Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIV.djvu/146

 138 QUEBEC (PROVINCE) are five commissioners, elected by the rate payers, having the immediate management of primary schools. In municipalities where dif- ferent religious denominations exist, the mi- nority may select syndics or trustees to direct their own schools ; these are called dissentient schools. Inspectors, 32 in number, acting un- der the immediate direction of the minister of public instruction, are required to visit the schools of their respective districts at least twice a year and report upon their condition. The provincial grant is apportioned among the municipalities, and in each a special tax is levied. Each head of a family is also re- quired to pay a monthly fee, varying from 5 to 40 cents, for every child between 7 and 14 years of age, whether attending school or not. Dissentient schools receive a share of these moneys. The following statistics are for 1873 : Municipalities, number 852 School districts 8.870 School houses 8.331 Elementary schools 8.254 Pupils 141,990 Primary superior schools for boys 269 Pupils 21,653 Primary superior schools for girls 74 Pupils 6,980 Protestant dissentient schools 186 Pupils 6,156 Catholic dissentient schools 84 Pupils. 1,509 Academies, 88 Pupils 8,252 Colleges 87 Pupils 7,118 Normal schools 4 Pupils 246 Educational convents, 129 Pupils 24,236 Independent schools 156 Pupils 6,261 Total educational institutions 4,226 " pupils 924,851 Male teachers 999 Female teacher* 4,017 Provincial grant, amount $155,000 00 Local assessments, regular and special $456,194 40 Monthly fees $715.661 76 Total amount available . $1,826,856 16 Public libraries, number 206 Volumes 108,812 Only the municipal or parochial libraries are given in the table. The schools for the train- ing of teachers are the Laval normal school at Quebec, and the Jacques Cartier and McGill normal schools at Montreal. There are three universities : Laval university at Quebec (Ro- man Catholic), McGill university at Montreal (Protestant, but not denominational), and the university of Bishop's college at Lennoxville (Episcopal). The first, with its affiliated in- stitutions in various parts of the province, is treated in the article on the city of Que- bec. McGill university was founded by a be- quest of the Hon. James McGill in 1811, was incorporated by royal charter in 1821, and re- organized by an amended charter in 1852. In immediate connection with it are the McGill normal and model schools and McGill college. The college has a faculty of arts, with a de- partment of applied science, and faculties of medicine and law. The department of arts has a museum and a library of 16,330 volumes, and the medical department a museum and a library of 4,000 volumes. St. Francis college, at Richmond, and Morrin college, at Quebec, are affiliated with the university, the former in respect of degrees in arts and the latter in arts and law. There are two affiliated theological colleges, the Congregational col- lege of British North America, at Montreal, and the Presbyterian college of Montreal, th students in which have the privilege of pur- suing the course of study in arts. The uni- versity receives a small annual grant from the province. Morrin college was founded in 1860 and incorporated in 1861. It has a faculty of divinity in connection with the church of Scotland. The university of Bishop's college was incorporated by royal charter in 1852. It comprises faculties of divinity, arts, and medicine, the last being at Montreal. Bishop's college, founded in 1843, and Bishop's college school, in 1857, are in immediate connection with it. The college has a museum and a library of 5,000 volumes. There is a medical school (ecolt de medeeine et de chirurgie) at Montreal affiliated with Victoria university, Cobourg, Ontario. There are 12 or 15 clas- sical colleges besides those already named, and about the same number of industrial colleges. The number of newspapers and periodicals published in the province in 1875 was 72 (43 English and 29 French), issuing 90 editions, viz.: 14 daily, 10 tri-weekly, 3 semi-weekly, 40 weekly, 1 semi-monthly, 19 monthly, and 3 quarterly. The following table contains the statistics of the principal religious denomina- tions, according to the census of 1871 : DENOMINATIONS. Churcbrt. Bulldlnp attached. Adherata. Baptist 82 44 - r>-fi KpWopal 176 809 62.449 Methodist 181 l-> 84100 Presbvterian 94 154 Kl <.> Roman Catholic 610 2097 1019850 Other 23 40 20266 Total.... 1.071 -'.<! 1 1.191.516 Of the Baptists 3,878 were Freewill Baptists, and of the Methodists 26,737 were Wesleyans. Among denominations not named in the table were 5,240 Congregationalists, 8,150 Advent- ists, 1,937 Universalists, and 1,093 Unitarians. Jacques Cartier took possession of this region in the name of the French king in 1534. The first permanent settlement was effected at the city of Quebec in 1608. Montreal was settled in 1642. The French ceded the territory, to- gether with what is now Ontario, to Great Britain in 1763, and in 1774 the whole was organized as the province of Quebec. In 1791 it was divided into two provinces, Low- er Canada and Upper Canada, and in 1841 these were reunited as the province of Can- ada. Upon the organization of the Dominion of Canada in 1867, they were again separa- ted, and Lower Canada became the province of