lected from the parents of the pupils and from others. Recently, however, the Commissioners have aided in building school-houses and providing suitable fittings and furniture, as well as science laboratories, accommodation for instruction in cooking, laundry, workshops, &c., in certain cases. These grants are made only when a lease of the site or school in question, for the purposes of National Education, has been executed either to trustees or to the Commissioners in their corporate capacity: such establishments are known as Vested Schools. For the erection of non-vested school-houses, training colleges, and teachers' residences, loans on fairly easy terms are made by the Board of Works on the recommendation of the Commissioners of National Education. 8

All this looks well on paper, and no doubt a great deal has been done; it is right, however, to say that there have been loud complaints, from managers and others, of the niggardly way in which these grants have been made for some time. All admit that many of the National schools, in country districts especially, are in a wretched condition structurally, and practically devoid of all equipment. The blame for this has been bandied about; thrown by the Government officials on the managers, and by these thrown back on the Government. Both parties, perhaps, should share it, to some extent; it has been officially admitted in Parliament that the Government has been remiss in doing its duty.

iv. THE COMMISSIONERS OF NATIONAL EDUCATION.

Throughout Section III the reader will have remarked that in all their dealings, as regards the construction or equipment of schools, the appointment or dismissal of teachers, and such matters, the local managers must proceed in accordance with the Rules and Regulations of a body whose official title is The Commissioners of National Education in Ireland, but who by the people for whose primary instruction they minister are

8 R. and R., Ch. IV: " 'Patronage and Management of National Schools; Ch. XIV: 66 Building, Furnishing and Improvement grants for Schoolhouses, &c."

commonly known as The National Board, or simply as The Board of National Education. They are twenty gentlemen in all, appointed each by the Lord Lieutenant-that is, by the British Government. They make whatever rules and regulations they like, and are not directly responsible to Parliament, but only to the Lord Lieutenant, to whom they present a report annually; but who, apparently, cannot annul their acts or interfere with them otherwise than by dismissing them from office and appointing others who may be relied upon to carry out his wishes. Of course every Government official, Commissioner or Board, is subject to Parliament in this sense, that in Parliament, as representing the people, all power ultimately resides; and though the wishes of the people may be obstructed for a time, they must prevail in the end. Hence the Commissioners of National Education are very sensitive to the pressure of a resolution passed in the House of Commons, and even to criticism therein, especially if it should be backed by a considerable number of votes, or should emanate from any of the ministers of the Crown as representing the views of the Govern

ment.

When the Board was first created, in 1831, the number of Commissioners was seven, three belonging to the Established (Protestant Episcopalian) Church, two being Catholics, one Presbyterian, and one Unitarian,-leaving the Catholic Commissioners in a minority of two to five. The Protestants retained a majority of seats at the Board down to 1861, when the number of the Commissioners was raised to twenty, of whom half were Catholics. I do not know that this number and proportion were made legally binding, but as the new arrangement was officially recognised and has been preserved ever since, it is now understood to be a regular part of the system.

There are two ways in which the proportion works out unfairly to Catholics. In the first place, as they are so large a majority of the population, they rightly consider themselves entitled to a proportionate number of seats at the Board. Moreover, in selecting Catholic Commissioners, the Government takes good care to secure the services of men who either live at a distance from Dublin and so are unlikely to be regular in

attendance, or, if they are in their places regularly, may be trusted to support the English policy in Ireland. The result is that the Commissioners, as a body, enjoy very little of the confidence of the Irish people as distinguished from those who have come to be known as West British inhabitants. This does not hold true of individual Commissioners, a few of whom have been and are trusted by the Irish Catholics.

Of the twenty Commissioners nineteen are unpaid; one, styled Resident Commissioner, is paid, and is expected to make Irish Primary Education the business of his life. For some time this important position has been held by Catholics of the official type. The present holder is Dr. W. J. M. Starkie, a distinguished student and ex-Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin. It is plainly unfair to Irish Catholics to appoint as representative of their interests one who, whatever his personal qualifications, has not and never can have their confidence, for the simple reason that he was trained in the citadel of the enemies of their race and religion.

v. THE TEACHING STAFF: (1) LAY TEACHERS: QUALIFICATIONS, APPOINTMENT AND DISMISSAL.

