In Sydney the very reverse has been the case :—

"Up to October, 1855, Victoria with a population of 300,000 contributed to the Patriotic Fund, only £7000, while the colony of New South Wales, with a smaller population, did not deem £60,000 too much for their suffering fellow creatures. Since that period, the former, feeling ashamed of their parsimony, have made an addition to their former bounty."

Of the climate and scenery of Tasmania, the author speaks in the highest terms indeed.

"The latter," he says, "is so grand as almost to baffle an attempt at description, and the climate is no less beautiful than the country."

He regrets that such a beautiful spot should ever have been chosen for a penal settlement. He speaks much of the difficulty and opposition that the Governor, who is a man of high principle and moral courage, was likely to encounter, and adds that,

"Should he, without much opposition, succeed in his desire to administer the government of Tasmania in a manner the most conducive to the welfare of the colony and its inhabitants, he will surprise many able and intelligent men."

There is a short account of the towns and parishes, and some valuable statistical tables of the population exports, imports, constabulary, revenue, and expenditure of the colonies.

*

We turn now to another and pleasanter side of the picture. Our author believes the prophecy that "New Zealand will at no very remote period become the Great Britain of the southern hemisphere.' He says "She possesses all the elements to warrant such an opinion, and to justify such a belief." * "New Zealand is," he goes on essentially a poor man's country, although there are but few poor in it. It is a country to which those of the working classes in England who have the means or intend to emigrate should direct their steps; for it is a colony in which nine out of every ten who land therein rise in the course of a few years from poverty to affluence; or from a poor to a good position. A good mechanic can earn £1. 4s. per diem."

*

He advises those who are "accustomed to good society and the independence arising from an experienced and attentive suite of servants" to remain in England, and he gives the same advice to those "who prefer the fascinations of polite society to the more substantial rewards of industry and social retirement," and to "families, the male branches of which regard the interior of a billiard room or a casino as indispensable margins on the page of life," he earnestly advises them to remain where they are. Respectable, but not what is called in England good society, is to be found in New Zealand. We have heard this opinion disputed.

Nelson seems from our author's description to be the paradise of New Zealand, not only in point of weather but also as regards scenery and vegetation. There are but two seasons, summer and winter, and during the latter months even

"Geraniums, fuschias, picotees, anotheras and other summer flowers of England, continue to bloom in Nelson."

The principal residents are very kind hearted, and hospitable,

"And each one appears anxious to excel the other in a desire not only by personal sacrifice to render any and every assistance which might tend to benefit the province and its inhabitants, but in the still more disinterested wish to lend a helping hand, or to volunteer any aid that might be useful to the position, or grateful to the mind of a stranger."

P

Next to Nelson stands the province of Canterbury in the author's good opinion, and the inhabitants he says

"In point of education and intelligence are superior to those in every part of New Zealand, the province of Nelson not excepted."

He

He quotes Chambers' well known "Papers for the People," as he was not able to obtain from the authorities such information as he desired. speaks in the highest terms of the scenery about Akaroa, and says

"Were it possible to make a road hence to Christchurch, Akaroa would be to Canterbury what Brighton is to London, a delightful watering place."

The book concludes with a dissertation on "ships and ship owners," "English insurance companies," and a colonial directory, including Geelong, Melbourne in Victoria, Sydney in New South Wales, Auckland, Nelson, Wellington and Canterbury in New Zealand; and last an English directory with the names of some of the leading English merchants, manufacturers, warehousemen, and exporters, &c. connected with, or whose goods are suited to the colonial markets.”

The Church Education Directory. Pp. 129. London National Society's Depository, Westminster, 1857.

HIS is a capital book, and full of useful and valuable information.

the training colleges, teachers of the schoolmasters' associations, &c., &c. There are also valuable appendices containing various minutes of council as to building grants, allowances to pupil teachers and Queen's scholars, grants of books, maps and diagrams, evening or night schools, grants in aid of day schools of industry, reformatory and ragged schools; letters and regulations of Committee of Council on drawing; scholars' certificates and examination papers of the Committee of Council.

We should recommend all people interested in education to purchase this book at once, for it is a useful adjunct to a school library, furnishing in a small space much accurate and valuable information.

