completed the curriculum of the elementary schools." In 1897 the Synod further expressed itself as "fully alive to the importance of providing practical teaching in agriculture and handicrafts." (Appendix, No. 18.)

The Rev. Robert Johnson, M.A. (Theological Tutor to the Presbyterian Church), informed the Commission that "with regard to industrial and agricultural education, his impression was that not much could be done in that direction with school children beyond what the Code provided for. . . He supposed that it would be quite possible to introduce manual training, but whether it would be desirable to introduce the actual teaching of trades he was not prepared to say. If they had in certain centres a school where trades and agriculture were taught, and one that could be reached by the boys residing in the neighbourhood without the necessity of paying board and lodging, it would be taken advantage of and would accomplish good results. To such a school children might go after they were 14 years of age. Boys who were prepared to receive this instruction would be big, and there was no reason why they should not go many miles each day to a central school." (987.)

The Rev. C. Melville (Rector of St. John's, Black River) said that he was "cognisant many years ago of the efforts made to establish industries in connection with elementary schools. The attempt was soon abandoned. He could say nothing about the efforts which had more recently been made, but he had little belief in their usefulness or permanent success." (1282.)

Mr. John Besley (shoemaker, of Lucea) was asked by the Chairman: "Supposing attempts were made to introduce the teaching of trades into the schools and shoemaking were chosen, would you see any difficulty in a practical shoemaker going in for two or three hours on one day in the week and teaching in the school how to make shoes?"

Mr. Besley-I do not think that would be advisable. There would not be enough time to impart a trade to them.

The Chairman.-How much time would be necessary to familiarise them with the use of the tools?

Mr. Besley. For that perhaps one day in the week would suffice.

The Chairman.-Don't you think that would be useful for those who wanted to be shoemakers in after life?

Mr. Besley-Yes.

The Chairman.-And would it not get over the foolish idea of not wanting to work at a trade?

Mr. Besley.-Yes. But if a lot of boys were to learn shoemaking I do not see where they would get sufficient work, unless they were protected against the importation of boots. (1453.)

Mr. J. R. Williams, M.A. (Inspector of Schools), said: "If the object be to teach boys in attendance at elementary schools a trade, the result must be disastrous, but we certainly should do what we can to cultivate hand and eye (1) by such manual training as Sloyd work and, in junior classes, Kindergarten work, or whatever else is useful for the purpose in cases where

(and only in cases where) we can secure competent teaching of a really educative character, and (2) by developing drawing, geometrical or freehand, and especially model drawing, as a school subject. . . .

"Another way of encouraging industrial training by teachers of elementary schools seems to me very feasible, very important, and likely to cost very little. . . . I would have every training college student learn a trade-if possible of his own selection--to be learnt thoroughly in a workmanlike manner, with as much instruction in the principles of the art as is possible. If contempt for manual labour exists among the teachers, as some people say, nothing is more likely to cure it than thorough competence in one particular branch; an equipment in the tools of their trades would be a suitable bonus for these men leaving college; the means of supplementing their income by work in the trade in the spare time at their disposal would be an adjunct which no industrious man would despise. The object lesson of a teacher working with his hands would be useful to the surrounding population; we should, I have no doubt, see these men finding apprentices amongst their scholars or their former scholars, and their influence might mean a considerable increase in the productive skill of the country." (1464.)

(5) What have been the general effects on the population of the system of education in Jamaica ? *

On this subject, and with regard to the results of the system of education on morals and good manners, there was great variety in the opinions expressed by the witnesses. Some commented unfavourably on the results. Mr. C. G. Aitken (Acting RegistrarGeneral), for example, said: It seems to me that we are educating the lower classes out of their sphere and unfitting them for thorough good work in the sphere in which they are. If boys and girls were well taught to read, write, and do sums, it would be far better for them and for the community, than having them take these higher subjects in the schools, which are not and cannot be thoroughly taught. I get many letters from schoolmasters who are registrars of births and deaths, and I find the greatest difficulty in finding out what they mean. I infer from that that they cannot teach their scholars. If you take the average schoolboy and let him read from a book in which he has not been coached, he cannot explain to you at the end what he has been reading about. He has only a vague idea. I do not think you can get men to teach thoroughly and properly for the present salaries." (2472.) And Mr. C. P. Lazarus (Mechanical Engineer) said: "I know no country where the boys have such liberty and insolence. . . . I would not say that it is the result of education, because it would be foolish. It is due to imperfect education. Our people do not seem to know their position. Every little fellow thinks he is as good as anyone else because he

It should be borne in mind that the elementary schools referred to are almost exclusively attended by coloured children.

can read and write." (2554.) On the other hand, the Rev. W. Simms, M.A. (Principal of University College and Headmaster of the Jamaica High School), "did not think that the public expression of dissatisfaction with the system as a whole was at all an intelligent dissatisfaction. The public had expected the impossible. The defects in the system were being eradicated by degrees, and the results now obtained were very much better than those of twenty years ago." (338.) The Rt. Rev. Dr. Douet, Assistant Bishop of Jamaica, thought that "the complaints that education is having very bad effects on the industrial occupations of the people were very much exaggerated." "As one witness has stated," Dr. Douet continued, " many people of the labouring class do not encourage their children to work in their grounds. They prefer them to sit in the house and to read their lessons. I know a good many people who are bringing up their children with what they call an education, and they think it derogatory to them to send them to the soil. They look upon them as ladies and gentlemen, and they call them Massa and Missy.' It is perfectly true that they spoil their children utterly. We are passing through a transition state. When the people begin to get out of their ignorant state and into a higher state of civilisation, they do not want to work on the soil. I think, therefore, we must make allowances for our people on that point. They think they can better themselves by being clerks and by using their fingers in the way of penmanship. We must not always put it down to education. People say, Look at your schools. You are driving the people away from the soil.' That is one cry all through the country. I Say there are other reasons for it besides education." (1043.)

