NEW YORK COMMON SCHOOLS.

The following tables are from the Annual Report of JOSEPH M'KEEN, Esq., City Superintendent of Common Schools, for the year ending 31st July, 1851; and they may be relied on for accuracy:

Table No. 1 contains the juvenile population of Wards, of all persons under twenty years of age, classified into males and females, from 1 to 5, from 5 to 10, from 10 to 15, and from 15 to 20 years of age. This table added perpendicularly, shows the number of male and female of each period of 5 years, up to 20. Added horizontally, it shows the number under 20 in each Ward

in the city.

Table No. 2 shows the complete census of 1850, in its first column; in the second, the number under 20 years; in the third column, the number between 5 and 15, the proper school-going period; and the fourth, the number who have been in the schools for some portion of time during the past year, arranged by Wards. It seems to me that the proper and most suitable years for Common School education are from 5 to 15. By this table it may be seen that the number whose names have been entered at the schools during the last year, is 10,437 more than the whole number of persons of this proposed school period. From another table it may be seen that there have been 14,013 children, under 5 years old, and about 1,300 [this is not accurately ascertained] over 15 years, in the schools. The numbers under 5 and over 15 added together, make 16,013, this taken from the 108,472 which have been in the schools, leave 93,459 between the ages of 5 and 16, who have been in school. But the whole number, between 5 and 16, in 1850, by the census, was 98,035; deduct the 93,459 and there remains 4,576 plus increase since June, 1850, who appear not to have been at any public school.

Table No. 3 is a condensed abstract of the schools, as they are classified, under the names of Public, Ward and Corporate, made out in conformity with the requirements of the State Superintendent of Schools, showing the average attendance in each class of schools, &c.

In these tabular statements, the Evening Schools, the Free Academy, and Normal Schools are not included. These being added, the Evening Schools give 9,011, and the Free Academy* and the Normal Schools 700 more.

*This flourishing Institution, the first of its kind, is under the charge of Horace Webster, L. L. D., formerly of Geneva College.

TABLE No. 1.

Abstract of New York City by Wards, between 1 and 20.

50,229

7,233

8,523

7,680

7,375

7,707

13,008

205

7,586

43,240 355

18,495

8 Colored P. Schools...11

554 1,821

239

199

185

244

334

420

219

1,568 19

667

TABLE No. 3.

FREE SCHOOLS IN CANADA WEST.

The Trustees of Toronto have, it is said, adopted the Free School principle. For three years past, the children of poor parents have been exempted from the school-rate bill, but the parties for whom this indulgence was allowed refusing to accept what they regarded as a humiliating distinction, more than half the children of the city, between the ages of 5 and 15 years, have not attended any school. In the future, under the new system, the public schools are to be free to all, on equal terms, whether rich or poor. The High Church party, despairing of being able any longer to maintain their exclusive claim to the lands known as the clergy reserves, of which the people have, for twenty-five years, demanded the secularization, propose now a scheme for the division of the lands among all denominations, according to numbers. The plan is submitted by Captain Strachan, a son of the Bishop of Toronto; and, taking the census of 1848 for a basis, he suggests the following order of distribution :

It is thought the compromise will not be accepted, though it will be tested, perhaps, at the next election. There is a kindred movement making in Lower Canada to secularize the Roman Catholic Church property there, in case such a measure is carried out against that of the Protestant Church. The Montreal Courier says on the subject that three Roman Catholic institutions in Lower Canada possess a total income larger than the whole Provincial revenue. It is said, however, that while the French maintain their present influence in the Legislature, it is in vain to attempt touching the property in question.

LIBRARIES OF THE UNITED STATES.

BY PROF. C. C. JEWETT,

Librarian of the Smithsonian Institution.*

CLASSIFICATION. In the following Table are exhibited, in seven classes, the number of libraries in each State, with the number of volumes which they contain. These several classes of libraries may be characterized, in general terms, as follows:

1. State libraries, including those of the general government and of the executive departments, and those of the State courts. Almost all the States in the Union have organized State libraries. Those which have not, possess collections of books which will ere long serve as the foundations of such libraries. These libraries are composed, to a great extent, of public documents of the general and State governments, with works on statistics, political economy, history, &c. Some of them, as the Library of Congress, the New York State Library, &c., take a much wider range, and are extremely valuable collections for general reference.

2. Social libraries, including athenæums, lyceums, young men's associations, mechanics' institutions, mercantile libraries, &c.— These libraries are generally composed of popular works for reading rather than for reference. But among them are many of the best collections in the country. We think that any one, looking over the catalogues of these libraries, would be surprised and gratified to find them generally so well selected.

In some States, almost every town has, under some name, a social library. Most of these collections, it is true, are very small, containing less than a thousand volumes; but there doubtless are a great many, far more considerable in size, which have been unintentionally overlooked.

3. College libraries, (exclusive of students' libraries.)—Our colleges are mostly eleemosynary institutions. Their libraries are frequently the chance aggregations of the gifts of charity; too many of them discarded, as well nigh worthless, from the shelves of the donors. This is not true of all our college libraries; for among them are some very important collections, chosen with care and competent learning, purchased with economy, and guarded with prudence,-though ever available to those who wish to use them aright.

4. Students' libraries in colleges, professional schools, academies, &c.-The societies formed by students in our seminaries of learning, for mutual improvement in debate and composition, for the * From the Smithsonian Reports of 1850.