THE LATE FEARFUL ACCIDENT AT THE NINTH WARD SCHOOL, CITY OF NEW YORK.

The following sad history of this melancholy occurrence, we have compiled from the extended accounts in the local papers of the accident itself, and of the protracted investigation of the Coroner's Inquest on the bodies of the Jorty-two innocent sufferers. The verdict of the Jury with its accompanying memorandum is worthy of the careful attention of all parties engaged in the construction of school-houses and other public buildings :-One of the most distressing calamities that ever visited this city, occurred yesterday afternoon, between 2 and 3 o'clock, at the Ward school-house No. 26, in Greenwich Avenue. We were upon the spot a short time after the accident occurred, but cannot convey to the reader any adequate conception of the excitement and anguish and desolation of the heart-rending scene. Nearly fifty children were killed, and forty-nine were more or les severely wounded. The school-house is a large, five story, brick building, the basement being level with the street, and forming in fact the flagged playground for the children, the building being so constructed that the children can play either in the open yard, or run for shelter underneath the school-house. The four floors above are reached by a winding, or what is technically called a "well" staircase, the bottom of the well or terminus of the staircase being upon the flagged floor of the basement, and about ten feet square in extent. It was by precipitation into this well that so many of the children were killed, many of them by suffocation alone.

Miss Harrison, one of the teachers of the female department, who had been for some days indispored, was seized with paralysis of the tongue, and a call for water was raised by some of the children near her. The cry for "water" seems to have given rise to the idea that something had caught fire, and this alarm spread so rapidly that before any preventive measures could be taken, the main body of the scholars rushed toward the door, and a scene of indescribable confusion and horror succeeded. This department was in the third story, its elevation from the flagged floor being about thirty feet. In the rush some children were forced over the bannisters of the staircase, and falling upon the flags below, were mangled and instantly killed. The panic spread also through the other departments of the school, including the male department on the fourth floor, and under this augmented pressure the ballustrades from the foot to a point above the second story gave way or were forced out, and the children as they eagerly rushed forward were instantly precipitated into the well of the staircase, the uppermost smothering or suffocating those who lay beneath. Before the current could be arrested, the well was filled with the bodies of children to the depth of about eight feet. At this juncture the alarm reached the Ninth Ward station house, the fire-bell was rung, and a detachment of the police hurried to the scene. Here a new difficulty presented itself. The afternoon session of the school having commenced, the main outer doors, which open upon the foot of the stairs had been closed. Against these the affrighted children were wedged in masses, and as the doors open inward it was some time before relief could be given them. The police fortunately effected an entrance by a rear door, but for which timely help probably many more of the children would have been suffocated.

Much commendation is due to the teachers for their presence of mind. Miss McFarland, one of the assistants in the primary department, finding the children of her department becoming alarmed, placed herself in the doorway, and exerted her utmost strength to arrest them as they endeavoured to rush from the room, and although several times thrown down and trampled upon, she still persisted in her efforts, until finally she was so much injured as to be compelled to relinquish the post. So impetuous was the rush, however, that five of the teachers were forced over the bannisters and fell with the children into the well. The sterner discipline exercised over the boys' departments prevented them generally from joining in the rush. Only three of the pupils in the upper male department were among the killed. Some of the boys jumped out of the windows, and one of them had his neck broken by the fall. There were altogether in the building 1233 boys and 600 girls. Hundreds on hundreds went over the stairs, until there was a pile of human beings a mass of children-eight feet square and about twelve feet in height. The police soon took possession of the premises, and commenced handing out the children from their perilous position. Those that were on top were but slightly injured, but as soon as these had been removed, the most heart-rending spectacle presented itself. Some among the policemen were fathers, whose own children were there. They worked manfully, and body after body was taken out; many of them lifeless at first, came to when they once more breathed the fresh air, but many were beyond aid, and death was too plainly marked upon their pallid features. Some were injured by the fall, and lay writhing in agony; some moaned while others shrieked with pain, and others, again, when released started off for home, apparently unconscious of the awful scene through which they had passed. The bodies of the dead and wounded were mostly taken to the ninth ward station house, which is near the school. In a few minutes news of the accident spread through the neighbourhood, and mothers came rushing to the scene by scores. Occasionally a mother would recognize the lifeless form of a child as it was lifted from the mass, and then the piercing cry of agony that would rend the air. One after another the bodies of the dead were removed; and at length litters were provided, and the wounded were carried away also. Nearly one hundred farmilies either mourned the loss of children or watched anxiously over the forms of the wounded.

