considerable amount of voluntary contributions, it has still been the means of largely extending the benefits of education. In one parish of Aberdeenshire it was stated by the Free Church minister that ten years ago there was only one regular school in the parish, attended by about sixty children, while now there are two parish schools, two Free Church schools, and an adventure school, attended by an aggregate number of 420. If the rivalry of different ecclesiastical parties has sometimes raised additional schools where an enlargement and improvement of the previously existing provision might have been more desirable, it has probably tended also, by moral influence, to constrain those to accept the advantages of education who were formerly suffered to remain neglected and uninstructed. In most districts of the country the lowness of fees, and the arrangements made by managers to dispense with fees altogether in cases of necessity, make the school accessible to all classes of the community. The difficulty still remains in regard to the masses in degraded districts of our large cities, and in those highland localities where the people are scattered and very poor. To the Right Honorable I have the honor to be, &c., The Lords of the Committee of Council on Education. JAS. CUMMING. APPENDIX. EXTRACT from MINUTES of a Meeting of the Normal School, Committee held in Moray House on the 8th of July 1852. The committee having taken into consideration a letter, of date the 26th of April last, from Dr. Cumming, one of Her Majesty's Inspectors of schools, and a letter dated the 29th of April, from the Committee of Council on Education, relative to a change of the time of the Government examinstion of normal students for certificates of merit, and having had full consultation on the subject with Dr. Cumming, Government Inspector, and Mr. Charles E. Wilson, Assistant Inspector, who were present, it was considered expedient to adhere in the meantime to the existing arrangement by which the Inspectors hold their examination at the normal schools in the end of June yearly; but the committee agreed to consent to a postponement by the Inspectors of their report upon the examination papers, if necessary, till the period of the usual school vacation in August and September, and directed that a communication to this effect be made to the Committee of Council on Education. Representations from several quarters having been made to the Education Committee of the inconvenience and hardship arising from the circumstance that the indentures of pupil-teachers expire at different periods throughout Scotland, while only one annual competition is held for Queen's scholarships, the committee embraced the opportunity of the present attendance of the Inspectors above mentioned to consult with them on this subject, when, after much deliberation, it was agreed to request the Committee of Council to sanction the following arrangement; viz. That, when a pupil-teacher from any school has been admitted to a Queen's scholarship during the currency of the fifth year of his apprenticeship, the master and managers of the school shall be at liberty immediately to select another candidate, and to teach him and employ him as an apprentice on their own responsibility till the next period of inspection, with the understanding that, if the examination of the candidate and the other conditions shall then be satisfactory, a stipend and gratuity shall be allowed proportioned to the period which has elapsed between the admission of the Queen's scholar and the regular term of inspection of the school. 19.38 56 75 7.35 52 15 71.86 27 21 88 26 72 13 01 12-93 12 75 10.6 9.26 6.57 8.16 The amount of accommodation in square feet divided by 8 will give the number of children who can be properly accommodated. Calculations of area in school-rooms, as compared with the average attendance of scholars, should be made upon this basis. The space of six square feet has been found, in practice, to be insufficient for the accommodation of each child. † At the date of closing this return. Per-centage taken on the number of children present at examination. SUMMARY B. Aggregate Annual Income, as stated by Managers, of 206 of the Schools Index to Tabulated Reports on Schools inspected by Her Majesty's Inspector of Schools, J. Cumming, Esq., LL.D. The right hand numbers refer to the order in which the schools appear in the tabulated reports. ABERDEENSHIRE. 1. Aberdeen, Bonaccord School 27 St. Andrew's 5. St. David s - 104 ARGYLLSHIRE. 1. Dunoon 68 2. Foreland, Islay 85 3. Lochgilphead 71 7. Forfar, East Townend Upper Dorward's HADDINGTONSHIRE. 1. Dunbar 2. Haddington, Industrial 112 24, 132 25, 130 INVERNESS-SHIRE. 1. Ardersier 2. Culloden 3. Inverness 10. Stewarton 4. Kirkhill |