SCHOOLS OF BRITAIN AND IRELAND.
Miles, Iowa.
How do the public school privileges of Ireland compare with those of England?
H. G. Bryant.
Answer.—The total population of Ireland in 1881 was 5,159,839. The total number of national schools in 1880 was 7,590, with 1,083,020 pupils, aided by a parliamentary grant of £722,366, or about $3,611,830. The population of Great Britain proper—England, Wales and Scotland—was 29,703,859 in 1881, and the number of public schools inspected in 1880 was 20,670, with an attendance of 3,155,534 pupils. The parliamentary grant amounted to £2,468,077, or about $12,340,385, so that the parliamentary grant in aid of primary education in Ireland is about 70 cents per capita of the total population, while for England, Wales and Scotland it is only about 41 cents. The above figures cover only the national schools for elementary instruction, in addition to which there are hundreds of parochial, or denominational and private schools in both countries. In Ireland, in 1880, there were 158 workhouse schools under the superintendency of the National Board, with an enrollment of 16,945, and an average attendance of 8,880. There were fifty-two industrial schools in 1879, with 4,979 inmates. There were in 1880, ninety-four school farms, nineteen school gardens, and a large number of agricultural schools under local management. The total number of pupils who entered the examination in agriculture in 1880 was 33,648, of whom 15,652 passed. The statistics of industrial schools in England, Wales, and Scotland are not conveniently obtainable.
SUNLIGHT OVERFLOWS THE HEMISPHERE.
Happy Hollow, Ill.
The sun being so much larger than the earth, does not a little more than one-half of the earth’s surface receive its rays at the same time?
W. C. Colgrove.