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 290 NEWFOUNDLAND taxes or lay assessments. The only direct tax- ation is a land tax or ground rent for sewer- age and a house or tenant tax for the supply of water in St. John's, levied under acts of the legislature. The revenue in 1874 amount- ed to 185,334, the expenditures to 198,290, the difference being partly made up by the ex- cess of revenue in previous years, there being a balance of 3,300 in favor of the colony at the close of 1873. The public debt on Dec. 81, 1874, was 239,396. The penitentiary is at St. John's, where there is also a lunatic asylum. For school purposes the island is divided into districts, and in each a board of education con- sisting of Catholics for the Catholic schools, and another consisting of Protestants for the Prot- estant schools, are appointed by the governor in council. These boards have the general man- agement of the schools in their respective dis- tricts, subject to the approval of the governor in council. The governor with the advice of the council also appoints a Catholic and a Prot- estant inspector, to inspect the schools and re- port upon their condition. The sum of 750 (400 for Protestants and 350 for Catholics) is appropriated annually for the training of teachers. Two scholars from each electoral di- vision are entitled to 25 each for their board, lodging, and tuition in one of the academies or higher schools of the island. The money appropriated by the legislature for educational purposes has hitherto been divided between the Protestants and Catholics in proportion to their numbers ; the act of April 29, 1874, pro- vides for a further division among the various Protestant sects. This act does not go into effect until July 1, 1875, after a census has been taken, upon which and subsequent decen- nial censuses the denominational appropria- tions are to be based. It increases the number of inspectors to three. In the schools under government control a small tuition fee is re- quired of pupils able to pay. Besides those established by the governmental boards, the schools of the colonial church and school so- ciety (an English association, under the aus.- pices of the established church), and several established and controlled by the different reli- gious denominations, receive aid from the gov- ernment. The amount expended for educa- tional purposes in 1872 was 14,852 ; in 1873, 15,316. The number of schools in operation in 1874 was 293, with a total attendance of 13,597 pupils, of which 157 with 7,805 pupils were Protestant, and 136 with 5,792 pupils Catholic. Besides these there are grammar schools at Harbor Grace and Carbonear, an Episcopal, a Wesleyan Methodist, and a general Protestant academy at St. John's, and at the same place an Episcopal theological institute and St. Bonaventure college (Catholic). There are 13 newspapers published in the island, viz. : 1 tri-weekly, 5 semi-weekly, 5 weekly, and 2 bi-weekly, all issued at St. John's, except one weekly at Harbor Grace. Newfoundland con- tains two Roman Catholic bishoprics, St. John's and Harbor Grace, two Wesleyan Methodist superintendencies, and an Episcopal bishopric, with a bishop and a coadjutor. In 1874 there were 64,486 Roman Catholics, 59,605 Episco- palians, 35,551 Wesleyan Methodists, and 1,813 of other sects. The number of places of worship in 1869 was 188, viz. : Episcopal, 81 ; Catholic, 59 ; Wesleyan Methodist, 42 ; other, 6. Newfoundland was discovered by John or Sebastian Cabot in 1497 or 1498. Within a few years the island was frequented by the Portuguese, Spanish, and French for its fish- eries, and subsequently by the English. On Aug. 5, 1583, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, in com- mand of four armed vessels, entered the har- bor of St. John's and took formal possession of the island in tl^e name of Queen Elizabeth. Among the earliest attempts at settlement was that of Mr. Guy, a Bristol merchant, in 1610, who founded a colony at Mosquito cove in Conception bay, which remained but a short time. In 1614 Capt. Richard Whitburn, of Exmouth in Devon, was sent by the admiralty to Newfoundland to establish order among the fishermen and correct the great abuses that prevailed. He made an attempt to impanel juries in the most frequented harbors, and was the first to introduce the forms of law in New- foundland. A year or two after he was ap- pointed governor of a colony of Welshmen, established by Dr. William Yaughan in the southern part of the island, at a place now known as Little Britain. About this time fixed habitations were erected by the fisher- men at various points along the coast. What may be considered the first permanent colony was established by Sir George Calvert, after- ward Lord Baltimore, on the S. E. peninsula, to which he gave the name of Avalon, proba- bly in 1623, though some authorities say in 1621. About 10 years after this some colo- nists from Ireland came over under Lord Falk- land, and a party of English under Sir David Kirk in 1654, about which time 15 settle- ments, comprising 300 families, had been made. About 1620 the French had established a sta- tion at Placentia. In 1633 Charles I. estab- lished a code of regulations, but the island still continued without a regular government. In the reign of William III. the three fishing cap- tains first arriving in any harbor each sum- mer were designated admiral, vice admiral, and rear admiral respectively of that harbor, and became magistrates, empowered to decide all fishery rights and civil causes. Until the peace of Utrecht in 1713 the ports were fre- quently the scenes of warfare between the English and French, one and the other power alternately gaining possession of them. The English government was also opposed to the settlement of their own people, and broke up their establishments on the ground of their being likely to monopolize the fishery, and pre- vent it from becoming a nursery for British seamen. The treaty of Utrecht gave Great Britain the sole sovereignty of the island, but