ing these years the school had achieved a distinctive scholastic record in that, under Mr. McGuirk 's guidance, 64 of the 66 students who tried passed the Grade Ten provincial examinations. To add to his laurels as a teacher, Mr. McGuirk was successful in having ten of these students win provincial scholarships. Mr. McGuirk is presently on the staff of the Morell Regional High School. By legislation in 1958, provision was made for the establishment of Regional High Schools for the instruction of Grades 9 to 12. Ten or more individual rural school districts were needed to comprise a High School unit, and the unit nearest Mount Stewart was the one established at Morell . For some years, Mount Stewart students had the option of attending either Morell or Charlottetown Rural High School. A pro¬ gramme of consolidating rural elementary schools began during the mid- sixties, and Mount Stewart was designated a consolidation unit. Most of the adjoining districts threw in their lot with Mount Stewart during the next few years; however, Point de Roche and Savage Harbour, which had amalgamated in 1968, joined the Morell unit, temporarily, in 1970. During the early autumn of 1973, two fires in rapid succession caused an estimated $30,000. damage to the Mount Stewart Consolidated Elementary School. The first blaze, which occurred on September 23rd, caused extensive damage to the basement area, while the October 3rd fire gutted the hallways and inflicted heavy smoke and water damage to the classrooms. The school's 170 students were accommodated in mo¬ bile classrooms pending a decision as to whether the existing shell could be repaired or whether a new school should be constructed. Public opin¬ ion strongly favoured the latter alternative and, in April 1974, in view of apparent inaction on the part of the authorities, an Action Committee, charged with the responsibility of obtaining a new school was formed. It was not, however, until February of 1975 that final plans for the new facility were approved. The Liquor Traffic In the early days, there were taverns at intervals of a few miles along the main post roads. They were also found in the market centers, and, indeed, wherever people were likely to congregate. Over-indulgence was found to be one of the attendant evils and over-expenditure, with consequent hardship to the imbiber's family, another. Although, as early as 1773, the Government tried to exercise some measure of control by requiring vendors to obtain licences, the evils of intemperance continued, with the result that private groups began working in the direction of total abstinence. One such group, the Sons of Temperance, was estab¬ lished in this Province in 1848. Non-sectarian and non-political in its views, the organization set up divisions in practically every place of im¬ portance between Alberton and Souris . On a July day in 1866, nearly 400 persons took passage on the steamer " Heather Belle " from Charlottetown , Southport and for Mount Stewart . There they were joined by an equal number for the annual Temperance Picnic . The day was apparently spent very agreeably in the enjoyment of "rational pleasure." There were numerous speeches and cheers, for the Queen, and, of course, for the Temperance cause. It was hoped that gatherings such as this would act as a stimulus to exertion on the part of the membership towards the organization's goals. —99—