Free, Secular, and Compulsory,

and, thanks to the vigilance of its friends and the divided counsels of its foes, free, secular, and compulsory it has remained to the present hour, the sure guarantee of individual happiness and national stability. Good in principle but not yet perfect in administration, seems to be the verdict passed upon the system by the colony at large after seventeen years' experience of it, and those who know the working of the system most intimately will endorse the verdict. The Act dealt with principles, leaving its provisions to be interpreted by Regulations-in-Council to be issued from time to time. The Orders-in-Council thus issued have not worked with entire satisfaction. Experience has shown that they are open to improvement, that their working is attended with a good deal of friction and irritation, whilst at the same time the education produced under them is not of the highest order. In plain English, it