Mr. Mundella's educational statement, though delivered at a very late
hour, and necessarily much shortened by the late- ness of the hour, was extremely interesting and encouraging. The average attendance in the day schools had been 2,863,000, showing an increase on the average attendance of the previous year of 112,000. The increase of population would bring only 50,000 children a year more into our schools. To show the increase in the quality of the education, Mr. Mundella mentioned that in 1875 the number presented for examination in the standards between the fourth and sixth (inclusive) was 194,509; in 1878, it was 324,517; and in 1881, it was 535,442. The per- centage of passes in the rudiments,—" the three R's," as they are called,—was last year 81 per cent., the highest per. .eentage yet obtained. The average attendance had risen to nearly 71 per cent. of those on the rolls. Mr. Mundella con- cluded a very interesting exposition with a panegyric on the Scotch schools, and the admirable use of educational instru- ments made in North Britain,—much the most intelligent and educated portion of the United Kingdom.
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