EDUCATION. Great attention is given to educa tion, and the educational system is complete in scope. progressive in spirit, and efficient in ad ministration. The taxpayers elect local boards of trustees, who have immediate control of the schools, but they are administered in accordance with the general regulations of the Minister of Education, and all follow a uniform course of study, use the same text-books, and are taught by teachers who have passed the provincial examination. The schools are free. and attend ance is compulsory. Under certain conditions both Catholics and Protestants may establish separate schools which will be supported from the public taxes and appropriations (such schools continuing under the control of the Minister of Education). The exercise of this privilege, how ever, has not become common, nearly nine-tenths of the school children attending the unsectarian schools. Since 1898 the province has expended an average exceeding 89 per pupil of the total attendance. About two-thirds of this is raised by local taxes. the greater part of the remainder being the income from lands originally set apart as clergy reserves or for school purposes, and the smaller part being the annual legislative grant. There are additional aids to 'poor sec tions.' and the policy of pensioning superannuated
teachers has long been in vogue. All the schools are in the hands of trained two-thirds of whom are females, the Government having provided for their training through the main tenance of 55 county model schools, two normal schools, and one normal college. The breadth of the public school system is shown in that it extends from the kindergartens (of which there are 119) to the university, and includes (besides those mentioned above) high schools, night schools, and an agricultural college, the last being located at Guelph. Instruction in agri enIture is becoming common in the rural schools. The school course provides the rudiments of a business education, and manual training is being introduced. Toronto University and College is at the head of the provincial school system, and has affiliated with it a number of demoninational institutions, including Saint Michael's College (Catholic), Wycliffe College and Huron College (Episcopalian), Knox College (Presbyterian), and Victoria University (Methodist). There are a number of other private and sectarian colleges in the province, including the historic Upper Canada College, located at Toronto.