from the Institution of the British and Foreign School Society at Borough Road. The Act further provided that as vacancies occurred English teachers should be obtained for the Boys' Central School, and for two of the most important of the Outisland schools. Board of of Schools, The new Secretary and Inspector arrived about the middle of First Secre 1865, the office work having been done in the meantime (about a try to the year) by an Acting Secretary, and the work of inspection left undone. Education He appears to have been able and energetic, found much that and Inspector needed amendment, and attempted extensive and speedy reforma- 1865. tion. Circumstances, however, constituted a dead weight which could only be moved slowly and laboriously; and after two years of hard work, which was really attended by considerable success, though less than he desired and expected, the Secretary broke down both in body and mind, went to America for treatment, and soon. died. For about another year there was no inspection of schools, only the office work being attended to; and when the next Secretary and Inspector arrived from England about the middle of 1868, he found almost as much to complain of as his predecessor had done. At the commencement of 1867 an English master took charge Appointment of the more important of the two Outisland schools mentioned of English in the Act of 1864, where he remained for thirteen years. The Inspector's reports and the number of teachers now in the service as the direct or indirect results show that his work must have been very successful. In September, 1869, an English master arrived for the Boys' Central School, where he did excellent work till a physical ailment impaired his ability. In October of the same year another English master took charge of the other Outisland school for which provision had been made by the Act of 1864. He seems to have worked well, but remained only a short time; and his successor, also an English master, seems neither to have been satisfied nor to have given satisfaction, and very soon left. These two failures to obtain adequate results for the extra trouble and expense involved in the importation of teachers, seem to have discouraged the Board from any further attempt in the same direction for many years. Teachers. During the years 1865-1874 the number of schools varied from Statistics, 30 to 39; the names on the rolls from 2,045 to 3,051; the average 1865-1874. attendance from 1,004 to 2,156; the grants from £2,400 to £4,698; and the fees collected from £68 to £261. It was not a period of steady progress, but of fluctuations, and in some respects of very considerable retrogression as the net result; for the income of the Colony having decreased the expenditure had to be diminished in various directions, including that for education; hence the figures for 1872, the last year of the period for which definite information can be found, were: schools, 32; names on the rolls, 2,744; average attendance, 1,524; grants, including Secretary's salary, Education £2,400; fees collected, £68; and it seems certain that no improvement in these respects was made in 1873 or 1874. On the other hand the average quality of the teaching appears to have improved very considerably during the above period. The Education Act having expired another was passed in 1875, Act of 1875. the most important new feature in which was the addition of £300 per annum to the grant. But the Colony having again fallen into financial difficulties this extra grant was suspended the next year, and the suspension was not taken off till 1879. Compulsory added to the In 1878 the first Compulsory Clauses were added to the Education Act. They were much the same as those which form part of the Act now in force; but for about eight years they were only applied Act in 1878. in New Providence, and for some time did not work satisfactorily there. In November of the same year the Secretary and Inspector, who had held the office for about ten years with much ability, but under great disadvantages, left the Colony on leave of absence, obtained an appointment elsewhere, and did not return. From then till September of the following year there were no inspections, and no report for 1879 can be found. Appointment of Constable The master of the Boys' Central School was then appointed Secretary and Inspector, and the English master of the principal Outisland school was transferred to the Boys' Central. In 1881 a special Constable was first employed by the Board to to report ab- look after absentees in New Providence, and to report school cases. sentées, 1881. But the work was not satisfactorily performed, the officer being Statistics, 1882. Suggestion to abolish School Fees. more addicted to talking than walking; and of three others who have since been employed, one was much too easily imposed upon and deceived to be efficient; but the remaining two have done the work very satisfactorily. In May, 1882, the Secretary and Inspector, who had held the office for less than three years, resigned to take an appointment elsewhere; and in September of the same year the master of the Boys' Central School became Secretary and Inspector. The statistics for 1882 showed :-Schools, 30; names on the rolls, 2,970; average attendance, 1,700; grants, including salaries of Secretary and Constable, £2,750; fees collected, about £110. The report for 1884 showed that the payment of fees (they had for some years formed part of the teachers' incomes) was very irregular and unsatisfactory. Out of about £750, the amount calculated on the average attendance, only a little over £160 had been collected, the loss falling most heavily on those teachers who cared most for keeping up the attendances. It was therefore recommended that unless the Board was prepared to direct that arrears of fees should be sued for regularly at short intervals they should be abolished, the teachers compensated, and the Compulsory Clauses of the Education Act applied in all school districts. The first recommendation was given effect to by the Legislature in the Act of 1886, and the latter by the Board shortly after. system. Teachers, In 1886 the Education Act was passed, which, with numerous Education additions and amendments, is still in force. For a copy of this Act of 1886; Beginning of Act in its present form and of the Code of Bye-laws founded thereon, present see Appendices A and D. In 1891 an attempt was made to secure better instruction and Scheme for training for teachers than was practicable at the Boys' Central training of School. An assistant teacher from one of the Training Colleges in 1891; abanEngland arrived in December, and was requested to draw up a plan donment, for the organisation and course of instruction to be adopted in a small Training Institute. Work began in the following April, and ceased at the end of July, 1894. A special pecuniary arrangement was made with the teacher, in virtue of which his engagement was terminated and he returned to England. The reason given in the Board's Report for the year was: "It became increasingly evident that results at all commensurate with the expenditure were not being produced." 