Annulling Certificates.

(5) To annul any such certificate as the board may judge expedient.

Conditions of Certificates.

99. Every such certificate of qualification shall have the signature of at least one local superintendent of schools ;*

Teachers to be moral, and to be Subjects of Her Majesty. But no such certificate shall be given to any person as a teacher, who does not furnish satisfactory proof of good moral character, or who, at the time of applying for such certificate, is not a natural born or naturalized subject of Her Majesty, or who does not produce a certificate of having taken the oath of allegiance to Her Majesty, before a Justice of the Peace for the county in which such person resides.†

or United Counties] of for a certificate of qualification to teach a common school, and having produced "satisfactory proof of good moral character," the Board has carefully examined [him or her] in the several branches of study enumerated in the "qualification of [first, second. or third, as the case may be] class teachers," contained in the "programme" of the examination and classification of teachers of common schools, adopted by the Council of Public Instruction for Upper Canada, on the third day of October, 1850; and revised on the seventeenth day of December, 1858; and having found the said

well qualified to teach the several branches named therein, the Board, as authorized by the ninety-eighth section of the Upper Canada Consolidated Common School Act, hereby licenses [him or her] to teach any common school in the

[If a first class certificate, here insert the name of the county, school circuit, united counties, or city; if a second class certificate, the name of the township; and if a third class certificate, the name of the school section in which the candidate is authorized to teach-all to be determined at the discretion of the Board.]

This certificate of qualification to remain in force [for one year from the date thereof, or until annulled according to law-the period and the class of the certifi cate granted, to be determined by circumstances.]

Dated this day of.

one thousand eight hundred and sixty

N.B.-The ninety-ninth section of the Upper Canada Consolidated Common School Act, requires each certificate to have the signature of at least one Local Superintendent of Schools. (See above.) It should also be signed by the Chairman of the Board of Public Instruction.

*The tenth clause of the ninety-first section of this Act, page 89, authorizes local superintendents to grant special certificates of qualification in certain cases, until the next meeting of the county board. But no local superintendent can lawfully grant a special certificate to any person who has been rejected by the circuit or county board.

The following is the form of the oath of allegiance prescribed by the Act 22 Vict. chap. 8, sec. 2, of the Consolidated Statutes of Canada:

I, A. B., do sincerely promise and swear (or, being one of the persons allowed by law to affirm in judicial cases;§ do affirm) that I will be faithful and bear true

§ By the Act 22 Vict. chap. 32, sec. 1, of the Consolidated Statutes of Upper Canada, it is enacted that a Quaker, Menonist, or Tunker, or a member of the Church known as the 'Unitas Fratrum,' or the United Brethren, sometimes called the Moravian Church, having first made the following declaration or affirmation, viz., "I, A. B., do solemnly, sincerely, and truly declare and affirm that I am one of the Society called" Quakers, Menonists, &c, (as the case may be), may make his affirmation or declaration, and such affirmation or declaration shall have the same force and effect as an oath taken in the usua form.

PART VIII.-SCHOOL VISITORS AND THEIR DUTIES.

School Visitors Defined.

100. All Clergymen recognized by law, of whatever denomination, all Judges, Members of the Legislature, Magistrates, Members of County Councils, and Aldermen, shall be school visitors in the townships, cities, towns, and villages where they respectively reside; but persons holding the commission of the peace for the county only, shall not be school visitors within towns and cities; and each clergyman shall be a school visitor only in the township, town, or city where he has pastoral charge.

Who are Visitors of Roman Catholic Separate Schools.

[100. The Roman Catholic Separate School Act of 1863, declares that: 23. "All Judges, members of the Legislature, the heads of the municipal bodies in their respective localities, the Chief Superintendent and Local Superintendent of Com. mon Schools, and clergymen of the Roman Catholic Church, shall be visitors of Separate Schools."1

Their authority to visit the Common Schools.

