THIRD CONFERENCE, 



Tuesday, July 29 



CHAIRMAN: THE LORD BALFOUR OF BURLEIGH, K.T.. 

 SECRETARY FOR SCOTLAND 



LORD BALFOUR said : I am here to-day as a 

 substitute for Lord Reay, Chairman of the London 

 School Board, who was to have occupied the chair. 

 The objects for which this exhibition and the con- 

 ferences are being held appeal strongly to me, for I 

 am responsible for public education in Scotland, 

 where we have been endeavouring during the past 

 fifty-five years to get our teachers and pupils in the 

 public schools, as well as others outside, to take an 

 interest in the somewhat new departure of Nature- 

 study. We have urged upon the managers of all 

 schools to provide in their courses a training for their 

 children in the habits of observation. We have 

 laboured to make the subject a voluntary one, and at 

 the same time we have tried to have it incorporated 

 for pupils in all schools throughout Scotland. It has 

 also been our desire to train and fit the teachers by 

 two methods. In the first place, special classes for 

 those who are engaged in the work of teaching have 

 been provided, and during the last four or five years 

 these classes have been attended by 7000 teachers, 

 nearly half of the number upon the register. 

 Secondly, our object has been to arrange the cur- 



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