Many

Mr. Frantz Guiselin (storekeeper, Falmouth) could "testify to the great improvement in the education of the country during some twenty years. During the last thirty years there has been a stiffening of the people, and there is not that servile politeness there used to be." (1801-3.) Mr. W. H. Plant (headmaster of the Titchfield School, Port Antonio, Member of the Board of Education) said: "It would appear at first sight that manners have deteriorated, but I do not believe it is so people consider the bowing and scraping of the people as good manners, but it is a mistake. I think those who have passed through the schools compare favourably with the previous generation... There is a spirit of independence, but that is not peculiar to Jamaica, and it will cure itself in time." (2161) Mr. Johns (headmaster of the Mandeville Boys' Middle Grade School) said that "the children who pass through the schools are undoubtedly superior in manners and morals to those whose attendance has been such that they cannot be said to have come under the influence of the schools at all." (951.) The Hon. W. Ewen (Custos of the Parish of Westmoreland) said: "I now see a marked difference in the manners of the more youthful population. There is much more civility and propriety, and I conclude that greater attention is paid to this matter than in years gone by. This matter was neglected up to a comparatively

recent period." (1349A.) Dr. R. S. Turton (District Medical Officer, St. Ann's) said: "I think there is distinct improvement in the morals and manners of the people, but in this part of St. Ann's the people have always been courteous and polite." He said that he was certainly disposed to attribute this to the fact that the children of the neighbourhood had been well cared for in the schools and had been under religious influences. (1897.) Mr. E. H. Lindo (builder, Bath) said that he thought the manners of the children were much better than they were years ago. (2342.) Mr. W. J. Calder (Inspector of Constabulary for the parish of St. Elizabeth) said that the younger children were not as respectful as their parents. That he accounted for by the parents' lack of authority. He spoke of the parents, having seen that their children were more educated than themselves and so having lost control over their children, looking up to them and regarding them as very much smarter people than themselves. (1277-81.) Mr. T. F. Forbes (master of a private secondary school in Falmouth) said that he had been teaching for sixteen years, and could not say from his observation during that period that the morals of the people had deteriorated. "The morals are more the result of home influence than school influence. Children with moral parents are usually moral and well-behaved." (1762.)

Mr. S. Dell Smith (storekeeper, of Port Antonio) said that the present system is as good as can be desired, subject of course to improvement (2241), and Mr. C. A. Gale (Inspector of the Poor) testified that the system had worked fairly well to his knowledge. "I have had acquaintance with it because I have had boys at elementary schools for a number of years. I have felt great satisfaction at the education they get from the elementary schools." (2250.)

The following judicious observations, made by Mr. J. R. Williams (Inspector of Schools), will suitably close this summary of extracts. The difficulties attending the education of the lower classes are not fully realised: we have had to evolve our own system, and it may well be that we do not know what is most suitable for the race that we have to do with. We have had to make teachers, and that cannot be done in a generation; irregularity of attendance cripples the efforts of such teachers as we have; and their efforts are still further thwarted by the fluence of the children's lives at home and the examples of their parents. A system can hardly be said to be fairly and thoroughly at work till those who have passed through the schools fill the parents' class and it will be many years before that is true here. Finally, we are apt to forget that Elementary Education is only one of the means of civilisation. While the present percentage of illegitimacy gauges, partially at least, current morality, and while the home life of most of the peasantry continues to be as uncivilised and demoralising as it is, the expenditure on elementary education must be partially wasted and disappointing: we need concurrent effort to improve house and home life and to elevate sexual morality." (1464.)

III.-EDUCATION IN JAMAICA, 1898-9.

The Annual Reports of the Education Department, and of the Board of Education of Jamaica for the years ending March 31st, 1898, and March 31st, 1899, published in 1899 and 1900 respectively, contain much important information, parts of which are summarised or quoted below.

(i.) Educational Statistics, 1897-9.

The Hon. T. Capper points out in his report for 1898–9, that 'the number of schools on the Annual Grant List continues to decrease owing to the closing of small inefficient schools, the scholars from which could in nearly every instance easily attend neighbouring schools. The closing of these unnecessary schools has been accompanied by a remarkable rise in the number of first-class and second-class schools, showing that the large amount spent by the country on training teachers has not been wasted."

(ii) Memorandum on educational matters addressed by the Board of Education to the Legislative Council, April, 1897.

In the report of the Board of Education for the year 1897-8, there is given the text of an important memorandum addressed by the Board of Education to the Legislative Council, in which the following paragraphs occur with reference to contemplated proposals for the reduction of the estimates for education:

"The present public expenditure on Elementary Education in Jamaica is on an economical scale as compared with other British countries and colonies, including West Indian ones, such as Barbados and Trinidad and also Demerara. This is true both as regards the cost per head of the general population and the cost per head of the number of children on the books.

"The character of the education given no doubt admits of improvement; but in its methods and results it is on the same general lines as education given elsewhere, and deemed by most of the leaders of public opinion everywhere to be necessary in the interests of progress. It has not yet reached effectively half

and Teachers.