Government revenue
The next decades saw much infighting among many of Newfoundlanders around the allocation of grant money. Government revenue was based mainly on customs dues, so grant money would grow or shrink depending on the state of the economy. This resulted in schools which were smaller than needed and lacked sufficient equipment, and teachers who were both under-educated and underpaid. The Education Act of 1876 set up Superintendents for each of the denominational schools: Catholic, Church of England, and Methodist, which made up 90 percent of the population. The situation only worsened as money was spent on building new schools rather than increasing teacher salaries, which continued to fall.