examination was The sum therefore to be allowed to the guardians from the Parliamentary Grant on your behalf for the year ending Lady-day, 185-, according to the scale laid down by the Poor Law Board and the Committee of Council, will be £

To

M

I have the honor to be your obedient servant,

This Certificate will be required to be produced to H. M. Inspector when he visits the school again. You will therefore carefully preserve it.

NOTE. Whenever the teacher may cease to hold the present appointment, the board of guardians are to state at the foot hereof, their opinion of his or her general character and conduct, and the circumstances under which he or she relinquished the appointment.

This is to testify that*

Signed by direction of the board of guardians this day of

-18-.

Clerk to the Guardians. The lords commissioners of her Majesty's Treasury made a communication to the poor law board in the month of March 1848, in reference to workhouse teachers, of which the following is an extract :

"If any parishes, not under your control and superintendence, desire to participate in the grant of parliament, such benefit should not be extended in any cases until the amount of the salaries proposed to be paid to the schoolmasters and schoolmistresses, and the medical officers, shall have been reported to you, and your approval of such salaries shall have been first obtained."

Nor should any sum be paid out of the grant to any person employed in unions or parishes for instructing paupers who shall not have been duly appointed to the office of schoolmaster or schoolmistress, and the amount of their salaries been sanction ed by you.

"My lords consider the proper education of the poor in the several unions and parishes to be of such vital importance, that if any of the unions or parishes should neglect to appoint competent persons to the offices of schoolmaster and schoolmistress, or should fail in allowing those who reside in the workhouse the same quality and amount of rations as are allowed to the master and matron, their lordships will feel themselves justified, upon repre sentation being made to them of any such neglect or default, to withhold the benefit of the grant of parliament from any union or parish so acting.

My lords also consider it very desirable, to ensure orderly conduct amongst the children in the workhouses, that in all cases where it is practicable, the schoolmasters and schoolmistresses should reside in the workhouses."

* If this certificate should be proposed without this Testimonial being filled up, it will be proper that an enquiry should be made of the Poor Law Board, or the Board of Guardians, as to the circumstances under which the teacher quitted his or her office.

The following are the duties of a schoolmaster and schoolmistress as laid down by the poor law commissioners :—

No. 1. To instruct the boys and girls in reading, writing, arithmetic, and the principles of the Christian religion for at least three of the working hours every day, and to impart to them such other instruction as may fit them for service, and train them to habits of usefulness, industry, and virtue. No. 2. To regulate the discipline and arrangements of the school, and the industrial and moral training of the children, subject to the direction of the guardians.

No. 3. To accompany the children when they quit the workhouse for exercise, or for attendance at public worship, unless the guardians shall otherwise direct.

No. 4. To keep the children clean in their persons, and orderly and decorous in their conduct.

No. 5. To assist the master and matron respectively in maintaining due subordination in the workhouse.

Such duties only as can be distinctly pointed out have been assigned by the poor law board to workhouse teachers; and to those duties the board have added a general expression as to the assistance to be rendered to the master and matron in preserving due subordination in the house.

Various services will constantly arise for the teachers to perform, of a light character, no way derogatory to the situations which they fill, yet affording assistance to the master and matron in the management of the house. It is not practicable, nor perhaps is it desirable, to specify those duties in detail, as they can scarcely be deemed precisely duties which the teachers could be compelled to perform. The precise line of duty is prescribed by the above regulations, and any other service rendered would be voluntary on the part of the officer.

It must be borne in mind, however, that if the teachers are required to render menial services, or services derogatory to the character of a teacher of the young, their salaries would not be repaid to the guardians out of the parliamentary grant.

IX.-NURSE.

The nurse must be able to read written directions on medicines; and the following are the duties appertaining to the office :No. 1. To attend upon the sick in the sick and lying-in-wards, and to administer to them all medicines and medical applications, according to the directions of the medical officer. No. 2. To inform the medical officer of any defects which may be observed in the arrangements of the sick or lying-in ward. No. 3. To take care that a light is kept at night in the sick ward. under your care during the year preceding the date of your

X.-PORTER.

The following are the duties of this officer:

No. 1. To keep the gate, and to prevent any person, not being an officer of the workhouse, or of the union, an assistant poor law commissioner, or any person authorized by law, or by the commissioners, or guardians, from entering into, or going out of, the house, without the leave of the master or matron. No. 2. To keep a book in which he shall enter the name and business of every officer or other person who shall go into the workhouse, and the name of every officer or other person who shall go out thereof, together with time of such officer's or person's going in or out.

No. 3. To receive all paupers who apply, or present themselves, for admission, and if the master and matron be both absent, to place such paupers in the receiving ward until the master

or matron return.

