WESTPORT AND CHARLESTON SCHOOLS.

Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 547, 26 August 1869, Page 2

WESTPORT AND CHARLESTON SCHOOLS.

The Provincial Inspector of Schools, in his annual report, gives the following return of the numbers, age, and proficiency of the children attending the Government school at Westport: —194 attended school, 39 under 7 years of age, 82 from 7 to 9 years, 39 from 9 to 12, and 14 aged 12 and upwards. Heading—l 49 beginning, 26 moderate, 19 good. Writing—--41 beginning, 17 moderate, 4 good. Arithmetic—simple rules 2G, compound rules 9, proportion and practice 10, fractions, decimals, &c, 0. Geography, history, and grammar, 31. Of the Charleston and Brighton schools the Inspector says : —" An interesting experiment is now being carried on at the West Coast. It was felt that the attempt to proclaim education districts and to impose rates in places like Charleston, for instance, where gold-mining is actually going on in the heart of the township, and where a large proportion of the population is dwelling in tents, would be found to be beset with all sorts of difficulties in practice. It has been resolved, therefore, to grant a small subsidy to each of the two schools already established in Charleston, and to provide books and maps at the outset; the teacher's salary being supplemented by school fees, not to exceed a scale fixed by the Board. Au offer of similar assistance has also been made to a school to bo established at Brighton. Such schools are of course open to inspection, and it is distinctly understood that the grant will be continued only so long as the schools are efficiently conducted. What renders the success or failure of tins experiment a matter of so much importance to the community, is the certainty that any considerable diminution of the annual Provincial grant would ho attended with ono of three results either a large proportion of the smaller schools must be closed, or it would become necessary to impose a higher education rate, or some modification of the plan above described must be adopted generally."