The English of Shakespeare, illustrated in a philological commentary on his Julius Cæsar. By George L. Craik, Esq. Pp. 351. Chapman and Hall, London.

H

ERE is a very carefully written dissection of Shakespeare's style, the peculiarities of his language, the history of his plays and their texts. Voluminous notes follow on every part of the play of Julius Cæsar. It is cleverly written, and contains a vast deal of information; throwing light on the characteristics of Shakespeare and the meaning of many ambiguous passages. Occasionally, too, it shows the changes which have occurred in the meaning of common words now used in a different sense. The admirers of Shakespeare are greatly indebted to Mr. Craik.

LITTLE BOOKS.

Effective Primary Instruction, by Richard Dawes, Dean of Hereford. We are truly glad to see the Dean of Hereford's address to the Gloucestershire Schoolmasters' Association in print. It is full of good sound sense and practical suggestions; we say practical advisedly, for the Dean of Hereford never lays these suggestions before the public till he has tried and proved them thoroughly in his own schools, his experience thereby rendering his suggestions doubly valuable. Take for instance the following

The

example, unpalatable though it may be to many, and we feel convinced that by those who are really interested in education, the system will be at once adopted: -"Show up the weak side of your schools, and do not always be putting forward a few boys and girls who, perhaps, read well, or do arithmetic well, or can answer well a few routine questions on things they have heard before. You will find this is the way to improve your schools, and the road to success. I have carried out this mode of examination in schools in which I am personally interested, and have often found the proportion of those who bear this test lower than it ought to be-much lower than I expected. Such examinations are useful, and show the weak points of a school. They are of great service, both to teachers and managers, in pointing out how the defects arise." The Dean readily admits that in the schools he visits the proportion who bear this test is often lower than it should be. He has a strong feeling that religious and secular teaching should be combined, and gives the following reasons for so thinking :- "Now, I cannot see how religion can be well taught without the secular element being mixed with it. For instance, take a Christian working man. If he be enlightened as a Christian, he must feel that he has a duty to perform to his employer. He has made an engagement; he ought to fulfil that engagement in the best possible manner-that is, to the utmost of his ability; and how can he do so, unless he apply himself to understand the nature of the work he has in hand. This can only be gained by secular instruction; whether he be an agricultural labourer, a mechanic, or tradesman in any of the arts of life. If he be a Christian, he must be unselfish. This will lead him to study his duty to others, the comfort of his family; to study neatness and economy in his clothes, in his household; moderation in eating and drinking. Secular teaching of many kinds, a large subject.--If a Christian, he will be kind to the sick. "I was sick," says our gracious Lord, "and ye visited me." This will show the necessity of some knowledge of the laws of health, of the sanitary condition of dwellings, and of saving something, however small, for time of sickness and old age-secular teaching again." We will ask any one of common sense whether this combination of religious with secular knowledge is not more likely to make the future generations "wise unto salvation," than by teaching religion as it is frequently taught, with a set of doctrines and dogmas totally dissevered from every day life, and utterly unintelligible to the minds of those to whom such instruction is addressed. following passage is redolent of good and sympathising feelings towards his fellow creatures:-"Surely no Christian is justified in withholding a knowledge, however slight, of such things from his fellow-man, endowed with the same capacity that he himself has-nay, is he not rather bound by the holiest tics of brotherhood to encourage its acquisition? And is not this a vast field of secular instruction?" In speaking of the advantages which would accrue in the adoption of the decimal coinage, the Dean quotes Mr. Hankey, of the Bank of England, who says, "The mere substitution of 100 lbs. for the cwt., and the decimal scale of weights, would save the labour of 200 clerks in the Customs alone, and salaries to the amount of at least £10,000 a-year." The Dean of Hereford attaches great importance to savings' banks, life insurances, reading libraries, and prize schemes, as being conducive to the amelioration of the labouring classes, and he furnishes much valuable information on each of these means of improvement. He concludes his address with a painful description of the state of morals and education in his own county. "Herefordshire," he says, "is among the six Counties in England having fewest scholars at the day-school in proportion to population." In the census tables of 1851 Herefordshire ranks among the six counties in England having the greatest amount of crime in proportion to population; and its pauperism is considerably above the average for England, there being 100 paupers to 1436; the average is 100 to 2027 of population. We also find Herefordshire is among the six counties in England having the greatest number of places of worship in proportion to its population, having one to every 271 inhabitants; and of these six counties, the proportion of crime to population is much higher in Herefordshire than in any of the others, being one criminal in 471, and in the others varying from one in 633 to one in 1533 in Cornwall. Of the system of giving eider as part wages, which is greatly the custom in Herefordshire, the Dean says, "We send missions abroad for religious purposes. I am not objecting to this in what I now say; but, I fear, we sometimes neglect useful missions at home, and I can think of none more important, or likely to be attended with better results, than one which has for its object the enlightening the farmers and labourers in the cider counties on this pernicious system, and the evil effects which arise from it." If we had a few more practical men such as the Dean of Hereford, we should not have to complain of the neglect of "useful missions at home," nor should we have occasion to deplore, to so great an extent as at present, the demoralization of our fellow creatures.