Verdict of the Jury.-The investigation into the cause of the fatal accident, occupied the attention of a Special Jury for several days, and on the last day the jury retired at about half past five o'clock, and at nine o'clock they agreed on the following verdict:

The jury unanimously concur in the opinion that the cause of death in the cases of (here the names are recited)—was suffoca

tion conjoined with external and internal injuries, produced by falling down the front and rear stairway of ward school building, known as number twenty-six, situated in Greenwich avenue, that said children deceased, with others at that time in the said school building, became suddenly alarmed, first occasioned by a slight paralysis of the principal of the female department of said school, Miss Abby Harrison. A sudden and almost instantaneous panic, produced by the impression that the building was on fire, took possession of the entire school, causing a universal rushing of the children to escape from the building, rendering it utterly unavailing for the the teachers, by any agency or means in their power, to quiet the alarm, or to stay the children from their attempts to emerge from the building, and that the teachers of said school, and each of them, are blameless concerning the casualty, and are in no way responsible for the deaths or injuries occasioned by the disaster. To this verdict was offered a statement, of which we subjoin the substance.

In presenting this verdict, the undersigned feel it incumbent upon them, as well from public expectation as from an imperative sense of the duty they, have to discharge, to present as briefly as possible some of the reasons more remotely connected with this catastrophe, that all pertaining to, or connected with it, may be perfectly understood and known. We report first, that no ground of complaint can, by any just construction of the testimony, be alleged against the teachers of the school. All, at the time of the alarm were at their posts, and all devotedly engaged in the duties severally assigned them. There was no lack of prudence, of self-possession, or well-directed effort, to command order. It would be invidious to mention names, and where all, without exception, showed themselves to have exerted every energy to save harmless the little ones entrusted to their charge, we feel it but an act of simple justice to award to them universally meritorious praise and commendation. The next point in order, and that which naturally presents itself, and to which much care has been given, is, as to the responsibility of the officers of the school. To them belongs the duty to provide suitable buildings, school apparatus, and teachers. To the latter of these, viz: the teachers, we have already said there was no blame. With the benches, desks, and other school apparatus, there is no fault to find. Concerning the building, the most reliable testimony that could be obtained has proved that the main structure is good; that it is abundantly strong and secure for the purposes designed and used.

But of the design and structure of the stairways, the facilities of ingress to the building, the opinion is as unanimous and decided that they deserve universal condemnation. The form of a stairway being four square, with steps on either side, starting with winders at every angle, thus continuing to the top of the building, leaving a well hole in the centre. The spiral form and low rails, even though safely constructed, cannot be commended as the most convenient, or by any means safe. All who testified upon this point, save one, concurred in this opinion. The most trivial occurrence might cause a child to lose his balance whilst reclining against this rail, and precipitate him, if at the top, a distance of fifty feet to a stone flagging below, which must inevitably produce death. Such was the structure of the front stairway in this school, and such were the exposures of the children who used it. It is not enough to say that accidents of this kind never before occurred, or that similar structures exist in other buildings, and that therefore there is no cause to condemn them.

The undersigned are united in opinion as to their insecurity, and do, therefore, most unqualifiedly condemn them. We say this, however, in no spirit of censure of the intentions of those who designed them. It was most unquestionably thought by them to be the most available mode of construction. It is in proof that the plans were submitted to the entire board of school officers of the ward; and subsequently to the Board of Education, who approved them, and made an appropriation of $15,000 to erect the building. We would be understood, then, not as condemning the good intentions or honest purpose of those designing this work, but the design itself, the structure as it left the hands of the master mechanics, we do in the most unqualified terms, pronounce to have been unsuited to the purposes designed, bad in their arrangement, at all times insecure and dangerous, and never properly and thoroughly secured by the builder.

