In most cases the endowments pertain to very limited areas. Three endowments applicable over wider areas-namely, the Dick, Milne, and Ferguson bequests-together with two others, limited in their geographical range-namely, the Highlands and Islands Educational Trust and the Heriot Trust, Edinburgh-have been applied directly to purposes of secondary education.

The education and local taxation act of 1892 added £60,000 ($300,000) to the funds available in Scotland for promoting secondary education. Meanwhile the education department instituted a leaving-certificate examination (1888) which, in combination with the inspection service instituted by the department (1885), fixed a standard for secondary education. The certificate was accepted by the universities in place of their entrance examinations, and thus it formed a link between them and the secondary schools. The intermediate certificate offered subsequently has in like manner served to define the character of a briefer course of instruction for pupils entering early into business life or intending to follow specialized technical courses.

THE CARNEGIE TRUST.

The twelfth annual report of the Carnegie Trust for the universities of Scotland presents a review of the operations of the fund, which is conducted on a larger scale than any other scheme for the endowment of higher education and research in that country. The following statements are from a review of the report in a contemporary journal:

The annual income of the trust amounts to rather more than £100,000, and after defraying the expenses of administration there is left about £99,000 as the net revenue available for distribution under the two main heads of the scheme. Half of this sum is earmarked annually for the payment of students' fees, while the other moiety is devoted (a) to the better equipment of the Scottish universities and colleges by the foundation of additional chairs and lectureships and by the provision of new laboratories and permanent equipment, and (b) to the endowment of research. Of course the equipment section of the expenditure also plays its part in the advancement of research work, as it furnishes places in which investigations can be carried on and also helps to provide posts for men who become directors of research in their various departments. It will be seen that the operations of the trustees are financially on a grand scale; for the funds at their disposal annually represent a sum equivalent to about 60 per cent of the total Government grant in support of the higher educational institutions in England and Wales.

In the allocation of the funds the trustees have been guided by two main considerations: First, they decided that their assistance to the four universities and their kindred colleges should be given under a quinquennial scheme, so that each step forward has been based upon the allocation of approximately half a million sterling. Secondly, a general rule was laid down that the trust would not hamper its income by paying salaries for new posts year by year out of the annual revenue, but instead any new chair or lectureship is endowed fully at the start, so that its subsequent

career entails no further draft upon the funds of the trustees. In this way each chair on its foundation disappears from the books of the trust, and the next quinquennial distribution can be devoted to entirely fresh needs.

Through the agency of this fund, striking progress has been made in the provision of new laboratories and apartments as well as in the increase of the professor staffs. Not less striking is the arrangement made for the endowment of research and postgraduate study. In regard to this feature of the administration the article continues:

A system of scholarships and fellowships has been founded which is supplemented by a series of grants in aid of research to Scottish graduates resident in Scotland; and this part of the trust's work has been of equal, if not greater, importance to the Scottish university system. Thus from the time a student enters the university to the day he leaves Scotland he finds a helping hand extended to him should he wish to grasp it.

During his undergraduate career he may obtain payment of his university fees; later, he may aspire to carry out researches, in which case he may apply for a scholarship or a fellowship. The research scholarships are conferred upon students on the recommendation of experts-usually the persons under whom the beginner in research will have to take his first steps in original work. Research fellowships are meant for men who have already accomplished something, and they are allocated on the merits of the work which the candidate has already published. In neither case is there any competitive examination, nor do the trustees bind themselves to furnish a fixed number of scholarships or fellowships in a given year. This is one of the most desirable features of their policy; for, as any teacher knows, an institution may turn out, say 20 first-class men in a given year, while in the following year only 1 or 2 may appear, so that the granting of a fixed number of scholarships per annum simply means that in some years a first-class man may not secure an appointment to a scholarship which in the following year will fall to the lot of a much inferior man, owing to there being a dearth in candidates. It should be pointed out that the trustees retain all these appointments in their own hands, so that graduates of all the four universities are dealt with on equal terms. The scholarships are of the value of £100 per annum, and are tenable for one year with a possibility of extension or of the holder's promotion to a fellowship; the fellowships are of the value of £150 per annum, and are normally tenable for two years, though further renewals are possible.

