42 PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND

EDUCATION IN P. E. ISLAND.

BOARD OF EDUCATION.——H0n. J. A. Mathieson, K. C., President; Hon. James A. MacNeill, Hon. Murdoch McKinnon, Hon. S. R. Jenkins, M.D., Hon. A. E. Arsenault, Hon. H.D. McEwen, Hon. M. Kennedy, Hon. Chas. Dalton, Hon. L. Wood, S. N. Robertson, M.A., L.L.D., Principal of Prince of Wales Col- lege; R. H. Campbell, B. A., Superintendent of Education, (absent); H. H. Shaw, B.S.C., Acting Superintendent.

Secretary—Mr. P. S. Bradley,

CHARLOTTETOWN SCHOOL BOARD. —Henry Smith, Chairman; Hon. S. R. Jenkins, M. D., T. C. James, Edwin Aitken, J. J. John- stone,J. P. Gordon and]. W. P. McMillan, M. D.

SUMMERSIDE SCHOOL BOARD.—William Stewart, Chairman ; C. E. Strong, J. L. McCullough, Neil McLeod, A. E. Baker, A. W. Leard.

The first movement towards a public school system for Prince Edward Island was made in the year 1804, when land on which to build a college in Charlottetown was granted by Lieut. Governor Fanning. The College Square was then set apart for the purpose of “laying the foundation of a College thereon for the education of the youth in the learned languages, the liberal arts and sciences and all the branches of useful and polite literature.” But not until the year 1825 did the Legislature undertake to assist in the educa- tion of children throughout the Island. An Act passed in that year authorized the payment of small grants of public money to aid the people in the erection of school houses and in the payment of teachers. But the responsibility of the parents for the payment of teachers' salaries was continued until the year 1852. Meantime an Act was passed to provide for the inspection of Schools. Mr. John McNeill, Chief Clerk of the House of Assembly, was thereupon ap- pointed tO the office of “ School Visitor." He visited, annually, all the schools on the Island until the year 1847 ; and the informa- tion he supplied in his annual reports aided materially in the devel- opment of a system of public schools.

A Board of Education, consisting of five members, was estab- lished as early as 1830, and provision was made for an extension of educational grants to the Acadian Schools. Provision was also