Whatever may have been the good intentions of the builder of this stairway, it is clear that there was great negligence, if not

culpable indifference and carelessness to a proper performance of the work. And that all concerned, the original contractors, master, and those having in charge the supervision of the work are alike responsible for the imperfection of the work of these stairways. That all who perished at that disaster, came to their deaths from the giving way of this newel, and the consequent breaking of the balusters, we do not believe. That many would have suffocated, as was the case with several on the rear stairway, is unquestionably true. Yet it is also true, that very many who would otherwise have escaped, perished from this cause. But in immediate connection with this was the fact that the outer doors leading to the street, were so hung as to swing "inward," and, unfortunately, the doors opposite these, leading to the play-ground under the building, were both closed, and but for the fortunate circumstance that the northerly half of the middle outer door was at the time open, multitudes more would undoubtedly havs perished. To this evil perhaps, more than the stairway, is attributable the great number of lives sacrificed. The jury in this connection regret that they were prevented, by the ruling of the acting coroner, from introducing certain evidence, and instituting inquiries as to certain branches of the investigation, which they deemed of importance to the issue.

In conclusion, we urge upon the public authorities and all concerned, having charge of public school buildings, that where such is not already the case, they provide separate stairways for each of the departments of our public schools, and that in every case the doors opening from these entrances be so hung as to swing outward. We would also recommend, that hereafter no public school building to be constructed should exceed three stories in height, and that they contain capacious inclosed fire-proof stairways for each department of the school.

We also recommend that hereafter our school buildings be constructed with a view to a limited number of children-not in the furthest to exceed one thousand scholars. This, we believe, would be productive of the moral and physical improvement of scholars in a much greater ratio than the increase of expense from multiplying building and increasing expense for building sites. We would further, and lasly recommend the passage of a law appointing a board of commissioners, to consist of practical and experienced mechanics, to whom all plans for public buildings must be submitted for approval, and under whose supervision such building must be constructed. [A notice of the improvements introduced into this building, since the accident, will be given in the next number of this Journal.]

Proceedings of the City Corporation.The subject engaged the anxious attention of the City Council and various plans for the relief of the suffering parents were discussed. Finally the subject was left with a special committee. A resolution was adopted, requiring the committee to report the form of an act that shall make it obligatory on all persons having charge of public buildings, such as public school-houses, theatres, and halls used for the assemblage of large numbers of persons at a time, to have the buildings so constructed and arranged as to prevent, under any circumstances, casualties like that at the school-house in the Ninth Ward, on the 20th inst., and that the same be sent to the Legislature with a petition for its passage.

FOUNDATION AND SOURCE OF NATIONAL GREATNESS.-The celebrated DR TOCQUEVILLE in the following paragraph clearly reveals the cause of American success and intelligence :—It is by the attention it pays to public education, that the original character of American civilisation is placed in its clearest light. Schools were established by law in every township, obliging the inhabitants, under pain of heavy fines, to support them. Schools of a superior kind, were founded in the same manner as in the more populous districts. The municipal authorities were bound to enforce the sending of children to school by their parents; they were empowered to inflict those fines upon all who refused compliance; and in case of continued resistance, society assumed the place of the parent, and deprived the father of those natural rights which he used to so bad a purpose. At this very time (in the year 1650), those principles which were scorned or unknown by the nations of Europe, were proclaimed in the deserts of the New World, and were accepted as the future creed of a great people. The boldest theories of the human reason were put into practice by a community so humble, that not a statesman condescended to attend to it, and a legislation without a precedent was produced off hand by the imagination of the citizens.

JOURNAL OF EDUCATION.

TORONTO, DECEMBER, 1851.

ELECTION OF SCHOOL TRUSTEES, RECEIVING OF

THEIR ANNUAL REPORTS AND EXAMINATION OF THEIR ACCOUNTS, THOUGHOUT UPPER CANADÁ, ON WEDNESDAY, 14TH JANUARY, 1852. The second section of the School Act requires, "That the Annual Meetings for the Election of School Trustees shall be held in all the Villages, Towns, Cities, and Townships of Upper Canada, on the SECOND WEDNESDAY in January, in each year, commencing AT THE HOUR OF TEN O'CLOCK IN THE FORENOON."

As the proceedings of these Annual School Meetings are of great importance to the interests of Schools and the promotion of education, we will offer some directions and remarks respecting them.

1. By the 12th clause of the 12th section of the Act, it is the duty of the TRUSTEES of each School Section "To appoint the place of each annual school meeting, and to cause notices to be posted up in at least three public places of such section, at least six days before the time of holding such meeting."

