Syllabus, photos on Flickr

The following specifications are for the Sail Training Vessel Playfair built for Toronto Brigantine Inc. as a sail training vessel. She was commissioned by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in 1973, and remains the only Canadian ship to be commissioned by a reigning monarch. Source: www.torontobrigantine.org/the_ships

TS Playfair is a traditionally-rigged brigantine training ship operated by Toronto Brigantine Inc., a sail-training Canadian registered charity based in Toronto, Canada. Playfair, along with her sister ship S.T.V. Pathfinder, operate a youth sail training program on the Great Lakes during the summer months. This program is one of the very few sail training programs where all of the crew except for the captain are in high school (13–19 years old). The summer training is followed by a winter program where youth work through higher levels of training syllabus to become accredited members of the crew the following year. Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TS_Playfair

Narope syllabus by John Vallender

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Quercus turbinella by J.H.J.F.W. Br.

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Ordo Fagales Engl., Syllabus: 94. 1892

Familia Fagaceae Dumort., Anal. Fam. Pl.: 11 (-12). 1829 (as Fagineeae)

Subfamilia Vidensk. Meddel. Dansk. Naturhist. Foren. Kjöbenhavn: 5. 1866

Genus Quercus L., Sp. Pl. 2: 994.1753

Subgenus Quercus (Loudon) Nixon, 1993

Species Quercus turbinella Greene, Ill. W. Amer. Oaks. 1: 37. 1889.

Synonyms:

Quercus dumosa Nuttall subsp. turbinella (Greene) A.E.Murray

Quercus dumosa Nuttall var. turbinella (Greene) Jepson

Q. subturbinella Trelease

Sonoran Scrub Oak, Shrub Live Oak, Turbinella Oak, Turban Oak., Chêne arbustif turbinelé,

Turban-Eiche

Plant from "Eichen (Oak) Döring", grown from seeds received from the Denver BG.

The foliage of this has a nice, very light blue coloring!

Syllabus 1.5.10 by Gio Perez

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Sitting by the window in class and the blinds created this great contrast of light and dark ..

Altenstein - Schloss & Park / Castle & Park by J.H.J.F.W. Br.

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Innenpark. Bonifatius-Felsen.

Inner Park. Boniface Rock.

Ordo: Fagales Engl. - Syllabus 94. 1892.

Familia: Fagaceae Dumort. - Analy. Fam. Pl. 11, 12. 1829.

Genus: Fagus L. - Sp. Pl. 2: 997. 1753.

Species: Fagus sylvatica L. - Sp. Pl. 2: 998. 1753.

Vernacular names:

Rotbuche, Umgangssprache meist nur Buche

European Beech or Common Beech

Almindelig Bøg

Haya Común

Hêtre Commun

Beuk

Buk Lesní, Buk Lesný

Buk Pospolity, Buk Zwyczajny

Бук европе́йский, или бук лесно́й - (Buk yevropéyskiy, ili buk lesnóy: European Beech or Wood Beech)

Európai Bükk vagy Közönséges Bükk

Pago arrunta

Avrupa kayını

Paprastasis bukas

Parastais dižskābardis

Harilik pöök

If I Only Had a Brain by Daniel Light

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So I got up at 5:00 this morning to do some final prep work for my first 8:00 class of the semester. Around 6:50 I opened the university calendar to make sure I had all dates listed correctly in my syllabus. That was when I noticed the following: "Classes start January 6."

I'm such a dolt.

Book Haul from the Friends of the Library shop by dumpsterdiversanonymous

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Two ornament image books for collage at $1 each, and the lovely Lynda Barry book Syllabus about her creativity classes from U of W. ( $3 )

Picea Breweriana dawn by Elysium 2010

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The Picea Breweriana is a rare Picea from the northwestern USA. It's one of the most beautiful conifers of the world. Such a winter with much snow and very low temperatures is not a problem. dendro.cnre.vt.edu/dendrology/syllabus/factsheet.cfm?ID=446 Drought is far more dangerous. I had to watch carefully for sufficient water supply during the very long 2003 drought and the even more dangerous drought of summer 2009, just after it was badly wounded by a hailstorm. I treated it with cooper sulfate, watched again for sufficient water supply, protected hundreds of wounds and the Breweriana is still standing.

Hunting Percival Jet Provost T.1 XD693 by Steve Tron

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The Hunting Percival Jet Provost is a British jet trainer aircraft that was in use with the Royal Air Force (RAF) from 1955 to 1993. It was originally developed by Hunting Percival from the earlier piston engine-powered Percival Provost basic trainer, and later produced by the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC). In addition to the multiple RAF orders, the Jet Provost, sometimes with light armament, was exported to many air forces worldwide. The design was also further developed into a more heavily armed ground attack variant under the name BAC Strikemaster.

In early 1951, Hunting Percival began work on the design studies that would ultimately lead to the Jet Provost. At the time, the company in the process of establishing mass production for the earlier piston-engined Percival Provost basic trainer, but had anticipated that demand for a jet-powered trainer aircraft would be on the horizon. The design team aimed to produce an aircraft capable of equaling the handling characteristics of operational jet fighters of the era while also possessing modest approach and stall speeds and remaining simple to handle, as opposed to aiming to obtain maximum performance.

The prototype Jet Provost T.1 with the initial longer undercarriage at the Farnborough Air Show in 1954

During the early design process, a series of increasingly frequent liaisons with RAF Flying Training Command took place, helping to gauge the considerations required to succeed in aspects of the proposed aircraft's design, such as instructional processes and maintenance requirements. During development, Hunting Percival had intentionally reused as many existing components and subsystems of the Percival Provost as possible, including the tail surfaces, main planes and main undercarriage legs, to speed development through to the prototype stage. The initial design work was performed as a private venture, independent of any service requirement; in March 1953, sponsorship from the British Government to support the development was made available as a result of interest from the Ministry of Supply. That same month, an order for service-test quantity of Jet Provosts was received.

On 16 June 1954, the prototype XD674 conducted its maiden flight from the factory at Luton Airport, flown by Dick Wheldon. A series of seven flights were flown in quick succession over the following three days. By early November 1954, a total of 123 flying hours had been accumulated by the prototype during Hunting Percival's own flight test program, after which the prototype was submitted for official trials at RAF Boscombe Down. While testing proved the overall performance of the Jet Provost to be satisfactory, refinements such as shortening the legs of the landing gear for a smoother ride when deployed at semi-prepared airstrips.

On 19 February 1955, the first of ten pre-production aircraft, designated as the Jet Provost T1, performed its first flight. In May 1955, three of the pre-production aircraft were assigned for the first stage of service trials with the Central Flying School (CFS) of the RAF to determine the value of the Jet Provost in the ab initio training role and to develop a syllabus for the training program. During the second stage of CFS trials using the same three aircraft, actual students were introduced to the type for practical evaluation purposes, which was performed at RAF Hullavington until the successful completion of trials on 2 July 1956. According to feedback from CFS examiners, the Jet Provost had noticeably improved the performance of students during its trial deployment

Quercus turbinella by J.H.J.F.W. Br.

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Ordo Fagales Engl., Syllabus: 94. 1892

Familia Fagaceae Dumort., Anal. Fam. Pl.: 11 (-12). 1829 (as Fagineeae)

Subfamilia Vidensk. Meddel. Dansk. Naturhist. Foren. Kjöbenhavn: 5. 1866

Genus Quercus L., Sp. Pl. 2: 994.1753

Subgenus Quercus (Loudon) Nixon, 1993

Species Quercus turbinella Greene, Ill. W. Amer. Oaks. 1: 37. 1889.

