practice, is deemed sufficient. On reference to the code it will be seen that the grant is paid on the attendance, the only other condition being that the teacher must hold a certificate from a recognized school of cookery. As many as 18 children-until recently 24-may be taught practically at one time by one teacher. Unless, therefore, the school boards themselves place the subject under supervision-as in a few instances they do-it is left to the average teacher to give any instruction she pleases. It is true that the education department has provided “hints” and “suggestions" for the teaching of the subject, but they are more generally ignored than acted upon. If a foreigner, after paying surprise visits to the cookery classes all over England, were to be asked what he considered from his observations to be the staple dish of the English workingman, he would undoubtedly answer, "rock cakes;" and if asked what he supposed the next in importance, "sausage rolls;" for, unfortunately, it is on rubbish of this kind that much of the limited time allotted to cookery is spent. "The children will buy these," explains the teacher, "and the board object to having any loss on the food cooked." If a stew is taught, the great advantages of stewing are dwelt on, but rarely seen. "There is not time to get the meat tender in the lesson," is the reason given. That the "best part of the potato lies next the skin," is invariably taught, but I have never, once seen potatoes cooked in their skins, which is the surest way of preserving this best part. The teaching generally is extremely fragmentary, consisting of a few miscellaneous dishes arranged without method or adequate repetition. It can not, therefore, be considered that the teaching in elementary schools has reached the state of efficiency that could be desired. It is true that in some places the results are as satisfactory as possible under existing circumstances-that a class in this district, or those under that board, may be pointed out as doing useful work; but, speaking generally, the results are not good, and are not calculated to have any beneficial effect on the community. But how can this state of things be remedied? The first step would be the examination and inspection of all elementary classes receiving a grant for cookery. This, as in other subjects, would give an incentive to work, which is now lacking. It would weed out the bad teachers and encourage the good. The grant being paid on results, as well as attendance, the school boards would not retain teachers incapable of producing results. This would lead to more favorable arrangements with regard to the time allotted to the subject; and this, again, would have its effect on the training of teachers, for undoubtedly one great cause of the failure in the teaching of cookery is the incompetence of the average teacher. Most unfortunately for the general improvement of our English cookery, the training of teachers has been hitherto more a matter of philanthropic enterprise than of business. It is impossible to speak too highly of the energy and devotion many ladies and gentlemen have given to the subject; but their zeal in the majority of cases has been in excess of their knowledge, with the result that the system of training generally adopted is not calculated to produce experts, nor even fair amateurs— hundreds of young women (many mere girls) being turned out as certified teachers, not only of all branches of cookery, but of the chemistry of food and physiology, in less time than it would take to train an efficient kitchen maid in a gentleman's kitchen. As a consequence we find that the average cookery teacher has no knowl edge of cookery in any true sense of the word-no grip of her subject. # At the present time there are some twenty-four training schools of cookery, many of which have sprung up with fungus-like rapidity during the last few years under the auspices of county councils, and which, in the majority of cases, have obtained recognition of their diplomas through affiliation with other schools. None of these are Government schools, all being under the management of committees of ladies and gentlemen; although during the last three years a step has been made in the right direction by putting them under inspection. So long as they do not grant certificates to the regularly trained teachers on less than a period of six months' instruction-four hundred and eighty hours of twenty hours a week, one month of this time being spent in practical class teaching-they are free, with very trifling restrictions, to arrange their own systems and to train and examine in any manner they please. In some instances the practical examinations are conducted by the members of the committees themselves, who not infrequently know less than those they examine. In many of the schools a great portion of the instruction is given by the pupils themselves, who are generally but a few weeks in advance of those they teach. I need scarcely point out the extreme mischievousness of such a practice. Undoubtedly a second step toward the improvement of cookery teaching would be in the education department taking entire control of the subject, so far as its own teaching is concerned, conducting its own examinations, and granting its own diplomas. At first the subject of cookery teaching was more or less experimental, but now, when the subject has been taught for upward of twenty years, whatever need might have existed in times past for the department to recognize diplomas granted on varying standards, the time has surely come for it to fix its own standard and to expect the schools to conform to it. Unquestionably the examinations would have to be of a very thorough character, otherwise the position of affairs would be made worse than at present. It is not advisable in the interests of any subject that Government recognition should be given to other than the best; certainly not with regard to cookery. It would, I think, be scarcely too much to require that the applicant for a certificate should be able to cook well any joint usually seen on English tables, any vegetables in ordinary use, any fish easily obtained; that she should be able to make plain soups and stews, porridge, cookery for the sick room, bread, ordinary puddings, pastry, etc., and that, as the preparation of meals is the chief object of cookery, she should be able to prepare a simple dinner and dish it in a given time. The preparation of a meal bears the same relation to cookery as the making of a garment does to needlework—it is a test of how far knowledge can be put to a practical purpose. (Contemporary, January, 1898, p. 109.) CHAPTER IV. EDUCATION IN CANADA.1 For previous articles on Education in Canada see the following: Education in Ontario, Report 1892-93, Vol. 1, Chapter VI. Notes on Education at the Columbian Exposition, ibid, Chapter X, pages 1213-1215. Manitoba school question, Report 1894-95, Vol. 1, Chapter VII. TOPICAL OUTLINE.-Current statistics and general survey of education in the Canadian provinces. Brief outline of the systems of individual provinces, showing for each the character of the central and the local control, requirements for teachers, and sources of school income, and additional historical or statistical particulars in respect to the systems of Ontario, Quebec, and Manitoba. Tabular presentation of institutions for higher education in Canada. By the British North American act of 1867, the right to legislate on matters respecting education was left to the governments of the four provinces, which were then united under the general name of Dominion of Canada. The same privilege extends also to the provinces that have since entered the confederation. The principal statistics of the public or elementary schools in the several provinces, as presented in the latest reports, are as follows: b Also $96,863 for school e Boys, 32,315; girls, 29, 603. also $29,405 for construction, repair, and furnishing schoolhouses. buildings and furniture. d Boys, 52,316; girls, 48.716. e Also $386, 143 for sites and school buildings. f Boys, 12,145; girls, 9,993. g Also $5,577 for school buildings. h Also 91,997 in model schools and academies. i Also 76,235 in model schools and academies. j Lay teachers. There are also in Catholic schools many teachers belonging to religious orders. The public institutions for the deaf and dumb and the blind were reported in 1895 as follows: a New Brunswick supported 16 pupils in the school for the blind at Halifax, Nova Scotia, at an of $948. expense Except British Columbia all the provinces of the Dominion have one or more universities, and several colleges which prepare for university degrees. 'Prepared by Miss Anna Tolman Smith. The enrollment in public high schools included in the former table and in normal schools not therein included was as follows: Teachers' institutes are maintained in the several provinces, the expense being borne in part by public appropriations. In Ontario, 75 institutes were held in 1895, comprising 7,383 members, on a total teaching force of 8,913. The receipts amounted to $13,623, of which the government contributed $2,125, and municipalities $2,302. In Ontario, kindergartens have been made an integral part of the public-school system. They numbered 95 in 1895, with 201 teachers, an enrollment of 9,501 children, and an average attendance of 3,646. In Nova Scotia, 587 pupils are also reported in public kindergartens. In all the provinces there is a steady increase of school provision and continual improvement in the schools and in the means for securing school attendance. The particulars presented in the following tables serve as an index of the general tendencies: The proportional parts of the school income from the government grant and local sources at different dates was as follows: |