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present system, it remains for me to detail the operations of
the Board, and the condition of the Public Schools for the
past year. From the multiplicity of events and duties that
claimed our attention during the year just closed, it is a mat-
ter of some difficulty to select those best fitted for presenta-
tion, in my Report. Perhaps, however, an intelligent view
of our labors, and the working of the Schools, may be ob-
tained from a consideration of the following topics, viz: 1st,
Districting the County; 2d, School Lots, Furniture and
Houses; 3d, Examination of Teachers; 4th, Visiting and
Examination of Schools; 5th, Text-books and Stationery ;
6th, Teachers' Association; and 7th, Finances.

DISTRICTING THE COUNTY.

As this was considered a matter of primary importance,
it engaged the early attention of the Board. At its second
meeting, a Committee, consisting of Robert W. Yoe, Com-
missioner, the Secretary and myself, was appointed to ex-
amine into the limits of the existing School Districts, and
report what changes (if any,) were necessary. We were re-
quired, "after furnishing ourselves with such copies of the
Returns of former Commissioners as could be procured, to
visit, in person, the several School Districts; familiarize
ourselves with their natural features; ascertain, as nearly
as possible, the population; examine into the condition and
location of the houses, and obtain such other information as
might be necessary to enable the Board to form an intelligent
opinion on the subject." The Committee performed the
duty faithfully, though one of no little labor, involving as
it did, a travel of some two hundred miles, and occupying
their attention, with one short exception, from the 4th of
August to the 8th of September, following. Their Report is
before me, in which they state ' that the existing division
(made under the provision of the Act of 1854,) was effected
by the division of each Election District, separately. The re-
sult was, that while some degree of uniformity in territory
and population was attained in laying off the more central
School Districts, those formed along the border of the Elec-
tion Districts—having to conform to this boundary—were
often so irregular in size and shape, that it was impracticable
to so locate a house in their limits, as to be accessible to the
majority of the residents. The changes subsequently made
by the several Boards of School Commissioners, to remedy
this defect in the original divisions, only rendered the mat-
ter worse; for though affording some temporary relief, yet as
each alteration had to be made by encroaching, more or less,
upon adjoining Districts, it served but to increase the want
of uniformity, until—at the fdate of the Report—the areas
of the several School Districts varied from three to ten square