A HISTORY OF RUTLAND results stated in a report look real,' ' full of danger, and, if constant, serve to introduce strong disturbing influences into good steady school work,' he was allowed to examine three forms — the sixth, the lower sixth, and the upper fourth, and found the results good, but not remarkable. He seems to have been most impressed with the English composition. In mathematics the stan- dard was low, and the arrangements for teaching tlie subject did not seem to be so efficient or so well considered as in the case of classics. Mathe- matics did not affect a boy's position in the school, there being a separate list for the subject. He considers that mathematics was officially regarded as an inferior study ; it was taught by the ordi- nary form-masters, except in the highest class, which alone had a specialist teacher ; the classes were too big, and the time set apart for it, the afternoon, liable to be encroached upon by extra half-holidays. With regard to modern languages, which were extras, Thring seemed to press German to the damage of French, especially with the upper boys. Chemistry was taught by the German master, but was not very popular ; car- pentry had some devotees. A good deal of attention was given to music, which, with foreign languages, was taught by foreigners, whose ' posttion appeared to be as fully recognized as that of any other masters.' Promotion depended entirely on the result of examination, and the ordinary mark system was not officially recog- nized or employed. The assistant commissioner thought the domestic arrangements perfect. ' The bearing of details upon the character and training of the boys seems to have been recognised by the head master from the very first, and that to a much greater extent than was usual lo or 15 years ago.' ' Of the tone of the school everyone to whom I talked spoke very highly, especially old pupils.' The school was not much used by the townspeople — in 1864 there were only seven day boys to 261 boarders ; but, on the other hand, little desire was expressed for altering the arrangements of the school for the benefit of the residents. Additional information supplied shows that the head master's salary from endowment was jTiSa, while the usher received ;ri30 from the same source ; but fees from tuition and boarding brought the head master's income up to j^2,000, and assured ^^ 1,000 a year for all house-masters, who were allowed to take 31 boarders each, one free of charge to provide a scholarship fund. Masters without houses were paid by the head master. The fees for boarders, including ordinary tuition, were £(iC) ^s. Day boys paid £ entrance fee and ^^12 Js. 6d. for ordinary subjects. There were additional charges for tuition {£10) and extra subjects — French, Ger- man, music, drawing, and chemistry, costing £8 8j. each, carpentry £1 loj., and singing £^ 4.S. The average of boarders' school bills was £go. In 1872, in reply to a question addressed to him by the Secretary of the Public Schools Com- missioners, Thring made an interesting financial statement concerning Uppingham, and expressed his views with regard to the cost of education at a good boarding school : — '^ At Uppingham we now employ for 300 boys 14 classicil and mathematical masters, myself included, 1 mathematical exclusively, I German, 2 French, 2 music, I gymnastic and music, total 21, at a cost of about ;(^2 3,535 per annum. We ought to have a regular science master at an additional cost of j^500 per annum or thereabouts. Other school expenses amount to about £800 per annum, exclusive of funds for repairs, and for one or two minor pursuits, etc. This keeps about ^^80 per annum as the average cost of each boy in the gross. Thring considers that the cost of education at a Public School depends largely on the number of pupils that can be properly taught in class together in the various subjects (he mentions 25 for most subjects, classics, mathematics, &c. ; 8 for modern languages, and 60 for singing and music), and the number of boarders that can be properly cared for in a house (30). The prime cost for boarding he puts between ^30 and ^40. In any case a house-master ought to receive j{^i,ooo a year, a suitable man being well worth that price ; and the modern language and music masters ,^500 a year each, if dependent on tuition alone. These considerations fix the tuition fee at about ;r35, and the boarding fee at about ;^70. If there is to be also provision for adequate payment of the head master, the total cost of boarding and tuition, in a school with small endowment, ought not to be under £go. Between 1875 and 1877 the school received a blow from which only the calm courage and daring enterprise of the head master, reinforced by the splendid devotion of his colleagues and the unswerving loyalty of boys and parents, enabled it to recover. Many of the schoolhouses had been erected with no proper drainage system, and all of them depended on wells for their water- supply. There was, it is true, a system of drainage in the town, but, owing to its faulty character, connexion with it was more likely to prove a source of danger than of safety. Early in 1875 the masters were disturbed by the pre- valence of scarlet fever in Uppingham, and requested the guardians to have the water-supply analysed, but nothing was done. It was not until after the summer holidays that the school became involved, two or three cases of low fever occurring on ' that fatal fourth of October.' One boy died on 15 October and another on " Parkin, op. cit. ii, 189-93. Commissioners. Quaere Public Schools 294
