as effective as possible in the districts under their supervision, and amongst them I may mention:

Mr. Miller, who, not only notifies the secretary-treasurers, commissioners and trustees, of the date at which he will make his inspection, but also sends them suggestions of great practical utility which cannot fail to have a good effect;

Messrs. Hubbard and Stenson, who have drawn up, the former in English and the latter in French, a school journal, which is very well arranged and should be adopted in all the schools.

Messrs. Lippens and Demers, following the example of His Lordship the Bishop of Chicoutimi, have prepared time-tables for schools, which I intend to submit for the approval of the Roman Catholic Committee of the Council of Public Instruction at its next meeting. In the yearly reports which they have sent me, some of the inspectors have called my attention to certain matters, which should be taken into serious consideration, both by the Government and by the two Committees of Council of Public Instruction.

COLONIAL EXHIBITION IN LONDON.

The short time allowed me to prepare for our school exhibit at London prevented its being as complete as I could have wished. However, competent persons who saw it, are all of opinion that it made up, by the practical character which distinguished it, for whatever it may have lacked in other respects.

If we consider that it was only at the end of October that circulars were sent round to our schools and superior educational establishments, while most of the other provinces, especially Ontario, had already almost completed their organization; if we consider also that a good many of our principal educational establishments, for reasons which I will not inquire into, but which are probably due to the shortness of the time given them for participating in this great competition of labour and intelligence, completely abstained from taking part in it; if we consider further the material difficulties which I had to overcome in organizing this exhibit, as notwithstanding the efforts of the Canadian High Commissioner and Mr. Fabre, our agent in Paris, I could only obtain a very limited, inconvenient and badly lighted space, adjoining the room in which were situated the furnaces for driving the machinery, from which it was separated only by a thin partition of badly-joined boards, through which came coal-dust, which prevented us from keeping our exhibit in good order, it is a matter of surprise that, with all these disadvantages, we were able to do so well.

Thanks to the catalogue which I had printed in both languages, and which was widely distributed and offered to all visitors of any importance, who expressed a wish to see it, our school system, the working of whcih I could easily explain by means of the blank forms used by the department, was considered one of the best in existence; and the work of our pupils, which figured at the exhibition, showed that the practical application of the system, wherever it was intelligently carried out, produced results corresponding with the perfection of our school organization.

The school exhibition at London, was not a competition, properly speaking. No prizes were awarded; only a commemorative medal and diploma were given to each school of the provinces of the British Colonies which took part in it.

GOVERNMENT GRANT.

In addition to the reasons which I mentioned in my report for last year, in support of an application for the increase of the grant voted by the Legislature for the maintenance of common schools, the necessity for which is becoming more and more evident, I may add that, owing to their poverty, some municipalities in the recently settled parts of the country, being unable to pay suitable salaries to qualified teachers, are obliged to engage young non-certificated teachers who, in most cases, have no professional knowledge.

At present there are in this province about seven hundred schools, taught by female teachers who are much too young and inexperienced, and who possess none of the qualities required for teaching.

I need say nothing more to convince you how such a state of things, which is becoming worse and worse, is pregnant with alarming consequences for the future, and how seriously it affects the efficiency of our school system.

I would, therefore, ask that the grant voted for the support of common schools, which is now $160,000, be increased to $200,000, which would be a little less than 14 cents. per head of our population, instead of about 11 cents. as at present.

I also take this opportunity to remind you that the Roman Catholic Committee of the Council of Public Instruction has twice expressed a wish that the superior education fund be increased by $20,000.

TEACHERS' INSTITUTES.

In my report for last year, I laid great stress upon the importance of teachers' institutes and inspectors' meetings, and in doing so, I only repeated the idea frequently expressed by Messrs. Stenson, Lippens and other inspectors, and based my opinion upon the results obtained by Rev. Mr. Rexford, one of the secretaries of my department, and by the professors of McGill Normal school in connection with the Protestant schools.

With my sanction, Mr. Lippens gave, last Autumn, in the various municipalities of his district, a series of lectures on professional training which, judging from the reports sent me, at my request, by most of the priests in charge of the parishes where they were given, have had much more satisfactory results than could have been expected of them.

If the excellent results claimed for these conferences are not denied, this means of diffusing professional knowledge might be adopted in all the inspection districts of the province, without imposing any additional burthen on the Treasury.

To do this, all that would be required would be—in lieu of the inspections at the beginning of the year, the chief object of which is to give the teachers the advice and counsel they require, in order to teach their schools properly to substitute meetings of all the teachers of each municipality at which they would, in two or three days, obtain, in addition to the professional knowledge which they lack, uniformity in their methods of teaching.

