INTRODUCTION. THE Bill" to provide for Elementary Education in England and Wales" was brought in by the Right Hon. W. E. Forster, the Vice-President of the Committee on Education, on the 17th of February, 1870. After many lengthy debates, and with considerable modifications of the original scheme, the Bill was read the third time in the House of Commons on the 22nd of July; it rapidly passed through its several stages in the House of Lords, and on the 9th of August, 1870, received the Royal Assent. The Elementary Education Act, 1873, the Elementary Education (Orders) Act, 1874, which contain some new clauses and certain alterations of the law which a practical working of the Act of 1870 showed to be necessary, were subsequently passed. The Elementary Education Act of 1876, which was passed on the 15th of August, 1876, came into operation on the 1st of January, 1877. Its chief object is to afford additional means for securing the attendance of children at school, especially in districts where there are no school boards, or where there are no bye-laws in force as to school attendance. The following statement gives the general effect of the leading provisions in the four Acts of 1870, 1873, 1874, and 1876: - PART I. SCHOOL DISTRICTS AND SCHOOL BOARDS. Constitution of School Districts. The whole of England and Wales, for the purposes of the Education Acts, is divided into districts, termed "school B districts." The districts thus constituted by the Act of 1870, are the metropolis; every borough, except Oxford, subject to the Municipal Corporations Act, 1835; the district of the local board of Oxford; and each parish not included in the metropolis or a municipal borough other than Oxford (33 & 34 Vict., c. 75, sec. 4). It has since been enacted that the Borough of Wenlock shall not be deemed to be a borough, and that the elections. for school boards within the borough shall take place in the manner provided for a parish (37 & 38 Vict., c. 39). There are also the following exceptions:— 1. When a parish is partly within and partly without a municipal borough, the part outside the borough is to be deemed a parish by itself, and consequently a separate school district (33 & 34 Vict., c. 75, sec. 77; 39 & 40 Vict., c. 79, sec. 49); and 2. Where a part of a parish is detached from the principal part of the parish, and the Education Department with the consent of the Local Government Board have so directed, each part of the parish is in like manner, for the purposes of the Education Acts, a separate parish (36 & 37 Vict., c. 86, sec. 12; 39 & 40 Vict., c. 79, sec. 49). It may be added that when the Education Department deem it expedient, they may by order form a " united school district" by uniting any two or more adjoining school districts; and when a united school district is formed, it is to be deemed a school district, and substituted for the school districts which are comprised in it (33 & 34 Vict., c. 75, sec. 40). Proceedings preliminary to Formation of School Boards. School districts being thus constituted, it devolves upon the Education Department to take steps to insure the provision of a sufficient amount of accommodation in public elementary schools available for all the children resident in each district, for whose elementary education efficient and suitable provision is not otherwise made. The term "elementary school" is defined as meaning a school or department of a school at which elementary education is the principal part of the education there given. It does not, however, include any school or department of a school at which the ordinary payments in respect of the instruction, from each scholar, exceed ninepence a week (33 & 34 Vict., c. 75, sec. 3). An elementary school conducted in accordance with certain regulations is to be deemed a "public elementary school;" and no school which does not come within that term will receive any payment from the Parliamentary Grant. The regulations referred to are to the following effect:1. It is not to be required as a condition of the admission or continuance of any child in the school, (1) That he shall attend or abstain from attending any Sunday school or any place of religious worship; or (2) That he shall, if withdrawn by his parent, attend 2. The religious observance or instruction in religious subjects in the school is only to take place at the beginning or at the end, or both at the beginning and end of the meetings of the school. The times for the religious observance or instruction are to be inserted in a time-table, to be approved by the Education Department, and to be kept permanently and conspicuously affixed in every schoolroom. No child withdrawn by his parent from any religious observance or instruction is to forfeit any of the other benefits of the school. 3. The school is to be open at all times to the inspection of one of Her Majesty's Inspectors of Schools; but it is to be no part of the duties of the inspector to inquire into any instruction in religious subjects given at the school, or examine any scholar in religious knowledge or in any religious subject or book. 4. The school is to be conducted in accordance with the conditions which are required to be fulfilled by an elementary school in order to obtain an annual Parliamentary Grant (33 & 34 Vict., c. 75, sec. 7). With the view of enabling the Education Department to obtain the requisite information as to the amount of public school accommodation required for each school district, they are empowered to call for returns containing such particulars with respect to the elementary schools and children requiring elementary education in the district as they deem necessary (33 & 34 Vict., c. 75, secs. 8, 67). The duty of furnishing these returns devolves on certain "local authorities "-in the metropolis, the school board; in boroughs, with the exception of Oxford and Wenlock, the council; in Oxford, the local board; and in parishes not included in those districts, the overseers of the poor, or persons specially appointed for the purpose by the vestry of the parish on the requisition of the Education Department. The local authority are empowered to call upon the managers or principal teacher of every school in their district to furnish returns for the purposes of the Acts; and the local authority, with the sanction of the Education Department, may employ persons to assist in making the returns, and pay them for their services such remuneration as the Treasury may approve. That remuneration, together with any other expenses connected with the preparation of the returns which may be sanctioned by the Treasury, is to be paid by the Education Department (33 & 34 Vict., c. 75, secs. 68, 69). In the event of the local authority failing to make the required returns, the Education Department may appoint persons for the purpose. They may also appoint inspectors to inquire into the accuracy and completeness of returns, and into the efficiency and suitability of schools included in or improperly omitted from returns. The inspectors may also examine the scholars in any such school (33 & 34 Vict., c. 75, secs. 70, 71). If the Education Department think it desirable, they may themselves, in any case where they are empowered to require the local authority to furnish a return, appoint a person to |