation is not effected merely by the Schools, but by teaching and habituating the people at large to transact all their public affairs, -from the School Section to the County Municipality,-in a businesslike manner. The accuracy, punctuality, and method observed in such proceedings, will soon be extended to all the transactions of domestic and private life, and thus exert a salutary influence upon all the social relations and personal habits of the whole people. 7. I cannot, therefore, press too strongly upon your Municipal Council the subjects referred to in this Circular, as well as in my [preceding] Circular to Wardens of Counties referred to ;. and, as I have provided and furnished blank forms for all the Reports and Returns, required by the School Act, I can imagine no good reason for neglect, or delay, in the transmission of them from any County, as prescribed by the Statute. 8. In order to remove all possible excuse for the Treasurer, or Sub-treasurers, not preparing and presenting, in proper time, to the County Auditors, accurate and full Accounts of the School Moneys received and paid in behalf of each Township, I have prepared, and I herewith transmit to your address, blank forms of such Accounts, with directions for filling them up,-one copy of which you will have the goodness to furnish to each of the Sub-treasurers of School Moneys in your County, for the current year. It will be recollected, that the order of the School Trustees, in behalf of a legally qualified Teacher, (endorsed by such Teacher,) and delivered to a Local School Superintendent, will be such Superintendent's authority and receipt for his cheque upon the County, or Sub-treasurer, for the amount of such order, and that cheque, (also endorsed by the Teacher), will be the Treasurer's receipt for the amount specified on the face of it, and will constitute his Voucher for the payment of such amount, in presenting his Accounts to the County Auditors. For convenience, each Voucher should be numbered, as provided in the blank forms of Accounts herewith transmitted. To meet the case, and relieve the embarrassment of those delinquent Counties and Townships enumerated in the Note attached to this Circular, a sufficient number of copies of the forms will be found in the parcels sent herewith. They might be filled up for last year, and transmitted to the County Auditors without delay, so as to enable you to forward to me an Abstract of the Auditors' Report, previous to the Apportionment being paid to your Treasurer by this Department.* TORONTO, 10th July, 1852. EGERTON RYERSON. III. CIRCULAR TO LOCAL SUPERINTENDENTS OF SCHOOLS ON THE MODE OF APPORTIONING SCHOOL MONEYS FOR THE YEAR 1852; AND ON OTHER MATTERS. I have the honour to inform you that I have notified your County Treasurer that the apportionment of the Legislative School Grant will be payable hereafter at the Office of this Department. Toronto, instead of, as heretofore, at the Office of the Honourable the Receiver General, at Quebec. 2. (Note The Second paragraph of this Circular is omitted, it being substantially the same as in the Circular to Wardens of Counties on pages 251-253 herewith). 3. On the receipt of the notification by you, from the County Clerk, of the amount apportioned to your Township, you will proceed to distribute the same, as authorized by law, among the several School Sections, entitled to receive it, according to the average attendance of pupils attending each Common School, (the mean attendance of pupils for both Summer and Winter being taken,) as compared with the whole average number of pupils attending the Common Schools of such Township." 4. As previously intimated, you will take the average attendance of pupils at the School for last year as the basis for distributing the Legislative Grant part of the School Fund for the current year. Should any inequalities occur in this mode of distribution, the matter can be made a subject of consultation and suggestion at the School Conventions which I hope, (D.V.) to attend in the several Counties of the Province this Autumn, with a view to its equalization, for the distribution of the Municipal Assessment part of the School Fund at the end of the year. *A full exposition of the principle adopted in making the apportionment of the Legislative School Grant for 1852 was appended to this Circular, but, as a similar explanation is prefixed to the foregoing Circular to Wardens of Counties, and printed on page 253 of this Volume, it is omitted here. The arrangements made for the holding of these County School Conventions by the Chief Superintendent and the results arrived at, if possible, will be given in a subsequent part of this Volume, or in the next Volume. 5. In apportioning to new School Sections you will take the average attendance of pupils for the first half year, as the basis of distribution of the Legislative Grant part of the School Fund; the distribution of the Assessment part of the School Fund can be made upon the average attendance Returns of the last half year, or otherwise, as may hereafter be determined. 6. As to the term " average attendance," I may here repeat the suggestions which I made on the subject in my Circular of the Twenty-eighth of June, 1851, [The extract for the Circular here referred to is not inserted, as it will be found on pages 47, 48 of this Volume.] 