5

Normal and Model Schools, though now more closely united than formerly, are not, I think, so perfectly amalgamated as they should

be, nor are they properly graded—-some children learning the rudiments of the lower branches being found in one of the higher rooms.

In the school kept in the Temperance Hall the classroom formed by means of a curtain is a mere sham, and the labor of the teachers there is almost thrown away fOr nothing from want of proper accommodation. The exposed corner of a back passage which is used is shocking and

disgraceful. It should be remembered, too, that children of both *sexes attend this school. ’

The school in DesBrisay's Lane is kept in a room up two flights of stairs, the steps of which are apparently not very safe. There is no outhouse for the use of the children, so they are obliged to go to those of private parties, or wherever they can find access.

The school in Scott's Hall is unfurnished with maps, and the outhouse is in a shocking state. ‘

3 At the Kensington School the attendance is very small indeed,

‘ yet numbers of children were to be seen all around at play, instead of coming to the school which was only a few yards distant. The

outhouse here, which serves for all the families around, is in a

jpestilential state, and utterly beyond description.

.7 At the Spring Park School the Size of the room is not at all

;,sufficient for the number attending. On the day of my visit, I

g‘found the children closely packed in double rows. The outhouse 713 in a bad state.

. Generally speaking, there is not a Government Schoolrocm in the :city fit, in all regards, for the purposes of teaching, with the iexception perhaps of the Normal and Model schoolrooms, and even these rare now found to be too contracted for the numbers in attendance. The £Steadily increasing attendance at the two last named schools is lgratifying, and is certainly to be attributed to the superior accommoda— stions, as well as to the superior teaching to be found there; whereas, :On the contrary, the attendance at many of the other city schools is jdecreasing, and the reasons are quite evident,VVizr want oi“respectable fand commodious school buildings, with decent surroundings, the fgenerally low standard of teaching power exhibited, and the culpable Qindifference of those who send their children to school, as to whether fthey attend regularly or not.

v ' When all these things are duly considered, it should not be $Surprising that there are so many private schools in Charlottetown. gYet I own I was surprised to find so many children attending schools 2not receiving Government pay, and which I was at considerable pains to ascertah, as follows:-