Synonyms:

Quercus dumosa Nuttall subsp. turbinella (Greene) A.E.Murray

Quercus dumosa Nuttall var. turbinella (Greene) Jepson

Q. subturbinella Trelease

Sonoran Scrub Oak, Shrub Live Oak, Turbinella Oak, Turban Oak., Chêne arbustif turbinelé,

Turban-Eiche

Plant from "Eichen (Oak) Döring", grown from seeds received from the Denver BG.

The foliage of this has a nice, very light blue coloring!

This flight reminded me of my schooldays, as part of the "A" level geography syllabus was tropical Africa & this one originated in Benin! by Michael Hart

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RA76503 - VDA5289 - Brick End Broxted - 1327 - 13/10/21.

VDA5289 to London Stansted originated at Cotonou Cadjehoun Airport in Benin & towards VDA5394 flight was to Malabo in Equatorial Guinea.

Vampire T-55 U-1235 Swiss-AF. On his way with a student during one of its last syllabus flights. Emmen AB (Flugplatz) Switzerland, 22-03-1988. by Aircraft throughout the years

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Vampire T-55 U-1235 Swiss-AF. On his way with a student during one of its last syllabus flights. Emmen AB (Flugplatz) Switzerland, 22-03-1988.

Botanischer Garten Berlin-Dahlem by J.H.J.F.W. Br.

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Ordo Fagales Engl., Syllabus 94. 1892

Familia Myricaceae Rich. ex Kunth, Nov. Gen. Sp. (quarto ed.) 2: 16. 1817

Genus Myrica L. Sp. Pl. 2: 1024. 1753

(Syn.: Morella Lour., Gale Duhamel)

Species

Myrica cerifera L., Sp. Pl. 2: 1024 1753

Syn. Cerophora lanceolata Rafinesque; Cerothamnus arborescens (Castiglioni) Tidestrom; C. ceriferus (Linnaeus) Small; C. pumilus (Michaux) Small; Morella cerifera (Linnaeus) Small; Myrica cerifera var. angustifolia Aiton; M. cerifera var. arborescens Castiglioni; M. cerifera var. dubia A. Chevalier; M. cerifera var. pumila Michaux; M. pumila (Michaux) Small; M. pusilla Rafinesque

Southern Bayberry, Southern Wax-myrtle, Wachs-Gagel, Wachs-Myrte, Arbre à suif,

Bookworm by ML_Duong

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I saw this bespectacled student just browsing through her syllabus in the park at the top of Sinosteel Plaza. Her huge eyeglasses drew my immediate attention and looks quite cute.

Syllabusing by Raul Pacheco-Vega

Lockheed T-33A Shooting Star by Benjamin Donnelly

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Given that jet fighters might be tricky to fly for pilots used to flying propeller aircraft, let alone new trainee pilots, Lockheed proposed in 1945 that a two-seat conversion trainer be built for the P-80 Shooting Star. The US Army Air Force rejected the idea on cost grounds, citing that the T-6 Texan already in service would be sufficient enough. After a series of fatal crashes of the P-80, the USAAF revisited Lockheed’s proposal, which included extending the P-80’s fuselage by three feet, extending the canopy backwards, and adding a second cockpit with full flight controls. This aircraft, designated first TP-80C on its maiden flight in March 1948, then TF-80C, then finally T-33A, would go on to be far more successful than the fighter it was based on.

The T-33 was designed to be simple, robust, and easy to fly for trainee pilots, though it was intended at first to be only used for propeller-qualified pilots to transition into jets. As propeller aircraft were mostly phased out of the independent US Air Force’s inventory, the service made the decision to go to an “all-jet” training syllabus, and as a result pilots began flying T-33s in flight school.

The “T-Bird,” as it became known, could still be unforgiving in certain circumstances, and was less forgiving as the T-37 Tweet or the T-38 Talon that would eventually replace it. It also was an aircraft for practical jokers: the in-and-outs of the T-33 was something only experienced pilots knew well, and trainees could be subjected to all kinds of tricks by the instructor pilot. The T-33 was, however, eminently reliable. Even after it was withdrawn from training units in the mid-1950s, it soldiered on as a “hack” aircraft for units, a familiarization aircraft, advanced trainer, and aggressor aircraft, especially in Air Defense Command and Air National Guard units.

Well into the 1980s, T-33s could be found in frontline USAF units, and it was said that, when the last F-16 was retired, the pilot would hitch a ride home in a T-Bird. While this did not prove true, it was not off by much—the last USAF T-33s did not leave the inventory until around 1988. The US Navy also used T-33s, including both standard Shooting Stars and the heavily modified TV-1 Seastar, which had a larger engine, reworked tail, and strengthened fuselage for carrier operations. While the Seastar was replaced in the 1960s by the T-2 Buckeye, standard T-33s remained as test and chase aircraft for the Navy’s test squadrons into the 1990s.

Because of its robustness and cheap flyaway price, the T-33 was also popular with foreign air forces: no less than 41 nations operated T-33s at one time or another, and it was license-built in Japan by Kawasaki and in Canada as the CT-133 Silver Star, which differed from US-built aircraft only in using a Rolls-Royce Nene engine. While it was usually used in the trainer role, many were modified for a variety of roles, including armed AT-33s and reconnaissance RT-33s (some of which were also used by the USAF). AT-33s, which were basically two-seat F-80s, were used in several conflicts worldwide, mainly in South America; Bolivia still uses its AT-33s as frontline counterinsurgency aircraft. While Bolivia remains the only air force to still operate T-33s on a regular basis, many of these nations did not retire their Shooting Stars until the late 1990s—Canada did not retire its last CT-133s until 2008, and Boeing Aircraft has two T-33As on charge as chase aircraft. 6557 T-33s were built overall, and today over 80 and possibly as many as a hundred survive, with many still flyable.

T-33 histories are very hit or miss, but it is known that this one, 55-7768 did actually fly with the 119th Fighter-Interceptor Group (North Dakota ANG) at Fargo, probably in the late 1960s as the unit equipped with F-101 Voodoos. 55-7768 enjoyed a long career with the famous "Happy Hooligans," staying with the unit in both the F-101 and F-4D years, and was still there as late as 1996--by which time the 119th was in the F-16! 55-7768 was retired sometime after that, and donated to the little town of Wimbledon, North Dakota as a war memorial.

While so many (too many) city and town memorial aircraft are not well-maintained, Wimbledon does not have that problem: 55-7768 looks like it flew in yesterday! The town takes great care of this aircraft, and it was worth the drive off the highway to find this T-33.

27Apr09 ~ Planning by grace_kat

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Today is the last day of the autumn holidays and I spent most of it planning for the week.

Botanischer Garten Berlin-Dahlem by J.H.J.F.W. Br.

