Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1921.djvu/434

 382 THE BRITISH EMPIRE: — VICTORIA

Of the immigrants in 1919, 15,351 were females, and of the emigrants 12,894 were females.

Religion.

There is no State Church in Victoria, and no State assistance has been given to religion since 1875. At the date of the census of 1911 76^ per cent, of the population were Protestants, 22.^ per cent, were Roman Catholics, and a half per cent, were Jews. The following were the enumerated numbers of each of the principal religions in 1911: — Episcopalians 475,203 (including ' Protestant,' so stated, 24,116) ; Presbyterians, 234,553 ; Methodists, 176,662 ; other Protestants, 93,729; Roman Catholics, 286,433 ; Jews, 6,270; Buddhists, Confucians, &c, 2,572; others (including unspe- cified), 40,129.

Instruction.

Educational establishments in Victoria are of four kinds, viz., the University, established under a special Act and opeued in 1855, witb its four affiliated colleges, State schools (primary and secondary), technical schools or colleges, and registered schools. Out of the general revenue the University received a subsidy amounting to 25,500£. for the year ending June 30, 1919. It is both an examining and a teaching body, and grants degrees in all Faculties except Divinity.

Affiliated to the University are four colleges — Trinity, Ormond, Queen's and Newman — in connection with the Church of England, Presbyterian, Methodist and Roman Catholic Churches respectively ; also the School of Mines at Ballarat. From the opening of the University to the end of 1919, 9,732 students matriculated, and 6,619 direct degrees were conferred. In 1919 the students who matriculated numbered 636, the direct graduates numbered 204, and there were 1,987 students attending lectures.

Public instruction is strictly secular; it is compulsory for children between the ages of 6 and 14, and free for the subjects comprised in the ordinary course of instruction. In 1918 there were 2,272 State schools with 6,570 teachers, a total enrolment of 240,664 scholars, and an average attendance of 164,350, or 68 per cent, of the numbers on the roll. Amongst persons aged 15 years and upwards at the census of 1911, 98 per cent, were able to read and write. In 1918-19 the total cost of public instruction, including grants to the University, was 1,430,577^. — all paid by the State. Secondary education is for the most part under the control either of private persons or proprietary bodies, usually con- nected with some religious denomination. There were, in 1918, 493 registered schools in Victoria, with 1,903 teachers, and a net enrolment of 56,996 scholars. Of these, 257 Mhools, 906 teachers and 42,841 pupils wire in connection with the Roman Catholic denomination, the members of which do not as a rule avail themselves of the free education afforded by the State.

Under the auspices of the Education Department are 24 technical and 19 junior technical schools, 28 high schools (including agricultural high schools), and 5 schools of domestic arts. In 1918 there were 509 teachers attached to the technical schools, irrespective of agricultural and horti- cultural colleges, the gross enrolment of pupils being 9,347.