SOUR ISLAND STORY , _ _- ' 57 ‘

authorized the re-arrangement of the school districts on the prin-, ciple that each district should be four Square miles in extent and should contain a school population of forty children between . the ages of five and sixteen years. In the established districts " which could not make up the required number of children, the I school was to be reduced to the lowest class and the. teacher was to reCeive the lowest salary. Otherwise the school was to be closed and the Children 1n the district to be sent to the school in the ad— joining district. Special provisions were made 111 reSpect to the public schools of Charlottetown and Summerside. But all schools I were alike sub)ect to the authority of the Superintendent of Edu— ' cation and the Board of Education. ‘

Several amendments of the Public Schools Act, 1877, were subsequently made. The most, notable ‘of these were passed by the Legislature in the sessions of 1912 and 1915. In 1912‘ the property of non—residents was made liable to assessment for all school} purposes, and the trustees of each school district were en— abled to correct, at any time, any. error or omission made in the

if r , assesSment roll—so preventing persons whose names had been wrongly spelled,- or omitted, from escaping payment of the school ‘ tax. It was also made easier for the people of the school dis-‘ V' tricts tomeet the requiiements of the law 1n respect to the average attendance of pupils. Another amendment-provided that “every teacher shall be entitled to receive from the Provincial Treasury an amount in addition to his statutory or regular salary equal to. any amount raised for his supportby the district, but not exceed-~ ing twenty-five per cent. of such statutory salary payable to such ’ teacher—the only provision being, so far as the teacher is concer— _ ned,-—-that the school shall have been satisfactorily taught and efficiently conducted, that the average attendance of pupils shall have been good, and that no fraudulent act shall have been done by him for the purpose of obtaining the supplement to his statu- tory salaryf’ .

In the Session of 1914 it was enacted that the Board of Edu- cation shall have the power to purchase text books and books for schOols and school libraries, stationery, furniture, school sup- plies, equipment and' apparatus for the use of schools” and tof'sell,