TABLE 10.-Comparative statistics of elementary and higher grade schools in Scotland.

1900.

1901.

1902.

1903.

1904.

1905.

1906.

1907.

1908.

TABLE 11.-Progress of higher grade schools since their establishment.

TABLE 12.-Continuation classes under local authorities, Scotland, for the years

TABLE 13.-Secondary schools in Scotland under government inspection, 1908.

There were in addition 147 higher grade schools with 21,839 pupils, of whom a large proportion were taking secondary studies.

TABLE 14.—Current expenditure for day schools, Scotland, 1908.

a In addition to this amount contributed for current expenditures, the repayment of loans for sites and buildings constitutes an annual charge on the rates. The total from this source for all purposes in 1907-8 was £1,351,845, which necessitated an average rate of 12.59 pence in the pound.

The cost of maintenance per pupil in average attendance was: In public schools, £3 11s. 1d.; in voluntary schools, £2 15s. 1d.

EDUCATION IN IRELAND.

The year has been marked in Ireland by measures for the organization of the two universities, to be situated, respectively, at Dublin and at Belfast, as provided for by the Irish universities act of 1908. These universities, it is believed, will exercise an important influence on the entire system of public education in Ireland and assist materially in bringing about the long-expected unification of its distinct divisions. At present the elementary or national schools are the charge of a body of national commissioners. The secondary or intermediate schools have been brought into relations with the intermediate board, which exercises large control over their work by a system of examinations for the pupils and of grants to the schools on the basis of the results. The two administrative bodies have no relation with each other and both operate independently of the universities. Even the training colleges for teachers have no relation with the higher institutions.

The department of agriculture and technical instruction, which is charged with the administration of the funds for promoting technical instruction in Ireland, has taken measures to coordinate its work with that of other educational authorities. The instruction fostered by the funds of the department is organized under the councils of county boroughs, urban districts, and counties, and thus local and central forces have all been combined in the furtherance of this important department of education in which Ireland has furnished suggestive lessons for all other countries."

The meeting of the British Association at Dublin, in September of last year, naturally was made the occasion for a survey of the educational conditions and prospects of the country, and this event, taken

For an account of the system of technical instruction in Ireland, see Report of the Commissioner of Education for 1907, Vol. I, chap. 3, pp. 116-121.

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in connection with the activity in university circles, has greatly stimulated interest in the special problems of education pertaining to this division of the Kingdom.

The salient particulars in the current record of the elementary schools are presented in the following tables, to which is added a summary of the examinations conducted by the intermediate board:

TABLE 15.-Summary of the enrollment and average attendance in the national elementary schools of Ireland for the years named.

TABLE 16.-Number and classification of teachers in the national elementary schools of Ireland for the years named.

TABLE 17.-Expenditure for national schools of Ireland, 1907.

TABLE 18.-Number of pupils from intermediate schools of Ireland examined by the government board, and the number who passed in the years specified.

TABLE 19.-Schools in Ireland receiving grants on results of intermediate examinations, and amounts received.