general efficiency of pupils and teachers alike.  There is, however, still much room for improvement.  The grants hitherto given have been sadly inadequate, and in order to provide suitable school buildings, even in those cases alone where the present structures are actually a danger to the health of the children, it would be necessary to make grants at the rate of about L100,000 a year for the next 4 or 5 years, after which they might be reduced to L50,000.

Another satisfactory development is the increase of teachers’ salaries which has taken place during the last two decades.  In 1895, the average income from State sources of principal teachers in primary schools was L94 in respect of men, and L79 in respect of women.  By 1910, it had risen to L112 and L90 respectively.  Notwithstanding this, their financial position, especially in large and important schools in centres where the cost of living is high, is not yet as good as it ought to be, if it be compared with that of similarly situated teachers in England and Scotland.  As for the incomes of assistant teachers, they also have risen in the same period from L61 for men, and L49 for women, to L81 and L68 respectively, and the money, though still insufficient, is now being paid for a better article.  Readjustment of numbers in the higher grades of national teachers is also required, so as to enable all efficient teachers who have complied with the conditions of service to receive the increases of salary to which they are entitled.  The cost of such a readjustment would be about L1,000 a year for the present, but the expense would gradually increase, and might ultimately amount to L18,000 per annum.  For the convenience of the profession, it is also desirable that salaries should be paid monthly, instead of quarterly, to the teaching staffs of the schools.  The expenditure (non-recurring) required under this head would be about L280,000, with an additional yearly sum of L5,000, due to increased cost of administration.  That a Dublin Parliament would welcome or even less be able to satisfy these various demands upon its purse without further taxation is extremely improbable, especially in view of Mr. Birrell’s warning that the finances of Home Rule would be a very “tight fit.”

Since 1900, a period of training has been required from the principals, and this rule has recently been extended to assistant masters.  In fact, the qualifications demanded of national teachers in Ireland are much higher than in England.  When all the foregoing changes are considered, it will be quite evident that not only must the teachers benefit from them, but that the children cannot fail to benefit as well.  Indeed, it is these various reforms which, in all probability, have conduced to a better school attendance than could be boasted of in the past.  Many an educational reformer has had cause to wring his hands over the meagreness of attendance in days gone by.  Even to-day it is not as it should be.  It is lower than in England and in Scotland, but it has steadily risen, and continues to rise, and stands now at about 71 per cent., an advance of between 30 or 40 per cent. upon what it was less than 40 years ago; a fact which is certainly remarkable, when the poverty of the population and its scattered character are taken into account.