2. It is not necessary that the Trustees should specify any of the objects of the annual school meeting, as they are enumerated and prescribed by the Act. The following are the several clauses of the 6th section of the Act relative to the duties of each annual school meeting:-

VI. And be it enacted, That at every annual school section meeting in any Township, as authorized and required to be held by the second section of this Act, it shall be the duty of the freeholders or householders of such section, present at such meeting, or a majority of them,—

"Firstly. To elect a Chairman and Secretary, who shall perform the duties required of the Chairman and Secretary, by the fifth section of this Act.

"Secondly. To receive and decide upon the report of the Trustees, as authorized and provided for by the eighteenth clause of the twelfth section of this Act.

"Thirdly. To elect one or more persons as Trustee or Trustees, to fill np the vacancy or vacancies in the Trustee Corporation, according to law: Provided always, that no Teacher in such section shall hold the office of School Trustee.

"Fourthly. To decide upon the manner in which the salary of the Teacher or Teachers, and all the expenses connected with the operations of the School or Schools, shall be provided for."

3. It will be observed that the majority of the freeholders or householders present at an annual meeting have a right to elect whom they please to be Chairman and Secretary, without any restriction or exception; and however few electors there may be present at any such meeting, (if no more than three,) they have authority to do all that could be done by one hundred electors. The lawfulness of the proceedings of any such meeting is not in the least degree affected by the smallness of the number of school electors present, any more than the lawfulness of the election of a member of Parliament would be affected by the smallness of the number of his constituents who had voted at his election, provided he had the majority of those who did vote. All electors have a right to attend and vote if they please; if they do not do so, they have no reason to complain, and are justly bound by the acts of those who did attend and vote.

4. The 5th section of the Act requires that "the CHAIRMAN of such meeting shall decide all questions of order, subject to an appeal to the meeting, and shall give the casting vote in case of an equality of votes, and shall have no vote except as Chairman, and shall take the votes in such manner as shall be desired by the majority of the electors present, and shall at the request of any two electors, grant a poll for recording the names of the electors by the Secretary."

The same section of the Act also requires, "that a correct copy of the proceedings of every annual school section meeting, signed by the Chairman and Secretary, shall be forthwith transmitted by the Secretary to the Local Superintendent of Schools."

5. In the event of a vote being objected to, the 7th section of the Act provides, "That any person offering to vote at an annual or other school section meeting, shall be challenged as unqualified by any legal voter in such section, the Chairman presiding at such meeting shall require the person so offering to make the following declaration; 'I do declare and affirm that I am a freeholder [or householder] in this school section, and that I am legally qualified to vote at this meeting? And every person making such a declaration, shall be permitted to vote on all questions proposed at such meeting; but if any person thus challenged shall refuse to make such a declaration, his vote shall be rejected." The Act then renders any person liable to fine and imprisonment who shall be convicted of having wilfully made a false declaration as to his right to vote at such meeting.

6. With these references and explanations, we think there can be no doubt on the part of any one, as to the organization and mode of proceeding at an annual school meeting. It remains then for the electors to discharge the three important duties which the Act imposes. The first relates to the financial report of the Trustees; the second to the election of one or more Trustees; the third to the manner of providing for the support of their school during the year.

(1) The meeting is to receive and decide upon the report of the Trustees for the past year. The 18th clause of the 12th section of the Act requires the Trustees "to cause to be prepared and read at the annual meeting of their section, their annual school report for the year then terminating, which report shall include among other things prescribed by law, a full and detailed account of the receipts and expenditures of all school moneys received and expended in behalf of such section, for any purpose whatever, during such year; and if such amount shall not be satisfactory to a majority of the freeholders or householders present at such meeting, then a majority of said freeholders or householders shall appoint one person. and the Trustees shall appoint another; and the arbitrators thus appointed shall examine said amount, and their decision respecting it shall be final; or if the two arbitators thus appointed shall not be able to agree, they shall select a third, and the decision of the majority of the arbitrators so chosen shall be final." This provision of the Act affords Trustees an opportunity of publicly refuting any imputations which may have been cast upon them from any quarter as to their expenditure of school moneys; it also secures to the tax payers in each school section a public annual account of the school moneys of their section. They have, therefore, the satisfaction of knowing that whatever may be the amount of school moneys which they have raised, such moneys will be expended in their own section, by men of their own election, and accounted for to them at the end of the year. We are not aware of a provision for so prompt and satisfactory a mode of accounting for school moneys to school constituencies existing in any other country.