Skeleton Lectures on the Church Catechism. With Analysis of the Confirmation Service. By the Rev. T. A. Browne, Rector of Charlotte Parish, in the Island of Saint Vincent, &e. London: Wertheim and Macintosh, 1855. Of the many attempts to simplify and to explain the Church Catechism, which we have met with, this is one of the best. It is an admirable guide to the clergyman or the teacher in the work of explaining the Catechism, and it is also not unsuitable for the use of the learner. We advise our readers to make trial of it for themselves. The following portion of the fourth Lecture, on the Lord's Prayer, will illustrate the work:"We are not able to do these things of ourselves (John xv. 5)-we need God's special -spiritual grace. We must call for it by diligent prayer (Luke xi. 9-13.) Prayer is the offering up of our desires unto God (Matt. xv. 8). There are three kinds of prayer -public prayer (Matt. xxi. 13), family prayer (2 Sam. vi. 20), private prayer (Matt. vi. 6). The Lord's Prayer-a form to be used (Luke xi. 2)-a pattern for direction (Matt. vi. 9). Divided into three parts-the invocation, the petition, the doxology."-p. 22. And then follows a like skeleton expositor of the Prayer itself. The following is the "Introduction" on the nature of the Catechism:-" The Bible-the rule of life (Ps. cxix. 105; 2 Tim. iii. 16, 17). Some truths of more importance than others-these have been taken out of it and put into a Catechism. The Church Catechism-a form of instruction in the principles of the Christian religion. It may be divided into five parts-1. The Baptismal Covenant. 2. The Creed. 3. The Ten Commandments. 4. The Lord's Prayer. 5. The two Sacraments."-(p. 5). The following is the Author's lucid explanation of the rite of Confirmation :-" Confirmation—the laying on of hands upon those that are baptised and come to years of discretion'-signifies establishing or strengthening a person in the profession of religion."-(p. 29). It is to be observed that as the Catechism is published without the Analysis of Confirmation, so those who desire the latter with it must take care to give their order accordinglyextra penny being charged for the work in its full form; i. e. 3d. instead of 2d.

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Common Things regarding the bringing up of our Girls.-This book is a mixture of good rules and maximis with a more than ordinary share of self-esteem. The authoress piques herself much on her capital management as regards Sunday training, and therefore has her pupils washed in hot water baths on Friday (except in cases of health), and allows "as little house cleaning and as few arrivals of packages from milliners, dress makers, and shops, as possible' on Saturday. Does the writer imagine that the children set more value on the Sunday because they were washed on Friday instead of Saturday? or the servants, because the milliner brings fewer parcels on Saturday? Instead of the children beginning the day by reading useful Sunday books just after breakfast, calculated to teach them their duties to God and man, they are first occupied in collecting the pence for the Church Missionary Society's box, and the box for the Protestant Reformation Society; one little girl choosing Missions to the Heathen and trying to fill her card, and some other little girl doing the same for Missions to the Roman Catholics." Secondary to these collections come repetitions of the Collect, the hymn, the Catechism and the Scripture! Nearly akin to this is her plan of placing by the tea table, "within a small box, a few pithy books of general interest." Can any one guess why this infringement of good manners commences then? Because at tea time the children are supposed to indulge in "ill-natured and rude remarks, leading to gossip and censorious speaking." To preserve the purity of her pupils' morals she suggests that the only book they shall take to school is a Bible, which is always to lie on the toilet table; we confess we would prefer seeing it in the pupils' hands sometimes. We do not at all approve of school teachers opening their pupils' letters; it is a system which engenders deceit on the pupils' part, and dislike to the teachers. We cordially agree with our authoress that "servants are not proper companions for children," but there are certain seasons in which we cannot entirely dispense with them from the presence of our children, nor can we easily bring ourselves to credit that "on every occasion when these little ones enter their bedroom either a teacher or our authoress goes with them." Thus in a large school a teacher's whole time would be occupied in accompanying first one pupil and then another to her bedroom, time which might, we would venture to suggest, be far better occupied.