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Ordo Fagales Engl., Syllabus 94. 1892

Familia Myricaceae Rich. ex Kunth, Nov. Gen. Sp. (quarto ed.) 2: 16. 1817

Genus Myrica L. Sp. Pl. 2: 1024. 1753

(Syn.: Morella Lour., Gale Duhamel)

Species

Myrica cerifera L., Sp. Pl. 2: 1024 1753

Syn. Cerophora lanceolata Rafinesque; Cerothamnus arborescens (Castiglioni) Tidestrom; C. ceriferus (Linnaeus) Small; C. pumilus (Michaux) Small; Morella cerifera (Linnaeus) Small; Myrica cerifera var. angustifolia Aiton; M. cerifera var. arborescens Castiglioni; M. cerifera var. dubia A. Chevalier; M. cerifera var. pumila Michaux; M. pumila (Michaux) Small; M. pusilla Rafinesque

Southern Bayberry, Southern Wax-myrtle, Wachs-Gagel, Wachs-Myrte, Arbre à suif,

Cbse syllabus by sarita231

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Cbse syllabus The CBSE board is one of the biggest educational organizations in India and prepares the syllabus for students from lower nursery group to grade 12, for schools affiliated with it. The Syllabus of CBSE is set by NCERT (National Council of Educational Research and Training). The CBSE Board conducts and prepare syllabus for country’s two nation-wide board examinations: All India Senior School Certificate Examination for Class 12 and All India Secondary School Examination for Class 10.

Juan Sebastián de Elcano by fisherbray

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The Juan Sebastián de Elcano docked at Palafox Pier in downtown Pensacola to celebrate the Five Flags Fiesta.

From the Armada Española web page:

The main mission of this ship is to train future Spanish Navy officers in navigation and seafaring procedures and techniques. Her most important task is to keep the midshipmen in their 4th academic year, in continuous and intimate contact with the sea, an environment where they will later carry out their main professional activities.

This, along with the eminently practical teaching on board, contributes to consolidate and strengthen their technical and nautical expertise, aimed at achieving a high level of general culture, as well as getting acquainted with the principles, customs and virtues which make up the soul of the profession.

In accordance with the current syllabus of the Naval Academy, the students embark on board the ‘Juan Sebastián de Elcano’ during the second semester of the fourth academic year. During this period they follow an Instruction Cruise on board. A standard cruise consists in a six month voyage to America sailing 20,000 miles with 155 day’s runs. Upon conclusion of the instruction cruise, Navy midshipmen will be promoted to Ensigns and those from the Marine Corps to Second Lieutenants.

The ship’s home port is in ‘La Carraca’ Arsenal (San Fernando – Cádiz) where most Maritime Action Force units have their base. This port is a station especially devoted to the maintenance and repair works of other naval units. The name ‘Carraca’ derives from the name given to an ocean-going boat – Carrack – much used in the 15th century.

Unlike most Navy units, this four mast brig-schooner has no combat weapons like torpedoes or missiles. Nevertheless the ship has a series of light weapons for self-defense, should an unexpected threat occur either at sea or in a foreign port; namely 2 BAZAN mountings, 2 Browning machine-guns, 2 MG machine-guns and an assortment of rifles, pistols and other portable weapons.

Candidates to Navy Officers are called Midshipmen (Guardia Marinas) since 1717 when Quartermaster General José Patiño founded in Cádiz the Royal Company of Midshipmen during the reign of King Phillip V, the first Spanish Monarch of the present Bourbon dynasty.

The city of Cádiz was therefore the city that welcomed the first Midshipmen and it was fit that the same city built the training ship ‘Juan Sebastián de Elcano’ 200 years later.

Since the very beginning, the Royal Company of Midshipmen – the one already mentioned in Cádiz and two further schools in Ferrol and Cartagena – gave great importance to the practical training of students. No wonder that six of the eight years that lasted the military instruction of candidates until promoted to Lieutenant Junior Grade, were spent on board different warships; their Commanders and Senior Officers were also their teachers.

It was in 1862 when the concept of an exclusive training ship for future naval Officers took shape. To this end the frigate ‘Esperanza’ was tasked with this mission along with the corvettes ‘Villa de Bilbao’, ‘Santa María’ and ‘Trinidad’. They were subsequently replaced in 1874 by the frigate ‘Blanca’ and in 1881 by the ‘Almansa’ and ‘Asturias’.

In 1886 the corvette ‘Nautilus’ was entrusted with this instruction task. Her first training cruise with midshipmen took place in 1888 under the command of Commander Fernando Villaamil.

In 1910 the ‘Nautilus’ was decommissioned as training ship and in 1933 she was broken up at La Graña shipyard. Her last Commander was Manuel de Mendívil Elío who, in turn, was the first Commanding Officer of the ‘Juan Sebastián de Elcano’.

After decommissioning the ‘Nautilus’ in 1910, the Spanish Navy had no training ships. Midshipmen trained on board other operational warships although they did not fulfil the necessary instruction requirements. A new ship was needed, capable of meeting those demands.

The project began to take shape in 1923 when the Ministry of the Navy signed a contract with Horacio Echevarrieta y Maruri on April 6th to fit out the sailing ship ‘Minerva’ as training ship for midshipmen. Next year, a Royal Decree dated June 30th approved the shipbuilding of a new ship also called ‘Minerva’.

Once the Spanish Navy gave its consent, a project based on the model designed by English engineer Charles V. Nicholson was signed with the Echevarrieta & Larrinaga Shipyards. The keel was laid on November 24th 1925 in the presence of Infante Don Carlos, Prime Minister General Primo de Rivera, the military governor of Cádiz Pedro Mercader and other authorities. During the ceremony, Horacio Echevarrieta suggested general Primo de Rivera to change the name for ‘Juan Sebastián de Elcano’. The general raised the proposal to King Alfonso XIII who accepted the change.

With her new name the ship was launched on March 5th 1927 in the presence of Carmen Primo de Rivera, daughter of the Prime Minister. In all fairness and after four centuries after his death in 1526, Elcano received a most wonderful homage.

In the course of all these years, the ship has sailed 10 times around the world and has visited 68 countries and 181 different ports. The ship has sailed one and a half million miles which amounts to 26 years of continuous sailing.

The ship belongs to the “Sail Training Association” and participates in its races and Naval Weeks. In 1974 she got for the first time the “Boston Tea Cup” awarded to the ship that travels the longest distance in 24 hours in full sail. She has also won that Cup in 1979, 1996/1997 (ninth cruise around the world), 1999, 2001, 2004, 2005 and 2006. In 1997 she established a new record sailing 275.2 miles in 24 hours. She has reached 17 knots with 75-knot winds and spent 42 at sea without visiting any port. She has also crossed the Magellan Strait twelve times recalling the heroic feat of the Portuguese sailor.

In 1937, 38 and 39 the ship did not sail because of the Spanish Civil War. There were important overhauls in 1956 and 1978. The ship’s hull is made of iron and her four masts are named after previous training ships: ‘Blanca’, ‘Almansa’, ‘Asturias’ and ‘Nautilus’.

Who we are - Training Ship ‘JUAN SEBASTIÁN DE ELCANO’

The ship’s complement consists of 197 people: 24 officers, 22 non-commissioned officers, 39 leading seamen, 107 ratings and 5 civilian personnel. Apart from the ship’s own crew, the ‘Juan Sebastián de Elcano’ can accommodate up to 78 midshipmen who embark to complete the 4th year subjects on board.

Every year the training ship ‘Juan Sebastián de Elcano’ welcomes midshipmen from the Naval Academy who embark to further their studies on board. During the cruise they combine the syllabus subjects, conferences, astronomical observations and cultural activities with the routine errands of a tall-ship side by side with the ship’s crew.

The vessel has two classrooms where the midshipmen attend the different courses and lectures. A typical school day has five hours of classes on Navigation, Astronomy, Meteorology, Geography, Naval Manoeuvers and English, among other subjects.

