162 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE,—1913., 
country districts, Geography teaching is still on the old lines. ‘To 
quote from one correspondent: ‘All elementary teachers (in my 
district) are of the old school—i.e., text-book, map, and memory. I 
find great difficulty, more in this than in any other subject, in getting 
them to teach Geography in a reasonable and attractive way.’ The 
causes of this unfortunate state of matters are: (1) lack of knowledge 
on the part of the teachers, due to the extremely limited opportunities 
for acquiring instruction; (2) the reluctance, frequently the refusal, 
of School Boards to supply modern equipment, even such essentials 
as proper text-books and physical wall-maps. Some Boards issue 
admirable lists of approved text-books, &c., but, rightly or wrongly, 
many teachers are of opinion that the smaller their annual bill for such 
things is the more favourably they are looked upon by their employers. 
Teachers here and there exist who, at the expenditure of their own time 
and labour, construct wall-maps and simple instruments; but the 
ordinary elementary teacher who has to undertake many subjects has 
little, if any, leisure to devote to special work in one of these subjects. 
Nor can it reasonably be expected of him. 
The ‘Memorandum on the Teaching of Geography in Scottish 
Primary Schools’ issued by the Scotch Education Department in 
1912, in spite of some defects which need not be mentioned here, as 
they have already been noticed in several geographical reviews, un- 
doubtedly marks a great advance, and will promote the setting up of a 
higher standard than before in Elementary schools. 
It is advisable that classes for teachers be held in suitable centres 
all over Scotland. The experiment has been tried in at least one place 
with considerable success, and correspondents indicate that the demand 
for such instruction is both strong and widespread. Secondly, pressure 
should be brought to bear upon School Boards by inspectors or by 
other means to equip their schools with at least modern text-books and 
physical wall-maps. 
II. In the Intermediate stage (ages 12 to 15) a higher standard 
of teaching is maintained. The Intermediate Certificate examination 
is here the end in view. Geography is compulsory, but is counted as 
part of English on the basis of 100 marks to English and 50 to 
Geography. No time allowance for teaching is prescribed, but one 
and a half hours per week is recommended. Needless to say, that 
allowance is rarely exceeded. Six schools only reported an allowance 
of more than two hours, one of them giving three hours. 
The Committee notes with satisfaction the recent improvement in 
the type of paper set in the Intermediate examination, but thinks it 
capable of improvement. The following is an account of the paper 
set in 1913, which was of the same character as those for some years 
past. The paper was divided into three sections: A, B, and C. Two 
outline maps were provided—one of the World, the other of the British 
Isles. Section A consisted of three parts: (a) to insert in their proper 
places names such as Borneo, Lake Chad, Tibet; (b) to show by a dot 
and write beside it towns such as Bilbao, Canton, Colombo; (c) either 
to write names of races in their native places—e.g., Kafir, Dyak, Ainu— 
or to draw in the Arctic and Antarctic Circles and the two tropics. 
Section B also consisted of three parts: (a) two towns famous for 
certain industries—e.g., cutlery, brewing, &c.; (b) indicating regions 