The impetus given to research under this plan is illustrated by the outcome in a single science, that of chemistry. It is stated that:

In the eight years, 1903-1911, the trust appointed in this department 45 scholars, 25 fellows, and 31 graduates. The work of these has resulted in the publication of more than 130 original communications to scientific journals. Now, in 1912, the contributions of the whole British chemical world to the Transactions of the Chemical Society amounted to only double this number, 266; so that it is evident that the Carnegie Trust, by its encouragement of research, has indirectly in the course of eight years produced a series of results equal to half the annual output of the whole Empire at the present time. This, it must be remembered, represents only a single department of the trust's activities.

In conclusion the writer emphasizes the wisdom of the Carnegie trustees in laying down general rules which allow great flexibility and thought to the narrowing phases of rigid requirements.

IRELAND.

THE SYSTEM OF NATIONAL SCHOOLS.

The development of the system of education in Ireland, in common with that of other public affairs, has been hindered by the contest over the home rule bill and the expectation of a radical change in local administration according to the issue of that contest. Meanwhile, however, the report of the commissioners of national education, who control the disbursement of public funds for elementary education, shows progress in many respects, although the absolute attendance upon the schools has somewhat diminished. The following statistics show fluctuations in attendance, which arise partly from improvements in the statistical method:

The national schools are chiefly denominational, but Protestants may attend Catholic schools, and vice versa, in case parents make no objection. The distribution of the pupils by religious denominations in 1912 was as follows:

The early withdrawal of children from school is a special difficulty with which the managers have to contend. According to statistics showing the distribution of pupils by age, over two-thirds (68.4 per cent) were between the ages of 3 and 11. The number under 6 years of age was 15 per cent of the total. It is noticeable further that 70 per cent of the enrolled pupils were in the first three standards or grades.

The teaching force employed in the schools in 1912 was composed as follows: Principal teachers, 7,816; assistants, 5,398; workmistresses and junior assistant teachers, 2,490.

For the professional preparation of teachers there were seven training colleges with 1,160 students in 1912-13. The increase of evening schools is noticeable; in 1912-13 there were 323 in operation. The sums expended from Parliamentary grants and rates (local taxes) for the support of the schools were as follows for the years specified:

1908-9.

1909-10. 1910-11. 1911-12.

1912-13..

Years.

School expenditures.

SECONDARY EDUCATION.

Secondary education in Ireland has been promoted through the agency of the intermediate education board, which disburses grants to schools on the basis of the number of pupils who successfully pass the examinations of the board. In 1912, students numbering 12,581 (8,276 boys and 4,305 girls) presented themselves for examination, as compared with 12,105 in the previous year, and 8,117 in 1901. The number passed in 1912 was 7,015 (4,767 boys and 2,248 girls). In the last year named the grant in respect of examinations paid to managers of schools amounted to £50,198 ($243,962.28), besides prizes and bonuses to schools.

TECHNICAL EDUCATION.

Technical education in Ireland is controlled by the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction, with the advice of a technical instruction board and a consultative committee.

The department endeavors to coordinate its work with that of other educational authorities; in 1911-12 grants from the Parliamentary appropriation were paid by the department as follows:

Grants by the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction, in 1911–12.

Technical..
Secondary.
Primary.

Classes of schools

Number. Students. A mount.

116 10,923 £23,918 280 127,348 27,955 217,253 1,862

97

1 In experimental science, drawing, manual instruction, and domestic economy.
2 In drawing and manual instruction.

Central institutions under the department are the Royal College of Science, Dublin, with 141 students (1911-12); the Metropolitan School of Art, with 371 pupils (1911-12); the Irish Training School of Domestic Economy, 29 students; the Killarney School of Housewifery, 45 students.

According to the latest report of the operations of this department— Technical instruction throughout Ireland is organized under the councils of county boroughs, urban districts, and counties. In urban and county schools and classes (1911-12) there were 45,502 young men and women studying nonagricultural subjects. In local examinations 365 candidates entered for science subjects, and 203 passed; 2,634 entered in art, and 1,257 passed (1912). There is an annual grant (out of the department's annual endowment fund) of £55,000 for technical education, of which £26,000 is allotted for technical instruction in county boroughs and £29,000 for similar and related purposes elsewhere. A grant of £7,000, called the “equivalent grant," was made from the Ireland development grant for technical instruction, and a grant of £10,500 for manual instruction and domestic economy in rural districts, and £3,000 for classes in lace and crochet-making and other rural industries, was made by the agricultural board in 1911–12.