Apart from those academic subjects the students participate in all joint activities with the rest of the crew including daily watches. In this way the midshipmen share and get to know the demanding life on board a tall ship and understand the difficult tasks of command and leadership, something they will have to exercise and improve throughout their lives.

Another important aspect of the training ship worth mentioning is her role as an instrument of the State in support of its foreign policy, thus sometimes referred to as a ‘floating embassy’. The ship welcomes local authorities whenever she visits a foreign port and conducts an intense schedule of activities on board; but midshipmen, officers and crew members also pay official visits to institutional and cultural organizations of interest.

asaltante de trenes by santiagonostalgico

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syllabus of a train robber

Sir George William Ross by Shannon Stafford

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Sir George William Ross

Ontario Premeire

(1841 - 1914)

Plot V - Lot R

ROSS, Sir GEORGE WILLIAM, educator and politician; b. 18 Sept. 1841 near Nairn in Middlesex County, Upper Canada, son of James Ross and Ellen McKinnon; m. first 1862 Christina Campbell (d. 1872), and they had three daughters and two sons; m. secondly 17 Nov. 1875 Catherine Boston (d. 1902) in Lobo Township, Ont., and they had a son and three daughters; m. thirdly 8 May 1907 Mildred Margaret Peel in Toronto; d. there 7 March 1914.

In 1831 James Ross, a shoemaker in Tain, Scotland, immigrated to Upper Canada with his wife, their four children, and two nieces. He purchased land in Middlesex in what would become East Williams Township. Born in 1841, the third son among eight children, George W. Ross perceived perhaps that his father’s moderate success was unlikely to advantage him and all his siblings. Or, experiencing the struggle of pioneer farming, he may have concluded that he was unsuited for agricultural life. He left in his teens to obtain an education and teach.

After acquiring a third-class certificate in 1857, Ross began teaching in the log school where he had been a pupil. Two years later he qualified for a second-class certificate. In 1866 he mounted what he termed a “public ‘crusade’” against the system of local superintendents, who, he argued, were lax in visiting schools and advising teachers. Instead, he advocated a county superintendency. Ross left teaching in 1867, when he bought the Strathroy Age from William Fisher Luxton*. Eking out a living, he sold it in 1868 or 1869 and purchased a partnership in the Seaforth Expositor, which he retained for an even shorter time. In 1868 he was made school superintendent for East Williams, and the next year he entered the Toronto Normal School. After he obtained a first-class provincial certificate in 1871, he was appointed inspector for east Lambton County. Ross also studied law, starting in the early 1870s, and in 1883 he would receive an llb from Albert College in Belleville.

From 1876 to 1880 Ross served on the Department of Education’s central committee of examiners. Originally established to certify teachers, it had been assigned administrative and policy duties by Adam Crooks*, Ontario’s first minister of education. Ross chaired its subcommittee on model schools and assumed responsibility for them as provincial inspector and for preparing the model school syllabus. Conservative critics accused the central committee of authorizing textbooks and work-books that its members had written, Ross’s contribution being a book of dictation exercises.

Despite its brevity, Ross’s newspaper work had confirmed his interest in politics. He was nominated to run for the House of Commons in 1867, and in the provincial election of 1871 he campaigned in Middlesex West for Alexander Mackenzie*, at the time an mp and the federal Liberals’ unofficial leader. Recruited to contest Middlesex West in the dominion election of 1872, Ross hesitated. He was inclined to the provincial legislature, where he felt he stood the best chance to rise. He also worried about his county inspectorship, since Egerton Ryerson*, Ontario’s chief superintendent of education, had questioned the propriety of his candidacy and had urged Mackenzie to have him resign. Once he was elected, however, any conflict of interest was forgotten.

The life of a backbencher held little appeal for Ross, who rarely participated in debate. When he did speak, on the Pacific railway or on tariff policy, he merely reiterated his party’s positions, though he did so with skill. On prohibition he was more creative. In 1873 he served on, and in 1874 chaired, a select committee which favoured prohibition, but he astutely recognized the damage that could be done to any party advocating restrictions that exceeded those required by public sentiment. Although he moved a resolution in 1875 in support of prohibition, in 1877 he opposed a similar motion on the grounds that “steady work” outside parliament would advance the cause more effectively. He therefore defended Richard William Scott’s Canada Temperance Act of 1878, which allowed for local option.

Ross sat in the commons for 11 years. His election in 1882 was successfully protested in October 1883. Rather than try to regain his seat, Ross accepted the invitation of Oliver Mowat*, premier of Ontario, to join his cabinet as minister of education. He was elected for Middlesex West at a by-election on 14 Dec. 1883. Mowat’s first choice had been George Monro Grant*, the principal of Queen’s College in Kingston, but Grant had insisted that education be removed from the political realm and Mowat did not want education to revert to the sort of bureaucratic fiefdom that had existed under Ryerson. In Ross, Mowat found a minister who was acceptable to the teaching profession and could carry a marginal riding, and who could administer a department in ways that would extend state authority.

Ross’s predecessor, Crooks, had made some progress in wresting control from the department’s bureaucracy, though ill health and the recalcitrance of his deputy, John George Hodgins, impaired his effectiveness. Among Ross’s first initiatives was a new set of internal regulations in April 1884, which diminished Hodgins’s authority by giving the minister responsibility for personnel, purchasing, reports, and correspondence that was not strictly internal. His Public Schools and High Schools acts of 1885 stipulated formal ministerial control and legislative approval for all regulations pertaining to schools and teachers. The talent that would be drawn to the department was remarkable – among the influential educationists recruited were John Millar* and John Seath. Though it included men of different political persuasions and many with difficult personalities, Seath for instance, they accepted ministerial responsibility.

Secure within the management of his department, Ross proceeded to create the Liberal alternative to Ryerson’s model. For Ryerson free public schools constituted a total system. Those destined to go on would prepare for university and the professions in the tuition-charging high schools. Ross, on the other hand, argued that an integrated system, from kindergarten (introduced in 1883 with Crooks’s support) to university, provided “the great stairway of learning” necessary for meritocratic rise.

Each step, Ross maintained, was worthy of attainment but it should also qualify a student for the next step. Under this system, departmental examinations at all levels took on greater significance as accreditation. Ross applauded the growing desire among students who had no intention of going further to take entrance and leaving exams. As he maintained, “Every certificate granted has a commercial value.” He reported with pride that in 1893 his department had issued nearly 750,000 examination papers for various levels of certification. The objection that uncontrolled certification might produce more teachers, lawyers, or doctors than could be gainfully employed offended him as an élitist response. “I am not prepared to admit that the son of the farmer or mechanic should be restrained in his aspirations,” he retorted.

Implementing the “educational ladder” meant overcoming institutional self-interest, especially among the universities. In claiming the state’s authority to qualify students for entry into the universities and the professions, Ross sought to introduce common matriculation requirements, components of which the department recognized for the non-professional or academic certification of teachers. Treating the University of Toronto as the provincial university, in the regulations of 1885 he tied the high-school course of study to the matriculation examinations of that institution. He then persuaded it to accept exams for second- and first-class teaching certificates as the equivalent of junior and senior matriculation. He thus acquired for his department the right to judge through its own examinations, not those set and marked by university officials, whether provincial educational standards were being met.

