Details of other developments in the various departments of the Museum and of the additions made to their respective collections have been given in the Director's report for the year 1927, which has been widely distributed in neostyled form. We take this opportunity of expressing our thanks to the persons named in that report to whose generosity the Museum is indebted for many valuable acquisitions.

FINANCE.

Grants to Education Authorities.

Grants in respect of the year ended 15th May, 1928, were calculated in accordance with the Education Authorities (Scotland) Grant Regulations, 1927, which replaced the Regulations of 1926, referred to in the last Report. The later Regulations were based on the same general principles as those of the previous year.

Education (Scotland) Fund.

Appendix XII gives a table showing in detail all payments into, and all payments out of, the Education (Scotland) Fund for the year ended 31st March, 1927.

The receipts include (a) the payments out of moneys voted by Parliament which are specified in Sub-section (1) (i) and (ii) of Section 21 of the Education (Scotland) Act, 1918; (b) the sums payable out of the Local Taxation (Scotland) Account under Section 15 of the Education (Scotland) Act, 1908; (c) the amounts specified in the Education (Scotland) (Superannuation) Acts, 1919 (Section 6), 1924 (Section 2), and 1925 (Section 6 (2)); (d) the contributions payable by teachers and by Education Authorities and other Managers towards the cost of the superannuation of teachers; and (e) the interest on the balance of the Scottish Teachers Superannuation Fund, applicable in reduction of the charge on the Education (Scotland) Fund under Section 16 (1) (e) of the Act of 1908 (Article 17 of Superannuation Scheme, 1919).

The expenditure includes (a) payments under Section 16 (1) (a)-(f) of the Education (Scotland) Act, 1908; (b) payments under various Minutes issued in accordance with Section 21 (2) (a) of the Education (Scotland) Act, 1918; and (c) the payment to the Exchequer in respect of teachers' superannuation contributions, under Section 6 (1) of the Education (Scotland) (Superannuation) Act, 1925.

Abstracts of income and expenditure of Education Authorities for the year ended 15th May, 1927, will be published in the Fifty-fifth Report of the Accountant, which will appear shortly. We give below a summary of the income and expenditure of Education Authorities and of the Managers of Voluntary Schools for the year 1925-26. Full particulars were published last summer in the Fifty-fourth Report of the Accountant.

Education Authorities.

The total ordinary expenditure of Education Authorities during the year 1925-26 was £11,280,640. The several items, with the proportions they bore to the total, were as follows:

The total ordinary income for the year (excluding loans raised, and other capital income) was £11,167,728. The several items, with the proportions they bore to the total, were as follows:

Of the total Revenue expenditure (£11,280,640), £259,812 is covered by Revenue income from sources other than Grants from the Department and Receipts from Rating Authorities. The balance was met from Grants and Receipts from Rating Authorities in the following proportions :

Grants (including £289 of Accrued Grants to
School Boards, applied)

6,067,921 55.06

The capital expenditure by Education Authorities on purchase of sites, and on erections, enlargements or alterations of school buildings, was £621,281, which included expenditure to the amount of £118,782 met from revenue account. The loans raised

during the year for the purpose of such expenditure amounted to £589,569, and income from the sale of property and from other sources amounted to £22,631.

Voluntary Schools.

(a) Special Schools and Orphanages.

The following figures relate to schools for blind, deaf or defective children, and to orphanage schools, coming within the scope of Sub-section (6) of Section 18 of the Act of 1918 and therefore excepted from the other provisions of that section relating to the transfer of voluntary schools.

The total expenditure of these schools amounted to £47,008. This was made up of £18,382 or 39.10 per cent. for salaries and retiring allowances of teachers, and Managers' proportion of Teachers' Superannuation Scheme contributions, and of £28,626 or 60.90 per cent. for other expenses of maintenance.

Of the total expenditure, there was met from grants from the Department £8,294 or 17.64 per cent.; from contributions from Education Authorities, &c., £15,889 or 33.80 per cent.; and from Subscriptions, Endowments and other sources the remaining £22,825 or 48.56 per cent.

(b) Secondary Schools.

The total expenditure of Secondary schools not under the management of Education Authorities amounted to £236,622. This was made up of £197,660 or 83.53 per cent. for salaries and retiring allowances of teachers, and Managers' proportion of Teachers' Superannuation Scheme contributions, and of £38,962 or 16.47 per cent. for other expenses of maintenance.

Of the total expenditure, there was met from grants from the Department £71,997 or 30.43 per cent., and from school fees. £92,442 or 39.07 per cent., the remaining expenditure being met by contributions from Education Authorities and from Endowment funds and other sources.

FOURTH ELECTION OF EDUCATION AUTHORITIES.

The elections took place in each of the scheduled burghs and in every county on 23rd March, 1928. In one electoral division (in the Burgh of Dundee) the death of one of the nominated candidates made it necessary for the Department to postpone the election, which accordingly took place on 4th May but without a contest.

