REPORT FOR EASTERN SECTION. 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     Board of Education, 
     
     THURSDAY, March 30, 1865. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Extract from Minutes of the Board. 
     
    
   
   
    
     The Report of the Visitor of Schools for the Eastern Section of the Island, was this day laid before the 
     
    
   
   
    
     Board, by a member. 
     
    
   
   
    
     The details of the state of the Schools reported on, appear to be full, but the 
     
    
   
   
    
     Board regrets that this report has not been received at an earlier period, so that it might have been trans- 
     
    
   
   
    
     mitted to the Legislature In proper time. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Certified, 
     
     JOH N McNEILL, Sec’y. 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     GENTLEMEN , 
     
    
   
   
    
     In compliance with your “Order,” IJcspectfully 
     
     submit a Precis of my services in the last Quarter. 
     
     lvisited forty-eight Districts which were not in- 
     
     cluded in my last Report, as I was unable to com- 
     
     plete the inspection of all the schools in my Circuit. 
     
     I found four schools vacant, and eight suspended; 
     
     the Teachers absent had the sanction of their res- 
     
     ective Trustees, with the exception of Mr. Angus 
     
     McDonald, Big Cape, who had been remarkably 
     
     irregular in his attendance. I remonstrated with R. 
     
     McIntyre, Esq., chairman ofthe board of Trustees, 
     
     to inform his colleagues of the notorious breach of 
     
     trust imputed to them. I expressed surprise that 
     
     they signed their Teacher’s quarterly certificates, 
     
     and I urged him to close their School-house, which 
     
     was in a dilapidated condition. 
     
     The School in the adjacent District, Cable Head, 
     
    
   
   
    
     was better attended by the master and scholars, who, 
     
    
   
   
    
     were crammed within a ship’s round/louse, I ordered 
     
     this school to be also closed, until suitable accommo- 
     
     dations would be provided. One of the Trustees 
     
     who was present at the examination, promised to 
     
     call a general meeting of the inhabitants, to devise 
     
     ways and means to remedy this deplorable grievance. 
     
    

    
     I regret to have to report that, an instt tcient 
     
     school-house, is the rule, not the exception, in the 
     
     section of districts to which this report refers. 
     
    

    
     In this condensed summary, I do not give the sta- 
     
     tistics in detail, as Iintend to submit, in my next 
     
     report, an exposition ofthe general method ofteach- 
     
     ing. l perceived a uniform, mechanical routine so 
     
     prevalent, that I consider the common p'aetice 
     
     ought to be discontinued—4nd I will suggest such 
     
     improvements as I suppose desirable and practic- 
     
     able 1 also would respectfully invite your attention 
     
    
   
   
    
     To the Board of Education. 
     
    
   
   
    
     to the policy of cancelling agreements, and of the 
     
     concession ol'the privilege of " making up lost time." 
     
     I know that inconvenience has resulted from the 
     
     release of the Teacher from his engagement ; and 
     
     I think that the payment of salaries, subject to 
     
     deductions for vacations, would cause the suspen- 
     
     sions of schools to be “ few and far between;” and 
     
     would relieve the Secretary of your Board from 
     
     extra calculations, in preparing his Schedule for the 
     
     Executive Council, and also the Visitors from dis- 
     
     appointment, in finding seVeral schools closed. The 
     
     Registers of the Schools which this synopsis eul- 
     
     braces, exhibited an enrolment of 1140 pupils, and 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     ,the aggregate attendance, when inspected, was, 
     
     {678. The minutes of the general statistics shall be 
     
     indicated in my next report. . 
     
    

    
     No important changes have occurred in the City 
     
     Schools, butI respectfully renew my suggestions in 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     .previous reports, recommending their classitication; 
     
     there are objections to this reform; but the theory is 
     
     sound, and the organization proposed, practicable. 
     
     At all events, the migration from school to school, 
     
     should be regulated, if not prevented, and a system 
     
     of promotion to classes established. All the schools 
     
     are well attended and as efliciently managed as 
     
     peculiar circumstances allow. 
     
    
   
   
    
     'l‘he. attendance in the head Master’s department, 
     
     .in the Normal School, 37—students, 22; pupils, l5; 
     
     10in Latin and 8 in French. In the Preparatory 
     
     School, taught by Miss McKinnon, there are 47 
     
     pupils—3S girls and 9 boys. 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     I I am obliged to make special reference to 110“- 
     
     days—as there are no definite regulations prescrib- 
     
     ing the time or duration of vacations in the City 
     
     'Schools. In consequence of discord and discussion