SPECIAL REPORTS

ON

EDUCATIONAL SUBJECTS.

VOLUME 4.

EDUCATIONAL SYSTEMS OF THE CHIEF COLONIES
OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE.

(DOMINION OF CANADA: NEWFOUNDLAND: WEST INDIES).

Presented to botb houses of Parliament by Command of her Majesty.

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B. A:

[Introductory Letter to Volumes 4 and 5 of the Series.]

To Sir G. W. KEKEWICH, K.C.B.,

Secretary of the Board of Education

SIR,
I HAVE the honour to present to you the accompanying
volumes of Special Reports, descriptive of the Educational
Systems of the chief Colonies of the British Empire.

In 1897, after the celebration of the completion of the sixtieth year of Her Majesty's reign, it was decided that steps should be taken to prepare a series of reports on Colonial Education. The Secretary of State for the Colonies, when approached on the subject by the Lords of the Committee of Council on Education, approved the plan and forwarded, with a covering letter, to the Education Departments of Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Manitoba, North-West Territories, British Columbia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Queensland, Tasmania, Western Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, British Guiana, Cape Colony Natal, Malta and Ceylon,* a letter in which their Lordships requested the favour of the co-operation of the Colonial Authorities in the preparation of the projected reports.

With a view to facilitating a comparative survey of the systems of education now in force in different parts of the Empire, it was suggested that each report should give a short history of the growth of the present system, and refer, if possible, to the following subjects:

(1) The central and local administration of education; the number of children and students at school or college; regulations for school attendance, and the methods by which they are enforced.

(2) Finance; the cost of education to the State and the amount of such cost borne respectively by the central authority, by the local authority, by the parents of scholars, or by voluntary subscribers, as the case might be; and the amount of school fees, if any are charged.

(3) How far private schools of different grades and types, exist outside the State system of education.

(4) The arrangements made for the inspection of schools and the method of appointing the inspectorial staff.

(5) The provision made for the teaching of singing, drawing, cookery, and domestic economy; for manual training and practical instruction, and for drill and physical exercises.

*The selection of the above mentioned Colonies was made on the advice of the Colonial Office. It is hoped that a later volume will contain accounts of the educational systems of Mauritius, the Straits Settlements, Hong Kong, the Gold Coast, Lagos, and Sierra Leone. Students of education desiring information about education in India will find a valuable summary in Mr. J. S. Cotton's Progress of Education in India, 1892 3 to 1896-7-; Third Quinquennial Review. (Cd. 9190, 5/5.) 1898.

4226. Wt. 25798 3000-3/01. Wy. & S.

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