In an earlier move to exert control, in 1884, Ross had entered discussions on university federation. Originally suggested by William Mulock*, vice-chancellor of the University of Toronto, as a way to enhance its claims for greater funding, federation was seen by Ross as a way to diminish the sectarian nature of Ontario’s universities; he made it clear that the state would not support denominational teaching. He therefore translated the proposal into legislation in 1887. Federated denominational institutions, if located in Toronto, could draw upon the provincial university for instruction in arts, while providing training in theology and other subjects judged central to a religious education. The sciences and professional training would be reserved to the University of Toronto. In return, the colleges would not grant degrees in areas other than theology. Wycliffe College accepted federation in 1889, Knox College and Victoria University [see Nathanael Burwash] the next year, but St Michael’s College negotiated special terms and Trinity, Queen’s, and Toronto Baptist College (chartered as McMaster University in 1887 over Ross’s opposition) all refused.

Ross’s desire for an integrated system was complicated by provisions for minority education. The separate schools and bilingual education drew sharp criticism from the Conservatives, whose English-only policy was reinforced by Protestant reaction in the late 1880s and 1890s to the Jesuit estates question [see D’Alton McCarthy*; François-Eugène-Alfred Évanturel*]. Ross none the less accepted the constitutional right of Catholic parents to separate schools. His policy, he argued repeatedly, was “to promote efficiency” in the separate system, improve its fiscal base, and make it functionally more like the public system. For this reason he amended legislation in 1886 to facilitate the allocation to the separate schools of taxes paid by Catholic tenants and corporations with Catholic shareholders. Other changes made the school year conform to that of the public system and gave separate-school trustees comparable responsibilities. Maintaining that Catholics were overlooked when municipal councils made appointments, Ross obtained legislation in 1885 which permitted separate-school trustees to appoint a Catholic to the local high-school board. Ross offered only what had been given to public trustees.

Critics also ignored public-school practice when they denounced Ross and Mowat for not extending the secret ballot to the election of separate-school trustees. Though permitted since 1885 when requested by public-school electors, the ballot was by no means widely used. As anti-Catholics vented their anger over the lack of democratic electoral practice, pressure built on the church, which reluctantly acquiesced in 1894. Ross’s critics tried to make the case that there had been collusion between Liberals and Catholics, but he had, in fact, adopted a course of moderation. He opposed Catholic demands, such as the appointment of a deputy minister for separate schools, that were not compatible with greater state authority. He insisted too on authorizing the texts to be used in separate schools, making teachers meet the certification standards of the public system, and inspecting the schools.

To its list of complaints about minority education, the Protestant opposition added bilingual instruction. French-language schools dominated debate in the legislature in the spring of 1889 and were a central issue in the election of 1890. But Ross refused to end French-language instruction. When he spoke in March 1889 of the requirement for education to “assimilate the people and the languages of other nationalities,” he did not necessarily anticipate a unilingual nationalism. If the use of a foreign tongue was made “a stigma . . . which precludes . . . the full privileges of citizenship,” he reminded Ontarians, then immigrants would find Canada inhospitable. Since the “Anglo-Saxon race” would remain dominant in Canada, he confidently believed, linguistic unity was not essential for a patriotic citizenry. Still, stressing the much-used argument that the language of the state was English, Ross had made the study of English and teaching in English, as much as possible, mandatory in 1885; if taught exclusively, French or (in such areas as Waterloo County) German could breed sectarian and unpatriotic values. Publicly, for political reasons, Ross emphasized that French-speaking parents wanted their children to learn English. It was far more difficult to explain how their equally strong desire to have their children learn to read and write in French could be accommodated in the curriculum. He therefore attributed the slow progress in English through the late 1880s to a lack of bilingual teachers and texts.

An inquiry in 1889 took the actual measure of French-language instruction. It discovered readers with Catholic content in the public schools and reported that religious instruction – Catholic in the French-language public schools and both Catholic and Protestant in the German public schools – was being given during regular hours, contrary to regulations. As well, history texts in French public and separate schools were found “written in a spirit unfriendly to the British Empire and to the development of a patriotism embracing the whole Dominion of Canada.” In reaction, Ross reminded trustees and inspectors about the regulations concerning religious instruction and authorized the introduction of the English-French readers used in the Maritimes. A model school to train French-speaking teachers, authorized in 1886, was finally opened in 1890 at Plantagenet, in Prescott County.

A second inquiry, in 1893, assured Ross that English teaching and students’ proficiency had improved in both public and separate schools. The controversy over religious instruction and the enforcement of regulations pertaining to it, however, had sparked the shift of 27 schools in Prescott and Russell counties from the public to the separate system. Though Ross no doubt regretted this shift, he could take encouragement in the demands of some Catholic parents for educational improvement, as exemplified by the request of the Ottawa separate-school trustees for an investigation of their schools. The inquiry of 1893 also led to an evaluation of teaching by the religious orders, and strengthened the demands of Catholic parents that teaching brothers and sisters accept the process of certification prescribed for lay teachers.

Though Ross resisted church influence, he saw religious instruction as a necessary part of moral education. He quickly learned, however, that sectarianism and theological difference could frustrate the introduction into the classroom of anything aimed at promoting a “common Christianity.” In December 1884 he made religious instruction obligatory in the form of opening and closing prayers and the reading of Scripture. The so-called Ross Bible program, however, proved offensive to many Protestants and Catholics. Seeking accord, Ross accepted suggestions from the Catholic archbishop of Toronto, John Joseph Lynch*, and from a Protestant committee. But other bishops – James Joseph Carbery of Hamilton, James Vincent Cleary* of Kingston, and John Walsh* of London – did not share Lynch’s view. Moreover, the anti-Catholic Toronto Daily Mail [see Christopher William Bunting*] objected even to the consultation with Lynch and denounced the scriptural extracts as mutilations. Although Ross argued that the readings facilitated rather than distorted students’ understanding, concessions had to be made. Critics were privately conciliated, objectionable parts of the readings were revised, the actual Bible was permitted as an alternative, the exemption of Catholic children and teachers was guaranteed, and a compromise with the offended bishops was quietly negotiated by Ross’s cabinet colleague Christopher Finlay Fraser*. Despite this backtracking, Ross remained committed, as he put it in 1887, to making Christianity “the basis of our school system.”

Religious instruction was not the only approach to moral education. Ross believed that the most effective means were indirect: students picked up values and influences from their surroundings and from lessons in school. Thus, authorized readers contained selections that would appeal to a child’s “moral and religious nature.” Discipline in school should mirror the family. Regulations therefore obliged teachers to exercise the discipline of a “judicious parent” and, through example, instruction, and authority, “imbue every pupil with respect for those moral obligations which underlie a well formed character.” To promote civic service, in 1885 Ross introduced Arbor Day, on which children planted trees, cleaned up the school grounds, and shaped an environment that symbolized the ideal for society.

In 1896 Ross asked his public-school inspectors about the outcome of state education, namely the policies of the Department of Education over 20 years and the compulsory attendance laws of 1871 and 1891. Had the moral standing of teachers and students improved? The consensus was positive, but some questioned whether improvement had penetrated to the true, inner characters of individuals. Though surveillance of both children and teachers was more effective, attendance remained irregular; only 50 per cent of school-age children attended in 1887. Aware perhaps of the limits of moral education, Ross introduced more punitive disciplinary measures. In 1891, for instance, police commissions or school trustees were enabled to appoint truant officers. In his report of 1898 Ross speculated that even more rigorous measures were needed.

