CONSTITUTION AND RESOURCES OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 



The country outgrew its parochial system of ele- 

 mentary education, and supplementing it there 

 arose large numbers of voluntary, denominational, 

 and private adventure schools, receiving grants 

 in aid from the Privy-council, on the same con- 

 ditions as primary schools in England. In 

 1872, the Education (Scotland) Act remodelled 

 the whole system. It swept away clerical as- 

 cendency in the parish schools, and in the 

 denominational schools, by making provision for 

 these being transferred to the management of 

 school-boards elected by the ratepayers. It 

 enacted compulsory education for children be- 

 een the ages of 5 and 13, and enforced the 

 ection of a school-board in each parish by the 

 tepayers, charged with the duty of levying a 

 cal rate in support of the public schools and 

 their teachers, of prosecuting and punishing parents 

 who neglected to send their children to school, 

 and with the payment of the expense of educating 

 indigent children whose parents were unable to 

 pay for their instruction. No religious teaching 

 is permitted except after or before the ordinary 

 time laid down for secular instruction, and then its 

 kind and quantity are determined by the school- 

 board. It also set apart n borough schools 

 Aberdeen, Ayr, Dumfries, Edinburgh, Elgin, Glas- 

 o\v, Haddington, Montrose, Paisley, Perth, and 

 itirling to be 'managed by the school-boards 

 :cordingly, with a view to promote the higher 

 education of the country.' The teachers are to 

 be paid, appointed, and dismissed at the discretion 

 of the boards, and are to be selected only from 

 men who hold certificates of competence from the 

 Scottish Education Department. Parliamentary 

 grants in aid as formerly are to be continued to 

 boards or national schools that fulfil the required 

 conditions. 



Ireland has long had a system of national 

 primary education, only the people do not suffi- 

 ciently avail themselves of it. The main feature 

 of it is an arrangement by which children of 

 different sects are taught religion at separate 

 times by their respective pastors, the expenses 

 being borne by the government. The schools are 

 under the superintendence of a mixed national 

 board, composed of both Catholics and Protes- 

 tants ; but as in the case of the Scottish Educa- 

 tion Board (which lasted for seven years only), it 

 is subject in turn to the central authority of the 

 Privy-council's Committee on Education. 



As to higher education, there are in England the 

 universities of Oxford, Cambridge, and Durham ; 

 the various colleges affiliated to the university 

 of London ; the higher classical schools of Eton, 

 Rugby, Winchester, Harrow, Cheltenham, Marl- 

 borough, Merchant Taylors', City of London, 

 Charter-House, Salisbury. In Scotland are the 

 universities of Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, and 

 St Andrews, where education is given in a more 

 liberal and less expensive way than in Oxford 

 and Cambridge, and a college at Dundee. In 

 Ireland are TrinityiCollege, Dublin ; the Roman 

 Catholic College, Maynooth ; and the Royal (for- 

 merly Queen's) University, with colleges in Cork, 

 Belfast, and Galway. These latter colleges are 

 purely secular (giving no religious or theological 

 instruction), and are endowed by the state. 



The progress of primary education in Great 

 Britain in the years 1864-81 is well shewn in the 

 following tables : 



ENGLAND AND WALES, AND ISLE OF MAN, INCLUSIVE 

 OF ROMAN CATHOLIC SCHOOLS IN GREAT BRITAIN. 



SCOTLAND, EXCLUSIVE OF ROMAN CATHOLIC SCHOOLS. 



TOTAL FOR GREAT BRITAIN, WITH EXPENDITURE, &C. 



From 1839 to 1872, parliament has expended 

 i 3,874,487 in Great Britain on primary education. 

 On schools in England connected with the Church 

 of England, there were expended ,8,098,788 ; on 



British and Foreign Society schools, ^1,327,305 ; 

 on Wesleyan schools, .656,952 ; on Roman Cath- 

 olic schools, ,538,901 ; on workhouse schools, 

 ^78,323 ; on inspection and administration, 