Dividing the National schools of Ireland into two classesthose taught by lay men or women, as distinct from religious, and those taught by religious-and taking in the first place those which are under lay tuition, we may say that training in some one of a number of Colleges provided for that purpose, is a necessary condition of obtaining the position of teacher. There are, indeed, still on the staff a number of teachers who received their appointment before the Training College system was extended and training became a necessary condition of receiving an appointment; and there are some special rules for those who may have obtained university degrees or have been fully certified by the English or Scotch Education Departments. For practical purposes we may pay no attention to these special regulations, since it is very few university graduates who apply for the position of school-teacher in Ireland; whilst those who hold certificates from the Education Department in England or

Scotland prefer to work in those countries, where teachers are much better paid. Practically, therefore, at present, a diploma is necessary for those who aspire to become teachers in the ordinary lay National schools; and the diploma may be obtained only after two years' training in a recognised Training College, supplemented by two years' successful teaching in a recognised National school, after the College course has been completed. No clergyman of any denomination is recognised as a teacher in a day National school.

The number of teachers employed in any school depends, as is natural, on the average daily attendance of pupils. When the attendance is over 35 but under 50, the principal teacher is allowed one junior assistant mistress; should the attendance be over 50 but under 95, one assistant teacher is allowed, and an additional one for every additional 45 pupils. With regard to the sex of the teachers, a good deal depends on the character of the school-whether, that is, it is for boys only, or for girls only, or for children of both sexes. Masters, whether as principals or assistants, are not recognised in girls' schools; nor are assistant masters recognised in any school under a mistress. Mistresses are not recognised as principals of boys' schools, unless the school is attended by infants only. In mixed schools—that is, those which are attended by children of both sexes the principal teacher may be either a master or a mistress, as circumstances may require; but when the average attendance is less than 35 it is considered desirable that the teacher should be a woman, the presumption being that the greater part of the children attending such a school will be of tender age. On the 31st of December, 1906, there were in the service of the Commissioners 5,780 men and 6,818 women teachers, besides 247 work-mistresses and 1,494 junior assistant mistresses.

The appointment of teachers rests, as has been said, with the local managers, subject to the approval of the Commissioners as to character and general qualifications. The result is that in schools under Catholic management Catholic teachers only are employed, and similarly only Protestants in schools under Protestant management. Where a substantial minority of the

pupils belonged to a denomination different from that of the principal teacher, the Commissioners, up to this year (1907-8), required the appointment of an assistant teacher of the denomination of such minority, if the attendance permitted. The number of this class of schools was small and diminished yearly, with the result that the Rule is now abrogated. In 1906 there were only 44, out of 8,602 schools in operation; as against 5,892 which were attended solely by pupils of one denomination; and 2,660 in which there were both Catholic and Protestant pupils, but in which the minority of either faith was so small as not to necessitate the employment of a teacher of their own religious persuasion; 1,881 of these latter schools being taught by Catholics and 779 by Protestants.

In the form of agreement which managers are required to employ when engaging a teacher, there is a provision that the engagement is terminable on three months' notice given by either party, but preserving to the manager the power of summary dismissal, subject to the following condition:-" In any case of summary dismissal the teacher is entitled to three months' grade salary, to be paid by the manager personally; but if such dismissal is for sufficient cause, the teacher is not entitled to any compensation."

This question of dismissal has given rise to considerable difficulty and is not yet quite settled, though much has been done to secure the equitable treatment and independence of teachers. Whereas, on the one hand, it is quite plain that the nation should not be compelled to retain on the staff of its schools any teacher who has become incompetent from the scholastic or unfit from the moral and religious point of view, equity no less plainly demands that no teacher should be dismissed unless on grounds of scholastic incompetence or moral unfitness. The peculiar hardship of dismissal of teachers in a country like Ireland is, that their training unfits them for employment in almost any other capacity, and managers are naturally loth to appoint to their schools teachers who, for whatever cause, were dismissed from the service of the Board. I can conceive few situations more painful than that of a teacher with wife and