Much of what Ross accomplished as minister of education had been started by his predecessors. The assertion of ministerial responsibility, the enforcement of school attendance, the attachment of secondary and post-secondary education to the public system, the professional training of teachers, and the preparation of textbooks under departmental supervision completed a generation of school promotion in Ontario. To these major achievements Ross added a number of specific measures that extended departmental and ministerial authority: compelling through order in council in 1884 the admission of women to the University of Toronto [see Sir Daniel Wilson*], supporting kindergartens and developing specialized training for their teachers, introducing temperance education on an optional basis in 1885, encouraging manual training and domestic science, and promoting technical and adult education. But Ross’s most important contribution was administrative. Amendments shortened the legislation covering education and gave him the authority to use departmental regulations to make the educational ladder operate more efficiently as a system of accreditation.

Ontario’s schools had provided Ross in his youth with a way out of country life and limited prospects. As industrialization and urbanization transformed the province, he was satisfied that others too could demonstrate strength of character – for him the prerequisite for success – by meeting the challenges set, evaluated, and certified by the Department of Education. Conservative leader James Pliny Whitney, however, judged that Ross’s concern with accreditation had impaired the ability of elementary schools to provide adequate training for the children of the “poorer classes,” at the same time as departmental parsimony had left the secondary system and the University of Toronto underfunded. Perceiving a weakness in Liberal policy, from 1897 Whitney shifted opposition criticism to these areas, away from minority rights. As well, Ross’s refinement of Ontario’s educational system was receiving mixed assessments at meetings of the Dominion Educational Association and other professional bodies. Within the system his call for more coercive discipline implicitly questioned the effectiveness of the system in forming character among students. Ross responded eloquently, if defensively, reminding critics that the Ontario model had been adopted by other provinces. “I think we have gone about as far as we need to go,” he concluded in 1899. No doubt too he took satisfaction in having his accomplishments acknowledged by honorary degrees from the University of St Andrews in Scotland (1888), Victoria (1892), and the University of Toronto (1894); similar honours would be granted by McMaster (1902) and Queen’s (1903).

As minister, Ross had involved himself steadily in the administrative minutiae of his department, and his assertion of authority was often quite abrasive. He could be tenacious and mean-minded once he had embarked on a course of action. His campaign against Hodgins, himself a difficult man to work with, revealed this unpleasant side of Ross’s character. He not only marginalized Hodgins, afraid perhaps of the political repercussions of dismissing him, but also found ways to insult him and in the end Hodgins resigned in 1890. In another instance Ross engaged Professor Eugene Emil Felix Richard Haanel in a nasty and unnecessarily prolonged dispute over the latter’s loss of his position at Victoria when it federated with the University of Toronto. Similarly, Ross’s relations with G. M. Grant and William Mulock, both strong-willed men, were strained as they battled about questions of ministerial authority over universities. Mulock denounced Ross for acting like “a Bismarck or Mentchikoff, but not a representative of the free people of Canada.”

With the retirement on 20 Oct. 1899 of Arthur Sturgis Hardy*, premier since 1896, Ross as senior minister became premier and provincial treasurer. He faced a difficult situation. Under Hardy the strength of the Liberals had seriously declined, even though the province was in good shape economically. The extension of Ontario’s northern boundaries, the assertion of provincial rights over crown lands, and the development of resources had produced a revenue base which allowed the government to build a surplus. The opening of northern Ontario promised a revival of the pioneering era that had sustained Liberalism under Mowat. At the same time Ontario’s schools aimed at instilling in the province’s youth the self-discipline, individualism, and civic morality that Liberalism had associated with the farmer and the artisan. But Ontario had changed: it was increasingly urban and the urban population was concentrating in the largest centres. Ross nevertheless moved to focus his government’s attention on the north – “New Ontario” – and on the resource sector.

In the first year of his administration Ross commissioned an extensive survey of northern Ontario. It lauded the potential of the northeast’s Great Clay Belt as a new frontier for settlement. The premier subsequently delivered promotional speeches, wrote to British newspapers encouraging immigration, pressed the federal government to direct agricultural immigrants to the north, and set up a bureau of colonization. To attract capital, his government continued to distribute generously rights to exploit resources and offered subsidies for rail construction. Pulpwood-cutting concessions were sold privately, not at public auction as demanded by the Conservatives. Mining properties could be held on terms suited to the financial means and speculative interest of the investor, and in 1900 the government eliminated royalty payments. That it should undertake the construction, in 1903, and later the operation of the Temiskaming and Northern Ontario Railway did not necessarily contradict its rejection of public enterprise in other sectors: the line was analogous to government-built colonization roads and drew enthusiastic support in the north and from Toronto business.

The stimulation of manufacturing proved more difficult. In 1900 Ross extended the manufacturing condition imposed on pine by the Hardy government to require that spruce pulpwood cut on crown land be processed in Canada. Though several pulp-and-paper companies attempted to establish operations, the recession of 1903 and the American tariff on Canadian pulp, paper, and newsprint contributed to their collapse. Changes to the Mines Act, also in 1900, levied fees on nickel ore that would be remitted if it was refined in Canada. Interested American capitalists appealed for federal disallowance, charging that the province had no authority to regulate trade. Though Liberal Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier agreed, he hesitated for political reasons to disallow the legislation, preferring to have Minister of Justice David Mills* communicate only the grounds upon which it might be set aside. Ross angrily proposed submitting the matter to the courts, but he soon had second thoughts: unlike trees cut on crown land, ore was extracted from private property and the courts could rule against the province. As well, he may have concluded that Attorney General John Morison Gibson*, who was also the solicitor for a syndicate promoting a smelter in Hamilton, had exaggerated the viability of nickel refining in Canada [see Andrew Trew Wood*]. Ross never referred the act to the courts nor did he request the lieutenant governor’s assent.

Pride of place in Ross’s industrial ambitions for the north was held by Francis Hector Clergue*’s complex of hydroelectric, railway, chemical, pulp-and-paper, and iron and steel companies at Sault Ste Marie. Having showered the enterprise with bonuses, Ross felt obliged to step in when Clergue failed to pay his workers and creditors in September 1903. Militiamen were sent from Toronto to control demonstrations and on 1 October Ross guaranteed the overdue wages of Clergue’s umbrella company. In March 1904 the government loaned $2 million to a reorganized corporation. Challenged by Conservative leader J. P Whitney, who warned that the province could end up taking it over, Ross rejected the prospect. The government could always sell the property. For Ross, the responsibility of the liberal state was only to create a climate within which individual initiative could thrive.

Ross similarly rejected provincial ownership of a utility to generate and transmit hydroelectricity from Niagara Falls. He saw no reason to assume public debt for a service which could be enjoyed only by a small portion of the population. Preferable were franchises that could generate public revenue. Rights at Niagara had initially been assigned in 1892; in 1900 the government signed a second agreement, with an American syndicate. Three years later a third franchise was granted, to the Electrical Development Company, controlled by Toronto entrepreneurs William Mackenzie*, Frederic Nicholls*, and Henry Mill Pellatt*. Despite pressure from manufacturers and municipal reformers, Ross refused to reserve sites for a power plant owned by a municipal co-operative, although legislation in 1903 did allow for a municipal commission to undertake transmission at its own expense. A charge of corporate influence seemed plausible because Ross at the time was president of Manufacturers’ Life Insurance Company, which was interested in the stock of Electrical Development and on whose board Mackenzie and Pellatt also served, and J. M. Gibson was involved in another power company. Ross did nothing to allay suspicions when, in the dying days of his government, he granted the remaining generating sites to Electrical Development. The popular appeal of the public-power movement [see Sir Adam Beck*] clearly baffled Ross, and in subsequent speeches and writings he attempted with little success to grapple with the challenge of a new conception of the state.