7. In taking this average attendance as the basis of apportionment, you will, of course, omit, so far as your information extends, those pupils who may have attended from other 'School Sections. If they do not attend the School in their own Section, their numbers cannot be included in the Returns, upon which your distribution shall be based, as it is at variance with a principle of the School Law that children should go into another School Section to obtain that education, which the law requires to be provided in their own. 8. In regard to the difficulty of distributing the School Fund equitably among Union School Sections, I have given the subject a good deal of consideration. Viewed however, in any aspect, it still presents several obstacles to our arriving at a satisfactory settlement of the question. It is one which will very appropriately form a topic of remark and consultation at the contemplated School Conventions next Autumn. In the meantime, I would recommend the Local School Superintendents of adjoining Townships. from which Union School Sections are formed, to meet and determine among themselves the sum, or sums, which shall be payable from the Legislative Apportionment and Assessment parts of the School Fund of each Township concerned, in support of each Union School Section; and also determine the manner in which such sum, or sums, shall be paid-due notice being given to the School Trustees and local Treasurers concerned. In case of a disagreement on the subject on the part of the Local Superintendents of the adjoining Townships, a joint statement of the case can be submitted to this Department for final decision. But I expect you will have little difficulty on this point, as the School Grant is apportioned for the current year according to the General Population Returns of the Province, as reported by the Census Commissioners, and not, as formerly, according to the School Population Returns contained in the Local School Superintendents' Annual Reports. 9. These remarks, on the modes of apportioning the School Moneys, of this year will, I hope, be sufficient to guide you in performing this part of your duty, as specified in the School Act of 1850. And I trust that my official engagements will not prevent me from conferring with you, at the County School Convention, the ensuing Autumn, upon this and other important subjects connected with the efficient working of our School System. TORONTO, July 1st, 1852. EGERTON RYERSON. IV. CIRCULAR TO CLERKS OF CITIES, TOWNS AND VILLAGES, NOTIFYING THEM OF THE APPORTIONMENT OF THE LEGISLATIVE GRANT FOR 1852. I have the honour to intinate to you, as provided in the Thirty-fifth Section of the School Act of 1850, for the information of the Council, of which you are Clerk, and of your Board of Common School Trustees, that the sum placed opposite the name of your Municipality in the accompanying list has been apportioned to it for the current year, out of the Legislative School Grant appropriated to Upper Canada. 2. By the Forty-second Section of the School Act of 1850, the money thus apportioned is payable to the Treasurers of those Cities, Towns and Villages, which have complied with the Fifth clause of the Twenty-seventh Section of the Act, as well as other provisions of the law. I have to state that no apportionment, (although made and notified,) will be paid in behalf of any of those Cities, Towns and Villages, from which no certified Abstract of School Accounts has been received at this Department; nor until such Abstract shall have been received. 3. For the convenience of the public, His Excellency the Governor General has been pleased to direct that, hereafter, the Legislative School Grant will be payable at the Office of this Department, Toronto, instead of at the Office of the Honourable the Receiver General, Quebec. 4. As required by the Twenty-first Section of the Act, taken in connection with the Second proviso of the Third clause of the Twenty-seventh Section, you will please favour me from time to time with a copy of the proceedings of your Council on educational matters. 5. On the subject of the basis of the apportionment for this year, I have to refer you for information to the Circular addressed to Clerks of Counties, [printed here with on page 253]. TORONTO, 10th of July, 1852. EGERTON RYERSON. * This list of the Municipalities, to which the School Grant was made, is not inserted. V. CIRCULAR TO CLERKS OF COUNTIES TRANSMITTING COPIES OF THE CHIEF SUPERINTENDENT'S ANNUAL REPORt, and other Documents for DISTRIBUTION AMONG THE VARIOUS MUNICIPAL AND SCHOOL OFFICERS. The Legislative Assembly of the Province has recently ordered a sufficient number of copies of my Annual School Report for last year, (1851), to be printed so as to furnish a single copy to each Municipal Council, School Corporation, Local School Superintendent and Board of Public Instruction in Upper Canada; and I have sent to your address a Box containing a copy of that Report, for your County Council, County Board of Public Instruction, each Township Council, each Local School Superintendent, and for the Trustee Corporation in each Township, City, Town, and Incorporated Village in your County; also a Descriptive Catalogue of Maps and other School Requisites for each of the foregoing parties.—a Teacher's Register for each Common School in your County, a blank form of Annual School Report for each Local Superintendent and for the School Corporation in each City, Town, and Village in your County, together with a few extra copies of the pamphlet edition of the School Act of 1850, and of my Annual School Report for 1850, which also contains a copy of the School Act and several other papers of permanent value. 2. All of these Documents are to be delivered without charge to the parties for whom they are intended; and I confidently rely upon your co-operation and efforts to distribute them as promply as possible. I am sure you will feel a pleasure in seconding the measures which, by the sanction of the Government and the aid of the Legislature, I am enabled to adopt, for the wide circulation of the Annual School Reports, and for supplying each School with a Register, without charge to the Trustees, or Teacher. Each Local School Superintendent will inform you of the number of School Reports and School Registers, which will be required to supply the rural School Sections under his charge; and should you require any additional copies of any of these Documents, to accomplish the object proposed, I will be happy to forward them to you. TORONTO, November 30th, 1852. EGERTON RYERSON. VI. CIRCULAR TO LOCAL SUPERINTENDENTS OF SCHOOLS, TRANSMITTING COPIES OF THE CHIEF I have transmitted to your County Clerk a sufficient number of my last Annual School Report, and of Teachers' Registers, to furnish a copy to each rural School Section under your superintendence Also, a blank form of Annual Report, a copy of the Descriptive Catalogue of Maps and School Requisites, and a copy of my last Annual Report for yourself. You will, therefore, please apply to the County Clerk for these Documents, and supply them to each of the School Sections within your jurisdiction, as soon as convenient. The Post Master General has directed that these Documents shall be distributed at no higher rate of postage than that charged upon Parliamentary Papers. 