Novello's Centenary Edition of Handel's Oratorio, The Messiah. London: Novello, Dean Street. Novello's original Octavo Edition of Mozart's Celebrated Requiem Mass. London: Novello, Dean Street. We cannot speak too highly of Mr. Novello's arrangements of the Messiah and Mozart's Mass. The type is good and clear, and nothing can be better than the order in which the whole oratorio is arranged.

Intelligence.

THE EDUCATION QUESTION AT MANCHESTER.-A public meeting of the friends of national education, convened by the general committee on education, was held on February 4th in the large room of the Free-trade Hall, Manchester. The audience was very numerous.

The CHAIRMAN (Mr. Thomas Bazley) said that the church had not accomplished, dissenters from the church had not accomplished, and voluntaryism had not accomplished, the amount of education which was required.

Mr. SMILES (the secretary) read various letters, the principal of which were from Mr. Cobden and Lord Stanley.

Mr. Cobden wrote, I regret exceedingly that circumstances beyond my control should put it out of my power to be present at your meeting on the 6th. No moment was ever more opportune than the present for bringing into prominence the question of popular education. The extent of juvenile delinquency, and the amount of crime in this country, are evils of such growing magnitude that they have arrested public attention, and can no longer be treated with legislative indifference. But it is impossible that these questions can be discussed without opening up the wider field of inquiry to which your attention is directed, and asking ourselves how we can assail that fountain of ignorance from which issue those ever-widening streams of crime, vice, and misery, which are overspreading the land. I have watched with great interest the efforts that have been made to conciliate the views of the different educational parties in your city, and to unite them in harmonious action for the future. If, as I fervently hope, you should succeed in presenting yourselves to Parliament as an unanimous body, you will not fail to secure the favourable attention of all parties; and to Manchester may be due, at no distant date, the honourable distinction of having solved the greatest and most difficult political problem of the present day. I need hardly add the assurance that, when the question is brought into the house, I will give it my strenuous and unfailing support."

Lord Stanley wrote as follows:-"Nothing would give me greater pleasure than to take part in the meeting proposed to be held at Manchester. I shall give my humble support in Parliament to Sir J. Packington and Mr. Cobden's bill with peculiar satisfaction, hoping for great good, both in the present and future, from such an alliance for such a purpose. The subject of education is not the only one by many on which I think I see a marked tendency on the part of sensible men of all parties to draw together.

Sir J. K. SHUTTLEWORTH addressed the meeting. He said this year he happened to know that the education grants, including science and art, would be £630,000, and he believed it would reach to £1,000,000 in three years from this time. He saw in the too centralised proceedings of the committee of council either one of two results, either too great a rigidity by which corruption was prevented, or too great a laxity by which the public money was squandered.

Sir JOHN PAKINGTON said that the ground they took up was the broad principle of religious freedom, and perhaps they had adopted, like most settlements of complicated questions, a basis as simple as any that could be. It was merely this, that hereafter every school should teach religion as they thought right, that there should be no interference with religious freedom, that every school should teach religion according to their particular belief, with only that one great rule, that great indispensable requirement, that no man's conscience should be violated, and that the utmost respect should be paid to the religious scruples of every parent who might send his child to the school. (Hear.) That was the principle of the bill; and he believed it was a bill which every friend of education, be he the most rigid secularist, or the most religious and conscientious clergyman, might conscientiously and cordially adopt. (Applause.) After speaking in terms of regret at the absence of Mr. Cobden, the right hon. gentleman said that his object in referring to Mr. Cobden was this-to say there before the people of Manchester, and