POPULATION. England, With 0104 inhabit ants to the square mile, is the most densely popu lated country in the world. The population increased from 11,281,883 in 1821. to 27.483,-490 in 1891 and to 30,805,466 in 1001, in the lat ter year constituting 74.3 per cent. of the popula tion of the United Kingdom, as against 54 per cent. in 1821. The per cent. of increase in the decade ending with 1901 was 12.1, as against 21.7 for the United States in the decade ending with 1900. For the last two dec ades there has been a decided decrease in the birth-rate, but as partially offsetting this there has also been a decrease in the death-rate, and furthermore, the country is actually gaining from tire movement of population. as more people are now coming into England than are going out. The greater portion of the immigrants are front other portions of Great Britain; there are be sides Russian Jews. Poles, Belgians, and Ger mans. The destination of a majority of the emi grants is the United States. In the decade ending in 1900 the total emigration to places outside of Europe amounted to 1,095,498. England is char acterized by its large city population, a larger per cent. being urban than is found in any other country. In 1901, 77 per cent. of the population of England and Wales lived under the jurisdic tion of urban authorities. The following cata logue of cities of 100,000 and over is illustrative of this tendency: roc following table gives the area and popula of the ancient or geographical counties and the per cent. of their growth for the decade ISM Alost of the rural counties register but a small increase: indeed, in some eases an actual decrease is shown: Ent r %vox. The extension of faeilities in England. with adequate opportuni ties for elementary instruction for all, is a reecut de‘elopoiselit. From the first. the question of re ligion ling been one of the most influential factors to determining ;he history of the etilleationid mtemeld. a long time the efforts of the "--1 lie in behalf of tiere enntined almost Nil "II% to gr.uits in rid of ilt Pfiliti111111(11131 nr %Ate ehool It di Het% %there ample selionl .rerun el Ilion. are no prori.l...1, school hoir(1•4 et. d by I he people, who II ilith•• pendent rate-payers being entitled to vote. By the cumulative system of voting. minority religious sects are able to secure representation on the board. School attendance committees are ap pointed in districts where there are no school boards. There is a compulsory act for the attend ance of children of 11 years of age and under and from 12 to 14 there is compulsory attend ance, but with provision for conditional exemp tion. Parliamentary aid is given to poor dis
tricts in which the local rates are not adequate. Aid is also given to voluntary (denominational or private) schools in districts not provided with board schools, the grant being upon the basis of average attendance. In the administrative coun ties, excluding London and the county boroughs, the attendance at the voluntary schools 11111Q11 ex ceeds that of the board schools; but in Loudon and the county boroughs the reverse is true. Tuition, since 1S91. has been practically free. In 1900 the total attendance at the inspected schools was 5,686,114. the average attendance being 4,666,130. Non-sectarian religious instruc tion is given at the board schools; hut such in struction must he either at the beginning or end of the school meeting. and any child may be withdrawn by his parents from such instruction. At the voluntary schools sectarian instruction may be given. In 1900 the control of elementary education was vested in a Board of Education, this body taking the place of the Education De partment and the Department of Science and Art. Illiteracy is rapidly decreasing, as is shown by the decreasing number of persons who sign the marriage registers by mark, these amounting in 1899 to 2.9 per cent. of the males and 3.4 per cent. of the females, Secondary education is not yet organized. Heavy grants have been made for technical edu cation, but the interpretation of the meaning of the term 'technical instruction' was such that it included all secondary education except the dead languages, and thus secondary instruction profit ed from the grants rather than the purely tech nical branches. The evening continuation schools for the most part cover the field of secondary instruction, and have attained a remarkable growth. In 1900, 206.3:15 pupils were in average attendance at 5363 of these evening schools. Much is being done also both in the field of secondary and of higher education by the development of university extension work. The question of means and methods for providing better secondary educational facilities is one of the primary points of consideration in the educational controversy which has become so acute in England.
At the beginning of the nineteenth century Ox ford and Cambridge were the only English uni versities. During that century four others were added, of which London l'niversity, established in 1836, has the largest faculty a-nd attendance of any English university. Durham University was established in 1831, Victoria University in 1880, and Birmingham University in 1900.