(2) The second important duty of an annual school meeting is "To elect one or more persons as Trustee or Trustees, to fill up the vacancy or vacancies in the Trustee Corporation, according to law: Provided that no Teacher in such section shall hold the office of School Trustee." It will be observed from this clause of the Act, that the electors at a school meeting can elect whom they please (except a Teacher in their section) as Trustee or Trustees, whether rich or poor. resident or non-resident. The 5th section of the Act having specified the order of the retirement of Trustees from office, there can be no misunderstanding or doubt on this subject in ordinary cases. But questions have arisen as to the order of the retirement of Trustees elected at the same time, not in a new section, but in sections already established, in cases where one Trustee has been chosen to fill a vacancy occasioned by the retirement of a Trustee after his three years' service, and another has been chosen to fill a vacancy by death, removal, or resignation. The doubt will be removed, when it is recollected that a person elected in the place of a Trustee who had died, removed from the neighbourhood, or resigned, as authorised by the 8th section of the Act, remains in office, not three years, but so long as the person in whose place he has been clected would have remained in office had he lived, or not

removed or resigned. Thus is the harmonious working of the principle of the triennial succession of Trustees secured. We will not repeat here what has been said heretofore, as to the vast importance of electing the most devoted friend of youth and the most judicious promoter of education in each section, as School Trustee for the next three years, commencing the 14th January, 1852.There can be no doubt that the duties of School Trustee are much more important than those of a Township Councillor, and not second to those of a member of the Legislature. We pray every school elector to think of this, and in behalf of his children, the children of his neighbours, and his country in all time to come, to vote for the best men as School Trustees.

(3) The last important duty of each annual school meeting is to decide upon the manner in which the salary of the Teacher or Teachers, and all the expenses connected with the operations of the School or Schools, shall be provided for." It will be observed by this clause, that the amount of the Teacher's salary and of other expenses of the school is not to be determined at the school meeting; the amount of all such expenses (as required by the 4th and 5th clauses of the 12th section of the Act) is to be decided by the Trustees the elected representatives of the section. Indeed the question of the precise amount of expense can seldom be decided upon by a public meeting in regard to any undertaking whatever. It is not so decided in any of the public works of Government, of Municipal Councils, of Road Companies, &c. And the expenses attending the operations of a school are so contingent, that it would be as impracticable as it would be injurious to attempt the discussion and disposal of them at public meetings. Therefore what is done by a majority of 84 men for United Canada, and a majority of 5 men for each Township, is wisely left to a majority of three men for each School Section in respect to the amount of expenses of the Schoolthree men elected for that purpose, and who can have no other interest than that of the majority of those who elected them. But the MANNER of providing for these expenses is left to be decided by vote at the annual, or a special school meeting. There is, however, one mode of providing for the expenses of a School which is not recognized by the School Act, though some school meetings erroneously adopted it in the early part of the year; we refer to that of tax according to the number of children of school age. Those who have fallen into the error of adopting this method of supporting their school, have found it necessary to retrace their steps. There is no provision or principle of the law that will authorise a tax upon a man according to the number of his children. The Act recognizes three modes of supporting Common Schools-voluntary subscription, rate bill, (that is on parent's sending children to school), and general rate, or tax "according to the valuation of property, as expressed on the Assessor or Collector's Roll." Which of these three modes of supporting the School shall be in each section adopted, must be determined by the electors themselves of such section. In the neighbouring States, a majority of the Legislature determine how each school throughout the State shall be supported; but in Upper Canada it is left with the electors of each school section to decide how their own school shall be supported. If they decide to support it by voluntary subscription, the 2nd clause of the 12th section of the Act authorises the Trustees to collect such subscription in the same manner as if it were a rate-bill or rate. If the majority at a school meeting-should determine to support their school by rate-bill, they should then determine how much should be paid per month or per quarter for each child attending the school; so that all parents sending their children to the school may know at the commencement of the year how much they must pay. But the most simple, equitable and patriotic mode of supporting each school is by rate on property, and then opening the school to all the children of school age in the seetion,-as free as the sun light of heaven. The inhabitants of wards of 250 school sections in Upper Canada adopted this mode of supporting their schools in 1850; and some of the early results are attested in the extracts from local reports, given in the Annual Report of the Chief Superintendent of Schools, just published, pp. 154-198. In the same Report will also be found the Address of the Chief Superintendent to the People of Upper Canada, "On the the System of Free Schools." In every case where a free school is adopted, two things should be specially remembered - there should be room for all children in the section who will attend school, and there should be a teacher competent to teach them all.