The mining and hydroelectric questions do not reveal Ross at his best. He may have allowed others, especially Gibson, too much latitude in determining the course of policy. When he could choose his associates and maintain discipline through ministerial authority, as he had done in the Department of Education, he functioned well. But, as the first among equals, he was at a disadvantage; he could not or would not command. Lacking perhaps the political smartness of Mowat or Hardy, he relied too heavily for political initiative on Provincial Secretary James Robert Stratton, who was not much more than a ward-heeler, and Gibson, whose social élitism bred a disdain for the niceties of democratic procedure.

In contrast to power, prohibition would have been a liability for any government. Though a long-time temperance man, Ross endeavoured to separate the issue from his electoral campaigns. The decision of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in November 1901 that the Manitoba prohibition act was constitutional encouraged the cause in Ontario. In February 1902, following Manitoba’s example, Ross introduced legislation which allowed prohibition should it be favoured by a number equal to a majority of those voting in the election of 1898. In a referendum on 4 Dec. 1902, the number of votes fell short. Five days later, in a speech to the Sons of Temperance in Toronto, Ross declined to take further action [see Francis Stephens Spence].

The disappointment of prohibitionists would affect the election of 1905, but of immediate significance were charges of electoral scandal. Under Mowat and Hardy a machine, directed by the Ontario Liberal Association, had operated efficiently to get the vote out and maintain the Liberals’ hold on power. During the 1890s the machine began to give way. By relentlessly protesting irregularities, Whitney skilfully made corruption a political issue. To investigate charges in the Elgin West election in 1898, Ross named a commission of inquiry shortly after assuming the premiership. Its discovery that the ballots had been burned seemed to reveal a cover-up. More damaging were the accusations made on 11 March 1903 by Robert Roswell Gamey, the Conservative member for Manitoulin. Following the election of 1902, he charged, a Liberal organizer had approached him to support the government in exchange for money and the control of patronage in his riding; he reputedly received a payment in the outer office of Provincial Secretary Stratton. Although a royal commission struck by Ross cast doubts on Gamey’s evidence and exonerated Stratton, pressure did not let up. In September 1904 a trial concerning charges arising from the by-election of 1903 in Sault Ste Marie revealed that the Liberal victor had been assisted illegally by F. H. Clergue’s Algoma Central Railway. A company steamship had transported 20 men from the Michigan side to vote under the names of dead or absent miners. Aware of plans for the deception, the Conservative candidate had complained to Attorney General Gibson, who took no action.

Opinion on Ross’s involvement differed. Reporter Hector Willoughby Charlesworth* judged him “guileless,” unaware of the “unscrupulousness . . . around him,” while John Stephen Willison* believed that Ross, out of desperation, participated in what was going on. Both were probably right. Though no machine politician like Hardy, Ross knew from experience the ends to which organizers at times had to go to secure victory; he did not need to know the details of every constituency fight, only to assure that in the wake of an election controverted returns were managed to contain any damage. But going into the election of January 1905, he had to clean house; he accepted Stratton’s resignation and demoted Gibson. In addition, in November 1904 a new organization, the General Reform Association of Ontario, replaced the OLA, whose general secretary, James Vance, was removed as organizer. These steps, along with the premier’s confession – “We have sinned and repented and are sorry for it” – went unrewarded, as the Conservatives swept to a 40-seat majority.

Moral revulsion, prohibition, and the separate schools issue all contributed to the loss, as Ross admitted. The fact was, moreover, that despite a long record of victories the Liberal hold on office, even before Ross’s short term, rested on a popular vote only marginally higher than that of the opposition. In the election of 1902 the party had won a majority with less than half the vote, and a shift in a few ridings in 1898 or 1902 could have produced much different results. Furthermore, although the Ross government claimed credit for the long history of Liberal legislation on industry, its record, beyond its commitment to resource development, was modest. Measures such as bonuses to the sugar-beet industry, the promotion of the dressed-beef trade, and the appointment of a good-roads commissioner and the allocation of a million dollars for highway improvement, though useful programs, likely did not arouse much partisan enthusiasm. With hindsight, Ross would state in Getting into parliament and after (Toronto, 1913) that there had been nothing left to “appeal to the vivid conceptions of Government which attract the masses.” Liberalism had exhausted itself in Ontario.

Ross led the opposition through two sessions before he happily accepted a Senate seat on 15 Jan. 1907. Perhaps because some party veterans questioned his executive ability and commitment to “true Reform principles,” the cabinet position Ross desired did not materialize, but other honours did: a knight bachelorhood in 1910 and leadership of the Liberals in the Senate in 1911. Advancing a principled role for the Senate as a trustee of provincial rights and a defender of empire, Ross would lead its obstruction of the Conservative government of Robert Laird Borden* after 1911.

As a politician Ross’s strength was his power of oratory. He was widely regarded as one of Canada’s finest speakers, and, although the written versions of many of his addresses lack intellectual substance, his parliamentary debating skill was substantial. Much of his imperialism was the enthusiasm of a sentimental politician delivering an after-dinner speech, and empire was a subject to stir English Canadian audiences, especially in the years following Queen Victoria’s diamond jubilee and the South African War. On this emotional level, imperialism provided a vehicle for the patriotic feeling that Ross believed was essential for sound citizenship. To this end, as minister of education, he had compiled Patriotic recitations and Arbor Day exercises (Toronto, 1893) for school use. Later, in 1899, he introduced Empire Day into the schools [see Clementina Trenholme]. In speeches he emphasized the national unity that was possible within imperialism. Just as people of Anglo-Saxon, Celtic, and Gallic ancestry had all contributed to the grand achievements of empire, so too could people of diverse backgrounds realize grand attainments in Canada. There were limits on this diversity, however. In an address in England in 1901, Ross felt free to express concern about the emigration of Doukhobors, Galicians, and Mennonites, people who “have to go through a course of naturalization.” On his return to Ontario, he stated that, instead, “we want . . . people who are of our own kith and kin, men . . . educated in the confident elief in British institutions.”

At the practical level, although Ross wished for closer relations within the British empire, he doubted the British commitment to defend Canadian interests, especially in negotiations with the United States. Imperial federation interested Ross as the final step in the devolution of sovereignty, from the British parliament to an imperial parliament of Britain and the dominions, but the prospect of federation of this sort, he claimed, was distant. In the interim, more modest measures would satisfy him, among them the promotion of capital investment and immigration to Canada, and preferential trade. The British prejudice for free trade, he suggested, could be overcome by directing the revenue from preferential tariffs to imperial defence.

After 1909 the issue of imperial defence generated deep partisan divisions. Ross strongly supported Laurier’s Naval Service Bill of 1910, which called for the establishment of a small Canadian navy that would contribute to imperial defence in times of emergency. Following Launer’s defeat in 1911, the Liberal-dominated Senate stubbornly opposed the Borden government’s legislative agenda. Bill after bill was rejected or amended; most significant was the Naval Aid Bill. Unable to foresee any emergency that would justify a grant of $35 million to the Royal Navy and angered by Borden’s inaction in establishing a Canadian navy, the Liberals dragged out debate in the commons from 5 Dec. 1912 until May, when the bill passed under closure. The Conservative leader in the Senate, James Alexander Lougheed*, negotiated an agreement with Ross whereby the government would accept an amendment to provide appropriation for a Canadian navy if the Senate would pass the bill. Ross had wanted a stronger commitment to an independent navy, but he privately favoured the bill as a “contribution for the protection that Britain has afforded us for the last 150 years.” As well, he had grown unhappy with Laurier’s naval policy and had talked about leaving the party over reciprocity. Furious that the commons had been gagged, the other Liberal senators and Laurier rejected any compromise. Ross accepted his party’s position and led the Senate opposition in forcing the bill’s return to the commons on 30 May 1913.

