in the old Roman Catholic Chapel, where there were two rooms and 128 pupils, who paid a tuition fee of eighteen pence a quarter.

None of these class rooms were very suitable. Low ceilings and poor ventilation. Furniture deficient. Water closets — where there were any were in a disgraceful condition. The schools were situated in public halls or private buildings, often on second floors which necessitated climb~ ing two sets of stairs, which were in all cases very inferior and in some cases unsafe. The average yearly salary of teachers on the Island was £40 Stirling.

With the passing of the Public School Act of 1877 and the pro— hibiting of religious instruction in the public schools, beyond the reading of the Bible, the Christian Brothers relinguished their position as teachers, and St. Patrick’s Hall was rented in part by the City Board of School Trustees as a public school, and named Queen Square School. Today the whole building is occupied as a school.

The Wesleyan Methodist School on Upper Prince Street was rented by the School Board on 10th August 1877, and in 1890 purchased for $23,000, and named Prince Street School.

The School Board realized additional classrooms were necessary, and decided to erect a new school in the western end of the City, and on 29th April, 1878, the corner stone of West Kent School was laid by Sir Robert Hodgson, Lieutenant Governor, when over twelve hundred school children attended the ceremony.

On lst January, 1917, the School Board rented St. Joseph’s Convent as a public school, and named it Bochford Square School.

All these four schools have had large additions since first taken over

Prince Street School, 1899.