101. Each of the school visitors may visit the public school in the township, city, town, or village; and may attend the quarterly examination of schools, and, at the time of any such visit, may examine the progress of the pupils, and the state and management of the school, and give such advice to the teacher and pupils, and any others present, as he thinks advisable, in accordance with the regulations and instructions provided in regard to school visitors.*

General Meeting of School Visitors.

102. A general meeting of the Visitors may be held at any time or place appointed by any two Visitors, on sufficient notice being given to the other Visitors in the township, city, town, or village; and the Visitors, thus assembled, may devise such means as they deem expeallegiance to Her Majesty Queen Victoria as lawful Sovereign of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and of the Province of Canada, dependent on and belonging to the said United Kingdom; and that I will defend Her to the utmost of my power against all traitorous conspiracies and attempts whatever which shall be made against Her Person, Crown and Dignity; and that I will do my utmost endeavour to disclose and make known to Her Majesty, Her Heirs and Successors, all treasons and traitorous conspiracies and attempts which I shall know to be against Her or any of them; and all this I do swear, without any equivocation, mental evasion, or secret reservation, and renouncing all pardons and dispensations from any person or persons whatever to the contrary. So help me God.

* Teachers are required to give Visitors notice of these examinations. See page 79.

dient for the efficient visitation of the schools, and for promoting the establishment of Libraries and the diffusion of useful knowledge.*

PART IX.-DUTIES OF THE CHIEF SUPERINTENDENT OF EDUCATION.

A Chief Superintendent to be appointed.

103. The Governor may, from time to time, by Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the Province, appoint a fit and proper person to be Chief Superintendent of Education for Upper Canada, who shall hold the office during pleasure, and shall receive a salary

*1. The foregoing sections of the Upper Canada Consolidated Common School Act prescribes who shall be school visitors, and also their lawful duties.

2. The parties thus authorized to act as visitors, have it in their power to exert an immense influence in elevating the character and promoting the efficiency of the schools, by identifying themselves with them, by visiting them, by encouraging the pupils, aiding and counselling teachers, and impressing upon parents their interests and duties in the education of their offspring. In visiting schools, however, visitors should, in no instance, speak disparagingly of the instructions or management of the teacher in the presence of the pupils; but if they think it necessary to give any advice to the teacher, they should do it privately. They are also desired to communicate to the local or Chief Superintendent anything which they shall think important to the interests of any school visited by them. The law recommends visitors "to attend the Quarterly Examinations of the schools." It is hoped that all visitors will feel it both a duty and a privilege to aid, on such occasions, by their presence and influence. While it is competent to a visitor to engage in any exercises which shall not be objected to by the authorities of the school, it is expected that no visitor will introduce on any such occasion any thing calculated to wound or give offence to the feelings of any class of his fellow Christians.

3. The local superintendents are school visitors by virtue of their office, and their comprehensive duties, as such, are stated with sufficient minuteness in the ninety-first section of the Upper Cadada Consolidated Common School Act, (pages 84-91). While each local superintendent makes the careful enquiries and examinations required by law, and gives privately to the teacher and trustees such advice as he may deem expedient, and such counsel and encouragement to the pupils, as circumstances may suggest, he will exhibit a courteous and conciliatory conduct towards all persons with whom he is to communicate, and pursue such a line of conduct as will tend to uphold the just influence and authority both of trustees and teachers.

4. Too strong a recommendation can not be given to the establishment of circulating libraries in the various townships and school sections. A township library, with auxiliaries in each school section, might, by means of a comparatively small sum, supply popular and useful reading for the young people of a whole township. It is submitted to the serious attention of all school visitors, as well as trustees, and other friends of the diffusion of useful knowledge. See the Departmental notices appended.

H

of the same amount as the Superintendent of Education in Lower Canada.

His responsibility to the Government.

104. The Chief Superintendent shall be responsible to, and subject to the direction of the Governor, communicated through any department of the Provincial Government.

He is allowed Clerks.

105. The Chief Superintendent shall be allowed two clerks, who shall receive the same salaries as are attached to similar offices in Lower Canada, and he shall account for the contingent expenses of his office, as provided in respect of other public offices.

