The Sun.
London, England, 1868-08-07 00:00:00

1)

SCIIOOLMAarItS3 SALARIES.

The Rev. C. F. Johnstone, in his report on the Lan.
cashire Church Schools, observes :—" Tho incomes which
are made in some of these schools aro very large. The
average of the salaries returned by the masters in one
town is over £l3O a year, exclusive of house, profits of
evening school, or other advantages ; and in one instance
a total income from all sources is made of £3OO. It is
well that a profession should have these prizes,
and most certainly they are only gained by the hardest
and most trying work ; but in the face of this it is
impossible, at least in this district, to agree with the ell
that salaries are diminished and a teacher's prospects
blighted under the new code. And this leads me to
remark upon a point which should, if possible, be
guarded against. A return is asked for each year of the
whole pecuniary etro:ument of a teacher received out of
the school income. Men rare!y make themselves out
richer than they are, and from the opportunities which
there are of private information it is certain that in
many instances the return is made too low, and that
teachers consequently are often thought to be a wolso
paid body of men than they really are. As it is, their
own returns shew them to be in the receipt of the follow-
ing average payments : —Masters, £9B 14s. ; mistresses
(girls'), £62 13s. ; mistresses (infants'), £5B. And when
to this is added the many unacknowledged items which
exist, the whole amount will not appear so low, even
though among the high-paid classes of the manufacturing
districts."

THE NATIONAL ARTILLERY
ASSOCIATION.

The sudden change in the weather which took place on
Thursday had rather an unfavourable effect on the Arm-
strong gun practice of the volunteers. The increased den-
sity of the atmosphere rendered the aim more difficult,
and the high wind and rain turned even the conical bullets
from their track. The practice began at half-past eight
in the morning, under a drizzling rain, and in a fog so
thick that the gunners could scarcely see the target. This
year is the first in which the volunteers are allowed to prac-
tise with the Armstrong guns. As a matter of fact the
majority assembled at Shoeburyness had never handled
one of those pieces until they arrived at the camp. Not.
withstanding the result of this drawback, the practice was
excellent ; the intricacy of the gun offered no obstacle to
rapidity of loading, and the aim was, as a general rule,
far above the average. The Queen's Prize, £lOO, was won
by the sth West York, with a score of 36, obtained in
6 min. 58 secs., but in estimating the goodness of this
score it must be remembered that when firing with
Armstrongs no shot reckons except those which hit
the target. Each hit counts twelve, so that the winners
in this case must have hit the target three times out of
five, firing at 1,500 and 2,000 yards alternately. The scores
were pronounced to be excellent, and the facility with
which the amateur artillerists handled the Armstrong
guns—so different in every particular from the old-
fashioned smooth-bore, elicited general commendation.
Singularly enough, the winners were tied in score by the
4th detachment of the Mid-Lothian Court Artillery, and
also by the 2nd Kent ; the superiority being only in the
time taken to load and fire. The time of the Mid-
Lothian was 8 min. S sec., and the 2nd Kent the same,
so that three corps tied in score and two in time, an
example of close firing which was rather remarkable. We
should add that even the lowest figures were deemed by the
experts to be exceedingly creditable, especially as the men
were working for the first time with Armstrong guns.
The shooting for the Lords and Commons' Prizes termi-
nated late on Wednesday evening, the winners being--
first prize, let Sussex ; second, 12th Kent ; third, 3rd
Essex ; fourth, 2nd Sussex.