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THE ANNUAL SCHOOL ELECTIONS IN CITIES, TOWNS AND INCORPORATED VILLAGES take place on Wednesday, the 14th January-one Trustee to be chosen in each Ward of a City or Town, and two Trustees in each Incorporated Village. All "taxable inhabitants" have a right to vote. The election in each ward 'shall be held at the place where the last municipal election was held for such ward, and under the direction of the same returning officer, or, in his default, of such person as the electors present shall choose; and such election shall be conducted in the same manner as an ordinary municipal election in each ward of such city or town." The notice of the election in each ward is to be given by the Board of Trustees in each city or town. See. 22nd and 23rd sections of the Act and 9th clause of the 24th section. The school elections in each incorporated village are conducted in the same manner as the school elections of wards in cities and towns. See 25th and 26th sections of the School Act.

NOTICE TO LOCAL SUPERINTENDENTS AND BOARDS OF TRUS TEES.-Blank Annual School Reports, both for local Superintendents and Trustees, having some time since been sent by mail from this Department, local Superintendents and Boards of Trustees in Cities, Towns and Incoporated Villages are requested to prepare and transmit their reports as early as possible, so that the Annual General Report of the Chief Superintendent may be prepared and laid before the Governor General and the Legislature at the commencement of the next Session, and be printed at an earlier period of the year than heretofore.

Local Superintendents are specially referred to the 9th direction. at the bottom of the Blank Reports for Trustees of School Sections, stating "the local Superintendent is required not to give a check for the last instalment of the School Fund on the order of the Trustees of any School Section, until they shall have transmitted to him their Annual Report." According to the 1st clause of the 26th section of the Act, no School Section is entitled to this last instalment of the School Fund, until the Report of the Trustees for the current year shall have been received and approved by the local Superintendent.

ANNUAL APPOINTMENT OF LOCAL SCHOOL SUPERINTENDEnts. -The 3rd clause of the 26th section of the School Act makes it the duty of the Municipal Council of each County "To appoint annually a Local Superintendent of Schools for the whole County, or for one or more Townships in such County, as it shall judge expedient," &c., &c.

This is one of the most important duties that each County Council has to perform. The value of the office of local Superintendent depends entirely upon the qualifications, abilities and industry of the person appointed. As a general rule, the office appears to have been filled with more ability and zeal last year than during any previous year; but we fear that in the multiplication of local Superintendents which has taken place in some Counties the present year, appointments have, in some instances, been made without proper care or due regard to educational qualifications. We implore the members of County Councils not to allow themselves to be influenced by any personal or local consideration in appointing or continuing any person in the office of local Superintendent who is not a good scholar, in at least all the branches of an English Education. To appoint any person not thus qualified, however good a man he may be in other respects, is a burlesque upon the office itself, is a waste of public money, and is a great injury to the improvement and interests of the schools. It will be recollected that it is not only the duty of the local Superintendent to attend to financial and other matters of business that require judgment and knowledge, but to the examination of Teachers and schools in English Grammar, Arithmetic, Geography, History, Algebra, Me suration, &c. &c., and to prepare and deliver public Lectures on Education in each School Section. The local Superintendent should, therefore, not only be better educated than the School Teachers generally under his inspection, including a knowledge of teaching, but he should be the best educated man within the limits of his charge, if such person can be obtained to perform the duties of the office. We incerely hope that there will be no exceptions the ensuing year to the care and discretion which County Councils have generally exercised the last and present year in the selection and appointment of local Superintendents.

** For further Editorial Notices, &c., see page 187.

Educational Intelligence.

CANADA.