Appendix XIII gives details as to the election held in each education area, and also a summary of the figures for the whole of Scotland at this and at the three previous elections. We offer

no comment on the variations shown by the statistics for the different education areas; but a comparison of the total figures for the four elections suggests a few observations. Those who look to them for evidence as to the amount of interest taken by the public in school administration will probably direct their attention to three factors, the number of candidates, the number of contests and the proportion of electors who went to the poll. The total number of candidates has declined continuously from 1,897, the number at the first election, to 1,356 at the last. The total number of electoral divisions in which there was no contest was greater at the last election than at any previous one, 47 divisions out of 171 being uncontested; the number was 33 in 1925 and 35 in 1922, while in 1919 all but five divisions were contested. On the other hand, the percentage of voters to the number of the electorate in the divisions where voting took place was much lower at the first election than at the three following; the percentage was 28.9 in 1919, 43.8 in 1922, 37.8 in 1925 and 41.2 in 1928. We do not think any inferences of the kind suggested above should be drawn from these figures; at any rate, no unfavourable conclusion need be drawn from those relating to the first two factors mentioned. The reduction in the number of candidates, and the increase in the number of divisions which were allowed to go uncontested (with consequent saving of expense to the ratepayers) may mean no more than that experience has taught discretion and a readier spirit of accommodation.

Perhaps the most interesting feature of these statistics is the increase in the number of women elected. The new Education Authorities include 82 women at the last election, as compared with 67 elected in 1925 and 47 in 1922. The number of spoiled papers has remained fairly constant, the percentage of invalid votes to total number of voters varying between 2.8 at the first election and 3.4 at the third. As a note on the working of the system of proportional representation, it may be mentioned that at the recent election the final result differed from that on the first count in 53 out of 124 contested divisions.

(Signed) BALFOUR,

Lord President of the Council.

JOHN GILMOUR,

Vice-President of the Committee of Council on Education in Scotland.

GEO. MACDONALD,

Secretary,

Scottish Education Department,

19th May, 1928.

APPENDIX I.

1. LIST OF PAPERS PRESENTED TO PARLIAMENT BY THE SCOTTISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT AND ISSUED SINCE THE REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE OF COUNCIL ON EDUCATION IN SCOTLAND, 1926-27.

Description.

Education Authorities (Scotland) Grant Regulations, dated 21st June, 1927. S.R. & O., 1927, No. 679/S. 39. (Price 2d.; by post, 24d.) Fifty-fourth Annual Report by the Accountant in Edinburgh to the Scottish Education Department (Year 1925-26). (Price 9d.; by post, 10d.) Amendment (1927) of the Regulations for the Preliminary Education, Training and Certification of Teachers for Various Grades of Schools. S.R. & O., 1927, No. 1154/S. 59. (Price 1d.; by post, 14d.)

Amendment (1928) of the Code of Regulations for Day Schools in Scotland, 1923. S.R. & O., 1928, No. 329/S. 19. (Price 1d.; by post, 1d.)

Education Authorities (Scotland) Expenses Regulations, 1928. S.R. & O., 1928, No. 409/S. 21. (Price 1d.; by post 14d.)

2. LIST OF PAPERS, OTHER THAN THOSE PRESENTED TO PARLIAMENT, ISSUED BY THE SCOTTISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT SINCE THE REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE OF COUNCIL ON EDUCATION IN SCOTLAND, 1926-27.

Leaving Certificate and Day School Certificate (Higher) Examinations, 1928. (Price 2d.; by post, 2 d.)

Minimum National Scales of Salaries, 1928. (Price ld.; by post, lid.)

Circular 65 (1927)

Circular 90 (1927)

Fourth Election of Education Authorities, 1928 (Price 1d.; by post, 1 d.)

Election Expenses, 1928. (Price 2d.; by post, 24d.) Leaving Certificate Examination Papers (including Day School Certificate (Higher) General Paper), 1927. (Price 1s. 9d.; by post, 1s. 10}d.)

Return showing Summarised Statistics relating to (i) Grant-Earning Day Schools and Institutions, and (ii) Continuation Classes and Central Institutions, 1925-26. (Price 18.; by post, 1s. 1d.)

Reports, &c., 1926-27. (Price 10s.; by parcel post, 10s. 7d.)

General Reports for the Year 1927 on Day Schools, by His Majesty's Chief Inspectors of Schools in Scotland. (Price 1s.; by post, 1s. 1d.)

(Price

Joint Memorandum issued by the Scottish Education Department and the Scottish Board of Health-Technical Education of Blind Persons. 2d.; by post, 3d.)

Education Authorities Election Order (Scotland), 1928. S.R. & O., 1927, No. 1138/S. 58. (Price 7d.; by post, 8d.)

Conditions as to Minimum National Scales of Salaries for Teachers in Scotland, 1928. S.R. & O., 1928, No. 92/S. 8. (Price 1d.; by post, 1 d.)