Mr. Lippens sent the following circular before he made his inspections:

SIR :

"During the months of September and October next, I intend calling together the teachers in each municipality of my district, in order to confer with them on the methods of teaching and the manner of keeping their schools.

"I will thus give them an opportunity of acquiring professional knowledge, and of working for their own advancement.

"I may add that I am not going to make them undergo an examination. I will not question any one; I will give the explanations myself, and any person can ask me questions. My services will be entirely gratuitous.

"Young people who wish to become teachers, will be admitted to these conferences.

แ

"Parish priests and school commissioners are particularly invited to

honour them with their presence, and I rely upon their assistance to secure the success of my project, which appears to meet with general approval.

"These conferences will extend over two days in each parish, and there will be two meetings each day, one in the morning and the other in the afternoon.".

"The place and date of these meetings will be communicated to the parties interested as soon as my arrangements are completed;

"The secretary-treasurers are requested to communicate this letter as well as my list of appointments which will be sent in a few days to the teachers in their respective municipalities.

"B. LIPPENS,

"School Inspector."

INSPECTORS' MEETINGS.

I am more than ever convinced of the benefit which we would derive in the general management of our schools, from inspectors' meetings, to which I have already, on several occasions, called your attention.

By meeting once a year, the school inspectors might communicate to each other and discuss together their respective views on questions within their province, and there is no doubt that these meetings would have the effect of securing unity of action on the part of these important officers of our school system, which would amply compensate for the trifling cost they would entail.

BOARDS OF EXAMINERS.

The development of education in our province naturally necessitates a very careful selection of those who are instructors of youth.

The Protestant Committee of the Council of Public Instruction, considering that the regulations of 1862 amended in 1876, for Boards of Examiners no longer had the desired effect, adopted, at its sitting of the 6th of October last, certain others which, with a few modifications, might, I think, be adopted by the Roman Catholic Committee, to whose consideration I propose to submit it.

The new regulations read as follows:

Regulations for Protestant Divisions of Boards of Examiners. (Approved by the Lieutenant-Governor in Council on the 8th November last.)

At a meeting of the Protestant Committee of the Council of Public Instruction, held 6th October, 1886, it was agreed to recommend: -

"That the rules and regulations of the Council of Public Instruction

concerning the establishment and jurisdiction of Boards of Examiners, and for the examination of candidates for teachers' diplomas, passed the 11th of November, 1861, and 11th February, 1862, and approved by His Excellency the Governor-General in Council on the 18th March, 1862, and all amendments thereto, be rescinded, so far as Protestant divisions of boards of examiners are concerned, and the following regulations substituted in their place, to come into force at the July Examination 1887 " :—

REG. I.--Only Protestant divisions of boards of Examiners shall have the power to grant diplomas valid for teaching in Protestant schools.

REG. II.—The diplomas granted by Protestant divisions of boards of examiners shall be of three grades, viz:-Elementary, Model School and Academy.

REG. III. The Protestant divisions of boards of examiners of Quebec, Montreal and Sherbrooke shall retain the power to examine candidates for Elementary Model School and Academy diplomas; such diplomas being valid for any Protestant school of the same grade in the Province.

REG. IV.—The remaining Protestant divisions of boards of examiners already organized, or which may be organized hereafter, shall have power to examine candidates for Elementary diplomas only; such diplomas being valid for any Protestant elementary school in the Province.

REG. V.―There shall be three classes of Elementary diplomas and two classes of Model School and Academy diplomas. Third class Elementary diplomas shall be valid for one year only.

REG. VI.-All Protestant divisions of boards of examiners shall meet on the first Tuesday in the month of July each year, for the examination of candidates as hereinafter provided.

REG. VII.-Each candidate shall notify the secretary of the Protestant division of the Boards of examiners, at least fifteen days before the meeting of the board, of his intention to present himself for examination.

REG. VIII.-Each candidate shall deposit with the secretary of the Protestant division of the board, before his examination; first, a certificate of good moral character, signed by a minister of the congregation to which he belongs, and by at least two school commissioners or trustees of the locality in which he has resided for the six months previous to his examination; second, an extract from a register of baptism, or other sufficient proof, that he was, at least, eighteen years of age last birthday.

REG. IX.-Each Protestant division of the boards of examiners shall cause a register of examinations to be kept, in which the secretary shall enter the names of all candidates, and opposite each name the date of examination,