E.—ls.

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where affords the means of at once stopping it. A fight or the encouragement of a fight has not occurred about the school in several years. " ' 5. Cheating and wilful misrepresentation in connection with schoolwork is driven out of every grammar-room [i.e. upper class-room] in the building by the pupils themselves, who act through their tribunes in quietly warning the offenders to desist, or exposure will follow. " ' 6. The pupils of a room have, as a rule, acquired the habit of going on with the work of the room as promptly and properly when the teacher is absent as they would if she were present. In other words, during school hours the room is constantly organized for work and orderly procedure, it being the duty of one of the two tribunes to either take charge or appointsome one to take charge when the teacher is absent or out of the room temporarily. This is quite as true of the conduct of a first or second grade as of the highest. It has become a habit of the pupils throughout the school. " ' 7. They have learned the art of careful and thoughtful selection of competent, discreet tribunes. When they find such a boy or girl, he or she is re-elected, often, several months in succession. The pupils as a whole respect the wishes and suggestions of the tribunes, and, except by new pupils transferred from other schools, the tribunes are treated with as much respect as are the teachers of the school. " ' 8. It has been found that the tribunes, acting through the marshals they appoint, can as efficiently and quietly regulate the passage of the pupils on the stairs, the forming of the lines, and the general deportment and conduct on the playgrounds and in the basement as did the teachers, when they were required to do these hall, basement, and playground duties. " ' 9. The public installation of the tribunes each month, and the formal recognition by the teachers of satisfactory conduct and good influence of individual pupils, has a very salutary effect. To be made a " citizen " of the room and school by the teachers, and the formal presentation of a " citizen pin," is the ambition of most pupils, and in the lower grades especially it is a powerful incentive. No more severe penalty can be put upon a child than to say to him, '' By your lack of self-control and proper influence for right, you are no longer worthy of wearing that pin." The child, as a rule, tries to so conduct himself as to be worthy of having it restored to him at the end of the month. " ' 10. The lifting from the shoulders of the teachers the unpleasant duties of standing guard on the stairs eight times a day, and of doing hall, basement, and playground duties at morning, noon, and recess, summer and winter, is one of the pleasurable direct benefits to the teacher, and hence to the school. Her health is preserved and her energies conserved for the legitimate duties of the schoolroom. The government during the school hours is much less a burden. The teacher gets the same relaxation, rest, and liberty at morning, noon, and recess as do the pupils, and comes to her work in the schoolroom rested and refreshed as much as do the pupils. "' In conclusion, let me say, let no teacher feel that here is a chance to throw off unpleasant duties. There must be only a change from that of doing police duty to that of daily guiding, directing, and teaching the pupils how to conduct themselves and to control others. There come to the teacher new duties that she must study and learn how to skilfully execute. The teacher who thinks that this or any other plan of self-government can be instituted without careful study and forethought, and a high determination to teach her pupils how to be self-controlling, law-abiding, law-enforcing members of the school, had better never undertake the task.' " Leave of Absence of Teachers. Leave of absence with pay may be granted to teachers by the Local School Board (corresponding to the School Committee in New Zealand) for any of the following reasons : — (a.) Serious personal illness ; j (b.) Death in the teacher's immediate family ; (c.) Compliance with the requirements of a Court; (d.) Quarantine established by the Board of Health. Under clause (a) the rules are as follows : — For an absence of one day, no pay ; For an absence of two days, one-fourth of a day's pay ; Three days, threeTfourths of a day's pay ; Four days, one and a half days' pay ; For the fifth and succeeding days of absence, to and including the twentieth, full pay; For the twenty-first and following days of absence, not exceeding the ninety-fifth, half-pay ;