Duties of the Chief Superintendent.

106. It shall be the duty of the Chief Superintendent of Education, and he is hereby empowered,—

Apportioning Legislative Grant.

(1) To apportion annually, on or before the first day of May, all moneys granted or provided by the Legislature for the support of Common Schools in Upper Canada, and not otherwise appropriated by law to the several counties, townships, cities, towns, and incorporated villages, according to the ratio of population in each, as compared with the whole population of Upper Canada; but when the census or returns upon which such an apportionment is to be made, are so far defective in respect of any county, township, city, town, or village, as to render it impracticable for the Chief Superintendent to ascertain therefrom the share of school moneys which ought to be so apportioned, he shall make the apportionment according to the ratio in which by the best evidence in his power, the same can be most fairly and equitably made;

Notice to the Finance Minister and County Clerks.

(2) To certify to the Minister of Finance the apportionments made by him, so far as they relate to the several counties, cities, towns, and incorporated villages in Upper Canada, and to give immediate notice thereof to the clerk of each county, city, town, and village interested therein, stating the time when the amount of moneys so apportioned will be payable to the treasurer of the county, city, town, or village; Distribution by Local Superintendents.

(3) To direct the distribution of the Common School fund of any township, among the several school sections and parts of sections entitled to share in the same, according to the length of time in each year during which a school has been kept open by a legally qualified teacher in each of such sections or parts of sections;

Apportioning Library Grant.

(4) To apportion the moneys provided by the Legislature for the establishment and support of school libraries; but no aid shall be

given towards the establishment or support of any school library unless an equal amount be contributed and expended from local sources for the same object;

Preparing Forms and Regulations.

(5) To prepare suitable forms, and to give such instructions as he may judge necessary and proper, for making all reports and conducting all proceedings under this act, and to cause the same, with such general regulations as may be approved of by the Council of Public Instruction for the better organization and government of common schools, to be transmitted to the officers required to execute the provisions of this act;

Distributing of Act and Forms.

(6) To cause to be printed from time to time, in a convenient form so many copies of this Act, with the necessary forms, instructions, and regulations to be observed in executing its provisions, as he may deem sufficient for the information of all officers of Common schools, and to cause the same to be distributed for that purpose;

Protecting School Moneys-Deciding Complaints.

(7) To see that all moneys apportioned by him, are applied to the objects for which they were granted; and for that purpose, and when not otherwise provided for by law to decide upon all matters and complaints submitted to him which involve the expenditure* of any part of the school fund ;†

* See Regulations relating to communication with the Department, among the Forms, &c.

The following opinion as to the legal construction of this clause has been expressed by the late Chief Justice Robinson:

·

"I have some doubt whether the [seventh clause of the one hundred and sixth section] does not make the Chief Superintendent the proper tribunal for determi ning all claims upon any part of the school fund: Unless what the present appli cants desire to share in forms part of the school fund,' it is quite clear they can have no right under [a section of the Act of 1850, since repealed], to share in it. If it does form part of the 'school fund,' then the [above seventh clause of the one hundred and sixth] section, provides that the Chief Superintendent is to decide upon all matters and complaints submitted to him which involve the expenditure of any part of the school fund; and the applicants, before they come to this court with any complaint, should at least be able to show that they have submitted their complaint to him, and that he has refused to entertain it: for a mandamus is the proper remedy in those cases only in which a party hath a clear right to have a thing done and hath no other specific means of compelling its performance.""( (8 East, 219.) In re Separate School Trustees v. Common School Trustees, Town of Belleville..10 Q. B. R. 472,

."(0)

The Hon. Mr. Justice Burns also expressed the following opinion on the same case: "The duties imposed upon the Chief Superintendent and the several Local Superintendents by the School Acts, show that the Legislature intended to provide a domestic forum for the settlement of school questions; and the reference of several other matters involving legal considerations to arbitration, answers the objections (0) For further explanation of the Writ of Mandamus, see "Note," on page 38.