MR. LUCIER.

(Translation.)

MARIA, 5th July, 1886.

SIR,

I have the honour to submit my yearly report on the state of the schools in my district for the year 1885-86.

I am happy to be able to say that if everything is not as I would desire it to be, still matters are as satisfactory as I can expect at present, considering the difficult position in which the population of this county is placed. The zeal and devotedness of the teachers are deserving of all praise, and I have to thank the parish priests, as well as the school commissioners and trustees, for the assistance they have so willingly given me in securing the proper working of the schools in the district.

I will now proceed to give a short summary of my work and of my observations upon each municipality in the district.

Port Daniel East.-This municipality has made great progress this year. A third school has been established at l'Anse-à-Gascon; the school-houses in Nos. 2 and 3 have been finished, and that of No. 1 is being built. These three schools are successfully taught by the Misses Flore Paradis, Marie and Lusianna Gagnon; the latter holds a model school diploma. The number of pupils in each of these schools is 55, 60 and 66 respectively. The parish priest, Rev. Mr. Gagnon, takes an active interest in the improvement of the schools in his parish, and is well seconded by the commissioners. The secretary-treasurer, Mr. Philippe Ahier, performs his duties faithfully. Although the special tax for building the school-houses has given him extra work, his accounts are in good order and show but a small amount of arrears.

Port Daniel West (dissentient).—This small municipality, which formerly had but one school, now has two. The new one is regularly attended by 30 pupils, who have made rapid progress under the intelligent tuition of Miss Aurélie Gagnon. The old school, kept by Miss Leconteur, has also produced excellent results. Mr. James Enright, the chairman, and Mr. Thomas Enright, the secretary-treasurer of the trustees, who take an interest in school matters, told me that steps will be taken by the dissentients this year to build a school-house in the new district. The accounts are in perfect order.

St. Godefroi.-The three schools of St. Godefroi, were open throughout

the year. The church school or No. 1, under the Sœurs des petites écoles, continues to do well. Those of Nos. 2 and 3 were kept by experienced persons, but the irregular attendance of the pupils impeded progress. The building of a school-house has been commenced in district No. 2.

The commissioners do their best to second the efforts of the Rev. Mr. Smith, the chairman of the school-board for the advancement of education in the municipality, but the rate-payers are poor. As a consequence, it is difficult to collect the school rates, and the corporation owes a relatively large amount to the teachers. The parish priest is afraid that he will have to close some of his schools next year, unless he gets a sufficient supplementary grant. The accounts are correctly kept by Mr. Poulin, the secretary

treasurer.

Paspébiac.-There are three good schools in this municipality, attended by 183 pupils, and the want of another is greatly felt. A house has already been bought for the purpose. The commissioners, whose chairman is Rev. Mr. Larrivée, are very zealous for everything connected with education.

Mr. Philippe Loisel keeps the corporation accounts correctly, but he does not sufficiently press the collection of the school rates, which results in a considerable amount of arrears being due.

Cox (dissentient).-The dissentients of Cox, with the assistance of the Rev. Mr. Larrivée, have at last succeeded in building a school-house; 59 pupils attended school regularly, and remarkable progress was made under Miss Louise LeBlanc. The trustees' accounts are kept by Mr. R. Loisel, of

Paspébiac.

St. Bonaventure.-This large parish has a model school and six primary schools. The former is well kept by Miss Christine Arseneault, who holds a diploma from Laval Normal School.

When I last inspected the school, there were eight pupils in the model course. This is better than in previous years. I have also reason to be satisfied with the primary schools, especially those kept by the Misses Anastasie Lepage and Christine Babin.

The school board, whose chairman is Rev. Mr. Thivièrge, manage corporation matters with order and economy. The finances are in a prosperous condition; there is money in hand and there are arrears to be collected. Although their salaries are small, the teachers are paid at the time agreed upon.

St. Charles de Caplan.-This municipality has three schools, and a fourth will shortly be opened in the second range, where the children are at present deprived of all education. There is marked progress in school No.

3, under Miss C. Audet, No. 1 is fairly good, and No. 2 is inferior. The teachers in Nos. 1 and 2, are to be replaced on the expiration of their engagement. The affairs of the corporation are well managed by the commissioners and the secretary-treasurer, Tobie Bujeau. The school-house in No. 1 was re-built this year, and extensive repairs will be made to those in No. 2 during the holidays. The finances are in a flourishing condition.

New Richmond.-This municipality has seven schools, six of which are in operation. The other was closed this year, in order that the school-house might be rebuilt. It will shortly be re-opened. All these schools gave me satisfaction, except that of District No. 7, where the pupils made but little progress. The commissioners are active in collecting arrears, and the teachers are better paid than formerly. The accounts are correctly kept by Mr. Richard.