As Ross feared, the defeat provoked demands for Senate reform. When Borden’s proposal to enlarge the Senate with more representation from the west was rejected by the upper house, the prime minister seriously contemplated a plebiscite on an elected senate. In defence, Ross assembled ideas he had advanced on various occasions and published them as The Senate of Canada . . . (Toronto, [1914]). More than partisan rhetoric, it advanced a credible ideological justification. Only by agreement among the original provinces could the Senate be reformed, he argued.

In opposing Senate reform and, before that, public ownership, Ross adopted positions which appeared out of sympathy with popular democratic sentiment. In his ideal society, men took individual initiatives and enjoyed the fruits of their efforts. It was, he stated in the Senate in May 1913, “a fact that the most successful men in our professions, and in commercial life, have been raised upon the farm up to a certain age, and with that strong mental and physical push which they possess, because of their environment, they have been able to grapple more successfully with the problems and the difficulties that they encountered.” Such had been his own experience. But by the 20th century an increasingly smaller proportion of the population had been born on the farm, and the values associated with that background had lost much of their political appeal.

The naval debate was Ross’s last major campaign. On occasion the rheumatism which had afflicted him since the 1880s kept him away from the Senate, and in the spring of 1913 he carne down with a mild attack of pneumonia. On 24 Jan. 1914 he collapsed suddenly while speaking to the Senate. Rushed back to Toronto, he remained in hospital until his death on 7 March; he was survived by his third wife, two sons, and six daughters.

Assam Police Constable Admit Card 2016, Assam Police Exam 2016 by lifecongo (dot) in

Assam Police Constable Admit Card 2016 will be uploaded at assampolice.com.You can also download Assam Police Constable Exam Pattern & Syllabus from this post.

Assam Police Constable Admit Card 2016, Assam Police Exam 2016: Assam Police department announced the notification to conduct the written exam for constable post. Assam police is going to recruit the candidates for 6748 vacant posts of constable. Those have registered for Assam police armed force constable recruitment they would appear in written test.

The written exam for constable post will be held in upcoming two month. Candidates are preparing for written test they can download syllabus and admit card. For Assam Police constable post many candidates have applied. Applicants can also download Assam Police Constable exam pattern and syllabus from this post.

Assam Police Constable Admit Card 2016, Assam Police Exam 2016:

1st PST Test and Then Medical test, 2nd stage PET Test and 3rd stage written Test

So applicants are required to prepare for all stages. In 1st stage test, candidates are selected on the basis of their physical standard. For male and female candidates physical standard is different so check the physical standard here. For male candidates height standard is as following:

See also:

““The Education Act, 1877."-Inspection of Schools and Standards of Education.” (14 October 1891) 75 New Zealand Gazette 1121

“Regulation for the Inspection of Schools.” (7 January 1892) 1 New Zealand Gazette 2

““The Education Act, 1877."-Inspection of Schools and Standards of Education.” (18 June 1885) 39 New Zealand Gazette 772

Stay tuned to our Twitter account for more updates on this special series of tweets and our On This Day in history segment: Follow us on Twitter www.twitter.com/ArchivesNZ

For further enquiries regarding school records, please email Research.Archives@dia.govt.nz

Material supplied by Archives New Zealand

GFPS Moral Inst 1928 by David Owen

4 1

Goytre Fawr Primary School - Goytrey Council School - 1928 - Syllabus for Moral instruction

Geometry by Archives New Zealand

1. Exam time - school inspector’s reminder of the Eketahuna School’s syllabus of work

This week we are celebrating the start of the new school year with a selection of records we hold relating to school life. Some will be presented on Flickr and some on Youtube, where we'll have great film footage to share later in the week.

When Mr Robert Lee visited Eketahuna School on 6 April 1892 he was given a list of the school’s syllabus of work. As one of two school inspectors for the Wellington Education District, the purpose of his visit was to conduct the annual examination of the school’s pupils. The list, mostly likely drawn up by the head teacher, Mr T. Bennett, identified the subjects, and the various topics covered within those subjects, that each class had been taught during the school year to date.

At this time in New Zealand’s education history school attendance was only compulsory for children between the ages of seven and 13, and free education was only provided at public primary schools. Pupils at every public primary school were divided into Standard Classes. The initial division was Preparatory and Class, with pupils in preparatory classes preparing for Class 1 (also known as Standard 1 (NZ’s current Year 3 equivalent)).

The syllabus was made up of: pass subjects, for which each pupil was examined individually; class subjects, for which each standard class was examined as a group by the inspector; and additional subjects, which were optional subjects a school could choose to teach and which were examined in the same manner as class subjects. To pass a class subject or additional subject each pupil had to be present in the standard class when the inspector examined it on the subject.

Why was the inspector examining the Eketahuna School pupils so early in the school year? The syllabus of work for public schools was set by the New Zealand Educational Institute, based on regulations drawn up by the Department of Education. On 12th October 1891 an Order in Council had prescribed a change to the syllabus. This was followed by a 6th January 1892 Order in Council which directed inspectors to conduct their examinations of schools during the 1st six months of 1892 so pupils had the opportunity of passing their Standards as they were taught based on the previous syllabus. Hence the early exam date!

The Eketahuna School pupils would have been examined as per the previous (16 June 1885) regulations. Under these regulations pass subjects for Standard 3 (NZ’s current Year 5 equivalent) included:

Reading - Easy reading book, to be read fluently and intelligently, with knowledge of the meanings of the words, and with due regard to the distinction of paragraphs as well as of sentences.

Arithmetic - Numeration and notation generally (one billion being taken as the second power of one million, one trillion the third power, and so on); long multiplication and long division; the four money rules, excepting long multiplication of money; tables of money, avoirdupois weight, and long measure; and easy money problems in mental arithmetic .

Geography - The names and positions of the chief towns of New Zealand; the principal features of the district in which the school is situated; names and positions of Australian Colonies and their capitals; of the countries and capitals of Europe; of mountains forming the water-sheds of continental areas; and of celebrated rivers.

Under the 1885 regulations, class subjects for Standard 5 (NZ’s current Year 7 equivalent) included:

English History - The period from 1485 A.D. to 1714 A.D., and the leading events of the period known in connection with the reigns and centuries to which they belong, and in their own character. [Precise dates will not be required, though a knowledge of them may assist in referring each event to the proper reign.]

Pupils may also have been taught, and examined on, the following additional subjects: Recitation, Singing, Needlework and Drill, Extra Drawing.

These papers come from the Class schedules – 1892 M-P file created by the Wellington Education Board. The file is part of the Class schedules series of records containing class examination reports and school inspection reports for schools in the Wellington Education district, from about 1885 to about 1909.

Archives Reference: ADEX 16412 EB-W8 6 / 13

collections.archives.govt.nz/en/web/arena/search#/?q=R118...