2. . The Registers, as well as the Annual Report, will be given to you by the County Clerk, as soon as he shall have received the Box containing them, according to the number of School Sections reported in 1851. Each Report sent out is addressed to the party for whom it is intended. To prevent errors, or confusion, therefore, you had better give a receipt to the County Clerk for whatever copies of the Reports, or Registers, you may require for distribution among the different School Sections. I have already sent through the post office to your address, a sufficient number of blank forms of Trustees' Annual School Reports for 1852. 3 In addition to a copy of my last Annual School Report, you will be gratified to learn that I am enabled, by the sanction of the Government, to furnish each School Section with a School Register, without charge to the Trustees, or Teacher. There cannot, therefore, in future, be the shadow of an excuse for not having each School provided with a proper Register for recording the names and daily and average attendance of children. 4. I am happy also to state that provision will also be made to enable me to furnish without charge, even for postage, to the parties receiving it, a copy of the next volume of the Journal of Education to the Trustees of each School Section, and to each Local Superintendent of Schools throughout Upper Canada. 5. Having continued that periodical for five years, without its being circulated in more than one thousand of the School Sections in the Country, I was unwilling to continue this labour and responsibility another year without some arrangement being made, by which it should find its way to all of the School Sections for which it was intended. I am sure yon will 17 D.E. have much pleasure in learning that provision will be made by the Legislature for the accomplishment of this object. No effort will be wanting on my part to render as beneficial as possible to the people at large this liberal arrangement for the diffusion of educational and general knowledge; and I am confident of your cordial cooperation in enabling me to do so. As I intend to furnish the December number of the Journal of Education, (containing all needful information and suggestions as to the Annual School Meetings to be held the second Wednesday in January, Annual School Reports, etectera), to the Trustees of each School Section in Upper Canada, I will transmit a sufficient number of copies to your address to supply the several School Sections under your charge. . . I must also beg of you to favour me, between this and the first of January, with the post office address of the Trustees of each School Section within your charge. The Journal of Education will be addressed, not to individuals, but to The Trustees of School Section No. .” What I desire from you, therefore, is, merely the name of the Post Office at which the Trustees of each School Section shall be addressed. 6. Any suggestions which I may have to offer, in regard to the school affairs of the ensuing year, (which I hope will be more auspicious than any preceding one), will be found in the next number of this periodical. TORONTO, November, 30th, 1852. EGERTON RYERSON. CHAPTER XXI. EDUCATIONAL PROCEEDINGS OF COUNTY COUNCILS, 1852.* I. THE UNITED COUNTIES OF YORK, ONTARIO AND PEEL, 1852. The Standing Committee of the Home District Council on Education, at the conclusion of its report on various matters, stated that the Committee was convinced that, if the mode of Circuit School superintendence, with the concurrence of the people, be persevered in, and the Common Schools sustained on the Free School System, now happily becoming prevalent in the County, a state of high attainment, both in mental and moral education, will be speedily realized, which will be hailed with delight by every friend of his race, and which will eventually place our Country in the foremost ranks of human civilization. TORONTO, 2nd February, 1852. W. H. MITCHELL, Chairman. The same Standing Committee, in a subsequent Report, stated that it had under consideration the Circular of the Chief Superintendent of Education to the Wardens of Counties, dated the First of May. 1852 [page 251] relative to the inefficient. or non-performance of duty by the Local School Superintendents and others, in respect to furnishing Reports and Returns, upon which alone the proportion of the annual appropriation of the Government Grant, for Common Schools, accruing to these United Counties of York and Peel can be calculated, and the want of which has necessarily precluded him from making such apportionment within the time fixed for doing so by the Statute. 2. In order to conduce to the removal, or diminution, of the causes of complaint thus afforded, by the neglect of duty in certain cases alluded to in the Circular of the Chief Superintendent of Education of the 1st of May last, in the propriety of which your Committee fully concur. Your Committee have prepared, and will, submit to the action of the Council the draft of a Resolution to authorize the County Treasurer to retain in his hands the amount of the salary of any School Superintendent, until he shall produce a Certificate or other acknowledgement from the Department of the Chief Superintendent, stating that all the duties of such Officer affecting such Department have been duly performed; by the adoption of which by the Council, Your Committee believe that a more satisfactory state of things, in this respect, will be induced. *Only such portions of the Proceedings of these County Councils as are of general, or public, interest are inserted, it being very desirous to shew to what extent these important Municipal Centres cooperated with, and aided in, the local administration of the Common School Laws, and maintained the general School System. |