1894. Teachers. Apart from the above experiment, the importation of English Other proteachers already specified, and of one other who arrived at the end vision for of 1899, and is doing very good work in an Outisland school, the training of supply of teachers has been provided for by retaining in the schools the most eligible pupils as paid monitors and pupil-teachers till they are from eighteen to twenty-one years of age, and then sending them to the Boys' Central School for one or two years to receive further instruction and training. [The following is an extract from the Report of the Inspector of Schools (Annual Report of the Board of Education for the Bahamas, 1900)" It is however in the direction of education as distinguished from teaching, that improvement has been slowest in the past, and seems most difficult to provide for in the future. The more strenuous and successful cultivation of truthfulness, regularity, steadiness of purpose, and self-dependence, and the formation of good ideals, would be of inestimable benefit to the pupils and to the community. But unfortunately the besetting weaknesses of the pupils are also those of a large proportion of the teachers. Drawn from the same class, not separated from it even during their short period of training, and having contact with very few improving influences in the localities where they afterwards have to labour, they naturally show a strong tendency toward the level of their surroundings, and the propensities of their pupils do not readily attract their attention, nor appeal to them strongly for restraint or correction. A gradual elevation of the status, and strengthening of the moral fibre of the teachers is therefore above all else to be kept in view, and accomplished by every available means."] In New Providence there are two schools for girls and one for Majority of scholos mixed boys. All others, both in New Providence and on the Outislands, are mixed schools; and in none of these, excepting one infant school, is a female principal teacher employed, the conditions being too unfavourable. Evening chools. Evening schools have been opened at various times and places, have flourished for a while, and gradually died out from the falling off of attendance. nstruction in The attempts to teach agriculture in the schools have hitherto Agriculture. not been attended with much success. It is, however, in a very unsatisfactory condition throughout the Colony, and greatly needs to be taught and encouraged. But the difficulties are great and peculiar. The best soils are almost invariably so broken through by points and ridges of rock that the more efficient implements of husbandry and horse labour are not available; the rainfall, though sufficient on the average, is rather capricious and undependable ; and steady hard work for distant and uncertain returns is not in accordance with the disposition and habits of the people. Ordinarily, when a field is to be made, the bush is cut down, burnt when dry, the débris more or less cleared off, and the plants or seeds inserted among the stumps, roots and rocks, with a pointed stick ; when the natural strength of the soil is exhausted another field is made in the same way. The fact that very valuable crops of pineapples have been and still are thus raised, makes the people still less inclined to spend much greater and more continuous labour for much smaller returns. The area of land fit for pineapples is, however, comparatively small; but much that was naturally not well suited, or had been worn out, is now made to bear good crops by the use of fertilizers. This may help to obtain more favourable consideration for better methods and greater industry as applied to the production of other crops; and it is now under consideration to introduce into the schools a handbook specially prepared to inculcate such methods in accordance with local conditions. Tailoring and Shoemaking. Introduction of Cameoutting. Instruction n use of Mariner's Compass. Needlework. Tailoring and shoemaking were formerly taught in some of the schools. But the former is sufficiently attractive to a certain class of youths without being taught in the schools, while the limited use of shoes by a large proportion of the people, and the cheapness of American machine-made goods, cause the demand for shoemakers to be very small. In 1884 and 1885 a cameo cutter, who had been attracted to the Colony by the abundance and cheapness of beautiful conch shells, was engaged to teach his art to certain selected youths during two years, his remuneration being jointly guaranteed by the Board and by a gentleman who was greatly interested in the success of the experiment. Unfortunately, the artist left in about a year, and his most talented pupil subsequently died. Hence the industry did not take root and develop as was hoped, though it seems not to have entirely died out. The physical features of the Colony render a knowledge of the use of the mariner's compass and the ability to find courses and distances about the islands very generally useful and interesting; hence their inclusion in the school curriculum. Needlework is taught wherever a competent teacher can be found in the neighbourhood. and Manual Kindergarten exercises have been introduced experimentally in Kindergarten one school; and some further developments of manual training Trait ing. will probably be attempted in the near future. Further information as to the subjects taught will be found in the bye-laws and reports. (See Appendix D below, and footnote on page 3 above.) No separate provision is made by the Government for either secondary or technical education, nor for the separate instruction or care of those who are defective in mind or body; and no other than the schools already treated of are in any way either assisted or superintended. As the Board has been unable for several years past to appropriate Building such a proportion of the annual grant to the erection of buildings Grants as would keep pace with the requirements without curtailing the work of the Department in other directions, the Legislature made a special building grant of £1,250 in 1900, and again in 1901; and these sums are being applied, as fast as the necessary arrangements can be made, to the erection of school-houses, and to provide residences for teachers in places where suitable ones cannot be rented. For many years after the offices of Secretary and Inspector were Organisation united the only other person employed at the Education Office was of Education an office boy or messenger; and during the visitation of the Outis- Office. land schools the work of general administration was entirely suspended. The inconvenience caused thereby became so great, as the number of schools increased and the absences of the Secretary became more frequent and prolonged, that the office boy was gradually developed into a clerk, and entrusted with the payment of salaries and other expenses, issuing materials, keeping books, etc., during the absences of the Secretary; and in 1900 he was made Secretary, the senior officer being made Inspector and General Superintendent." The latter change was one only in name, the duties having long included the sole care of property as well as of schools. 66 1901. [*The numbers for 1901 were as follows:-Schools, 56; names on Statistics, the rolls, 6,840; average attendance, 4,598; grants (ordinary but including salaries of Superintendent, Secretary and Constable), £4,828. *This grant gives a total average cost to the Colony of £86 1s. 34d. for each school, 11s. 114d. for each pupil present at all during the year, 14s. 14d. for each name on the roll, or £1 1s. for each pupil in average attendance. *Many of the buildings resulting from the special grants (see above) are either ready for use or are in an advanced stage, but none of them came into use during the year now reported on, and the cost is therefore not included in the calculation given above. At the end of the year there were employed in Board schools 43 principal teachers, 5 assistant teachers, 7 pupil-teachers, 10 * From the Annual Report of the Bahamas Board of Education, 1901, |