Maria. This is the largest municipality in my division. It has a model school and eight primary schools, attended by 428 pupils, with an average attendance of 340. The model school is successfully taught by Miss Hermine Gagné, a pupil of Laval Normal School, with Miss Ida Cyr, as assistant for English and beginners. All the primary schools, especially those in district No. 2, work well and are taught by very zealous teachers. The commissioners show great willingness in the performance of their duties. Mr. J. F. Guité, the secretary-treasurer, is very careful in keeping his accounts. There is a comparatively small amount of arrears, and the teachers' salaries are paid regularly.

Carleton. In addition to a model school and two primary schools, the municipality of Carleton has the great advantage of having a convent of the Sisters of Charity. Miss Elmina Allard teaches the model school very successfully, with the aid of an assistant, for the younger children. The two primary schools are taught by able and devoted teachers, and have done very well. The condition of the school-houses is rather defective; that of No. 3 requires immediate action on the part of the commissioners. But, knowing the spirit which animates them, I am firmly convinced that they will give every attention to this important question.

The convent maintains its reputation, and makes every effort to further the cause of education.

The secretary performs his duties faithfully, but, notwithstanding that the commissioners are well disposed, there are arrears in the school rates.

St. Jean L'Evangéliste.—This municipality supports a model school and five primary schools. The model school is very successful and does great honour to Mr. Gauthier's ability as a teacher. The five primary schools gave me satisfaction, especially those taught by Misses Marie Arseneault and

Aurélie Gauthier, who are zealous and devoted teachers. For many years, there has been some talk of re-building school-house No. 2, which is in bad condition; the commissioners were called upon again this summer to rebuild it. I have reason to believe that they will now comply with my request. The secretary-treasurer, Mr. Edouard Arsenault, keeps his accounts in good order; there are but few arrears, considering the poverty of the rate-payers.

Méguaska.-This small municipality has but one school, and it is intended to establish another, although the existing one was closed the greater part of the year, under the pretext that they could not get a teacher knowing both languages; they only succeeded in getting one quite recently. The rates are collected but slowly, and there remain arrears every year, which are collected with difficulty.

Mann-English teachers are becoming scarcer and scarcer in my district. Notwithstanding many efforts, the commissioners have not succeeded in getting a certificated teacher for the school which I have to inspect in this small municipality. It was only at my second visit that they found a young girl of seventeen years who consented to take charge of it. The accounts are kept in good order by Mr. Joseph Anninson, the secretary-treasurer.

Ste. Anne de Restigouche.-In this village there is a school for the Indians of this mission. There are 50 registered pupils, but the attendance is not very regular. The present teacher, Miss Hermance Boudreau, gets a salary of $200 from the Indian Department at Ottawa.

St. Laurent de Métapédia. This small municipality has a school where Roman Catholics and Protestants are admitted. Of the 39 registered pupils, 11 are Roman Catholics and 28 are Protestants.

I have not entered in my statistical table for this year the information about this school, as Rev. Mr. Lyster had already done so when he inspected it a few weeks previously.

The accounts of the corporation are well kept by Mr. Jérémie Pitre, the secretary-treasurer.

St. Alexis de Métapédiac.-It has two good schools, and an inferior one. Each district has a fairly good school-house. Miss E. H. Parent, who kept school No. 1, is not an ordinary teacher; under her intelligent management, everything is wonderfully changed. During the space of a few months, her school, which had been an indifferent one, has become one of the best amongst the primary schools. Besides teaching her pupils very well, she knows how to train them so well and so quickly, that I was surprised to see the change effected in this school in so short a time. I hope the com

missioners will show that they appreciate her merits by giving her a suitable salary.

Mr. Auguste Trépanier has also been very successful with the school in District No. 2.

The accounts are correctly kept by the secretary, Mr. Pitre, but there is too much delay in collecting the accounts, and the teachers suffer by it. To resume, I must say, in all fairness, that nearly all the teachers have done their duty, the schools work well, the level of education is being gradually raised, and the progress made is, as a rule, satisfactory to all who take an interest in education.

I have the honor to submit my report for the year 1885-86, on the condition of the schools in my district of inspection.

It will be seen by the table of statistics, now forwarded, that there is a small decrease in the aggregate number of children attending the schools: for this I can hardly account.

On the other hand, there is a gratifying increase in the number of pupils receiving instruction in writing, in writing from dictation, geography, drawing, object lessons, and sacred history.

In other respects there is little change, if I except the formation of two new municipalities," Sellarville " and "Gaspé Village."

As I already have had the honor of putting you in possession of all note-worthy particulars, I hope it will now be sufficient to notice briefly, those municipalities in which some signs of progress are perceptible.

COUNTY BONAVENTURE-Port Daniel.-Here there are two very fair schools, though the children are mostly very young. No. 1 school-house is no longer in the centre of the district, and there has been some difficulty about removing it to a more convenient position. This, I hope, will be overcome before long.