66

Items. Summary.-The Teachers' Institute for the County of Oxford was held in Woodstock on the 15th and 16th instant. A large number of teachers were present and admirable addresses were delivered by GEO. ALEXANDER, Esq. and the Rev. W. H. LANDON..... The Goderich papers contain an account of the death of Mr. JAMES STRACHAN, Teacher in Wawanosh. He was in Goderich on the 29th Nov. in good health, and was cheerful in spirits as possible, and yet he was in the midst of death." He never reached home-it is supposed that fatigue of the bad roads upon a well-worn and debilitated frame, was the immediate cause of his death. He was 53 years of age, a native of Kirkaldy, Scotland, came out to this country some three or four pears ago, and has been some time Teacher in Wawanosh, and Clerk of the United Townships of Ashfield and Wawanosh. He was a shrewd intelligent man, and endeavoured to make himself useful in the settlement by delivering lectures on popular subjects, and by using every laudable means of communicating knowledge..... Miss MARY ELIZABETH HAIGH, formerly a most successful Teacher in the Union Central School of London, U. C., died recently at her father's residence in Toronto. Miss HAIGH was an exceedingly intelligent and amiable girl. While attending the Normal School, Toronto, in 1848 she evinced the greatest zeal and attention to her duties. She was universally beloved by all who knew her, and particularly so by her pupils, who, on the occasion of her retiring in April 1851 in consequence of her impaired health, presented her with a beautiful present of books accompanied by a highly complimentory and touching address. .... A son of P. C. Van Brocklin, Esq., of Brantford, a pupil of the Union School of that town was accidentaly drowned on Thursday the 11th instant while skating on the Canal. In a letter to the Courier, Mr. Hughes, his late teacher, speaks of him in the very highest terms.

New Design for the Extension of the Toronto University Buildings.-The Building Committee awarded the following premiums for the competition designs sent in for the new building :-To Thomas Young, Esq., Architect, Toronto, first premium, the superintendence of the buildings. To William Thomas, Esq., Architect, Toronto, second premium, £60. To John Tully, Esq., Architect, Toronto, third premium, £40. We understand that the buildings will be proceeded with immediately, and will cost at least £15,000.-[Toronto Patriot.

Faculty of Trinity College, Toronto.-The Rev. Geo. Whitaker, M. A., late Fellow and Classical Lecturer of Queen's College, Cam. bridge, Provost and Professor of Theology. Mr. Whitaker's Honour when taking his degrees was first-class in the Classical Tripos. The Rev. Edward St. John Parry, M.A., of Baliol College, Oxford, Professor of Classical Literature. Mr. Parry took his degree at Easter, in 1848, and was a first class man in classics. In 1849 he carried the English Essay Prize, and was equally fortunate in 1850, with the Latin Essay Prize. He is the son of the Right Reverend the Bishop of Barbadoes. George Clerk Irving, Esq., B.A., and Scholar of St. John's College, Cambridge, Professor of Mathematics. Mr. Irving took his degree in 1850, and was 8th wranglera distinction, it may be remarked, of a very high character. The duties of the Chair of Chemistry, which was for some time vacant, are now performed by Henry Youle Hind, Esq., who will assume the position of Professor of Chemistry at the termination of the present academical year of the Normal School, with which institution he has been for some time connected.-[The Church.

NOVA SCOTIA.

Superintendent of Education.-At the close of the Teachers' Session, held at Truro last week, the proceedings were terminated by a public meeting in the Court House, at which a complimentary address, signed by sixty-eight Teachers, was presented to the worthy Superintendent of Education, J. W. Dawson, Esq., which drew forth an eloquent reply from that gentleman. A series of resolutions were also moved and passed unanimously, the movers and seconders supporting them with effective speeches.-[Nova Scotian.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN,