No. 4. To examine all parcels and goods before they are received into the workhouse, and prevent the admission of any spirituous or fermented liquors, or other articles contrary to any of the regulations contained in the General Consolidated Order of the poor law commissioners, or otherwise contrary to law.

No. 5. To search any male pauper entering or leaving the workhouse whom he may suspect of having possession of any spirits or other prohibited articles, and to require any other person entering the workhouse whom he may suspect of having possession of any such spirits or prohibited articles, to satisfy him to the contrary before he permit such person to be admitted, and in the case of any female, to cause the matron to be called for the purpose of searching her, if necessary. No. 6. To examine all parcels taken by any pauper out of the workhouse, and to prevent the undue removal of any article from the premises.

No. 7. To lock all the outer doors, and take the keys to the master, at nine o'clock every night, and to receive them back from him every morning at six o'clock, or at such hours as shall from time to time be fixed by the guardians; and if application for admission to the workhouse be made after the keys shall have been so taken to the master, to apprise the master forthwith of such application.

No. 8. To assist the master and matron in preserving order, and in enforcing obedience and due subordination in the Workhouse.

No. 9. To inform the master of all things affecting the security and order of the workhouse, and to obey all lawful directions of the master or matron, and of the guardians, suitable to his office.

XI.-RELIEVING OFFICER.

This officer must be above twenty-one years of age, and be able to keep accounts, reside in the district for which he may be appointed to act, devote his whole time to the performance of the duties of his office, and abstain from following any trade or profession, and from entering into any other service; and he must undertake to give one month's notice previous to resigning his office or to forfeit one month's pay.

The 13 & 14 Vict. c. 101, s. 6, disqualifies a relieving officer from being appointed an overseer of the poor, constable, or to any other parochial office; and by the 9th section of the same statute persons assaulting a relieving officer in the due execution of his duty are liable to the same punishment as is provided by law for an assault upon a peace or revenue officer.

The following are the duties of this officer :

No. 1. To attend all ordinary meetings of the guardians, and to attend all other meetings when summoned by the clerk. No. 2. To receive all applications for relief made to him within his district, or relating to any parish situated within his district, and forthwith to examine into the circumstances of every case by visiting the house of the applicant (if situated within his district), and by making all necessary inquiries into the state of health, the ability to work, the condition and family, and the means of such applicant, and to report the result of such inquiries in the prescribed form, to the guardians at their next ordinary meeting; and also to visit from time to time, as requisite, all paupers receiving relief, and to report concerning the same as the guardians may direct.

No. 3. In any case of sickness or accident requiring relief by medical attendance, to procure such attendance by giving an order on the district medical officer, or by such other means as the urgency of the case may require.

No. 4. To ascertain from time to time from the district medical officer, the names of any poor persons whom such medical officer may have attended or supplied with medicines, without having received an order from himself to that effect.

No. 5. In every case of a poor person receiving medical relief, as soon as may be, and from time to time afterwards, to visit the house of such person, and until the next ordinary meeting of the guardians, to supply such relief (not being in money)

as the case on his own view, or on the certificate of the district medical officer, may seem to require.

No. 6. In every case of sudden or urgent necessity, to afford such relief to the destitute person as may be requisite, either by giving such person an order of admission into the workhouse, and conveying him thereto if necessary, or by affording him relief out of the workhouse, provided that the same be not given in money, whether such destitute person be settled in any parish comprised in the union or not.

No. 7. To report to the guardians at their next ordinary meeting all cases reported to him by an overseer, and to obey the directions of the guardians with reference to the relief administered in such cases.

No. 8. To perform the duties with respect to pauper apprentices prescribed by Arts. 60, 61, and 62 of the General Consolidated Order of the Poor Law Commissioners.

No. 9. To give all reasonable aid and assistance at the request of any other relieving officer of the union, by examining into the case of any applicant for relief, or administering relief to any pauper whose name has been entered on the books of such other relieving officer, and who may be within his own district. No. 10. Duly and punctually to supply the weekly allowances of all paupers belonging to his district, or being within the same; and to pay or administer the relief of all paupers within his district, to the amount and in the manner in which, he may have been lawfully ordered by the guardians to pay or administer the same.

No 11. To visit, relieve, and otherwise attend to non-settled poor, being within his district, according to the directions of the guardians, whose officer he is, and in no other way, subject always to the obligation imposed on him in cases of sudden or urgent necessity.

No. 12. To set apart one or more pages in his out-door relief list, in which he shall duly and punctually enter up the payments made by authority of his own board of guardians to non-settled poor, and to take credit for such payments in his receipt and expenditure book.

No. 13. To present his weekly accounts to the clerk for his inspection and authentication before every ordinary meeting of the guardians, and to the guardians, at such meeting, for their approval.

No. 14. To submit to the auditor of the union all his books, accounts, and vouchers, at the place of audit, and at such time, and in such manner, as may be required by the regulations of the commissioners.