Items.-Monthly Summary.—Mr. Thomas Ainsworth, of Cleator, has offered a prize or scholarship of £100 to every student of the Manchester New College who shall hereafter obtain a gold medal in University College, London. As four gold medals may be obtained each year in the University, it will be perceived that Mr. Ainsworth's offer is one of no common liberality.....Efforts are making to establish Ragged Schools in Chester..... Mr. Gellow, a Mexican merchant, having recently visited Li

verpool, presented a reverend gentleman with £2,000, to build schools for the education of poor childrea..... On Monday afternoon the foundation stone of an institution for the education and maintenance of the children and orphans of Church missionaries was laid by the Earl of Chichester, at Highbury-grove, in the presence of a numerous and highly respectable assemblage of the neighbouring gentry.....The winter session of the University of Edinburgh was formally opened on Monday week. The attendance of students was large. A considerable number of the city clergy and the patrons of the University were also present. The Rev. Principal Lee delivered the usual inaugural address to the students in reference to the prosecution of their studies..... The Senatus Academicus of the University of St. Andrew's, at a meeting held on Saturday, unanimously made choice of the Duke of Argyle to be Chancellor of the University, in the room of Viscount Melville, lately deceased..... The Tablet reports the "failure" of "the Catholic Collegiate School" in London, owing to the "utter apathy" and "disorganization" of the metropolitan Roman Catholics, and states that failures in other matters have arisen from the same cause..... The Earl of Besborough has attached land to all the national schools on his estate in Ireland, so as to provide agricultural instruction for all the pupils attending them.....It is said that Government intends establishing an institution at Kingstown, near Dublin, for the professional education of seamen.....The Lord Lieutenant has appointed the Rev. James McCosh, A.M.,LL.D., the distinguished author of "The Method of the Divine Government, Physical and Moral," to the vacant chair of logic and metaphysics in Queen's College, Belfast..... The foundation-stone of the Oxford Diocesan Training School, for the education of teachers, was laid on Wednesday, by the Bishop of Oxford, at Culham, about a mile and a half South-east of Abingdon. The building will be in the style of the fourteenth century, and will stand on three sides of a quadrangle, with a frontage of 226 feet long. About a hundred dormitories will be provided. The cost will be about £12,000... An edict has been issued in Prussia, placing the schools and teachers under the control of the clergy..... We understand that it is intended by a large section of the students of the Glasgow University again to bring forward Lord Palmerston for the office of Lord Rector, at the approaching election. The late Lord Rector, Mr. Alison, has been re-elected..... The Archbishop of Armagh, Lord Beresford, has been elected Chancellor of the University of Dublin, vice the king of Holland deceased.

Manchester and Salford Educational Scheme.-We have in previous numbers of this Journal presented a summary of the proceedings in England in regard to this scheme. We have done so, not for the pur pose of expressing any opinion upon the merits of the question at issue, but simply to direct the attention of our readers to the gratifying indica. tions of progress in the public mind of England in regard to that vital interest of a great and free people—the education of its youth. The following extracts from the speeches of two clergymen will accurately convey the religious feeling of the people of Manchester in regard to the new scheme. The Rev. William Doyle's remarks were highly appropriate and correct. At a recent public meeting the Rev J. P. PITCAIRN remarked that the local bill was specially acceptable to him, on the ground that it respected the rights of conscience, and left the managers of existing schools in precisely the same position as it found them, with regard to their management. It was the heaviest blow ever struck against ignorance and crime, and the only safe antidote for infidelity and superstition. It laid the axe at the root of the evil, and proposed not only to develop the mental faculties and train the moral principle, but to instil the religious belief, or in other words, to train up children in the way they should go, so that when they were old they would not depart from it. It was absolutely necessary that some such measure should pass into a law, and therefore he gave it his cordial and warmest support. The Rev. WILLIAM DOYLE said he was not sufficiently familiar with the local bill to enable him to yield his assent to all its details, but the principles and objects of the plan had his hearty con. currence. It was lamentable to reflect on the vast amount of ignorance that pervaded the juvenile portion of the population. Very few could repeat the Lord's Prayer, and fewer still the Ten Commandments. By the adoption of this measure parents would be left without excuse, for it would bring the means of education within the reach of all. The principal ground on which he approved of the local scheme was that it proposed to give a sound secular education to all, and to found it on that solid rock of eternal truth, the infallible Word of the living God. By giving the people an enlightened, liberal, and Christian education, a blessing would be conferred not only on this country but on the nations of the earth, for as the tide of emigration was continually flowing towards the western hemisphere of the world, the people would take with them not only the language, the manners, and the customs, but the religion of the English nation; and wherever a colony of emigrants was found, there also would exist an association of feelings and affections which would ever endear them to the mother country. He believed that the local plan of education would confer blessings on humanity which would produce fruit not only for time, but eternity; therefore he gave it his cordial approval.