248 



PARLIAMENTARY PUBLICATIONS. [Dec. 1894. 



Article 21 of the Code of the Scotch Education Department: 

 Of 2,825 boys who were examined in the first stage of this 

 subject, 2,409 passed ; in the second stage there were 1,332 

 pupils examined and 1,163 j asses ; and in the third stage 1,385 

 presentations and 1,1 "77 passes ; or a total of 5,542 candidates, 

 of whom 4,749 were successful. 



It is stated in the report that one cause, of old standing, why 

 many country children ai"e late in reaching the higher standards, 

 if indeed they ever reach them, is to be found in the migratory 

 habits of the farm servants. It is a proverb in Berwickshire 

 that — 



"For a hen's gerse, 

 They'll flit i' the Merse/' 



and it is undoubtedly the case that agricultural labourers, all 

 over the border district, change from one farm to another for a 

 very slight inducement, or merely because they find the excite- 

 ment of a flitting to be a pleasant break in the monotony of 

 their lives. When the parents leave the parish in May they 

 take their children with them, and very often these children are 

 not sent to the new school until it opens, at the end of September, 

 after the harvest. Meanwhile, they have forgotten much, a.nd 

 the new teacher does not find it possible to get them ready to 

 pass a new standard before the inspection in the following 

 spring. 



Return made to the Department of Science and Art showing the 

 manner in which, and the extent to which, the Councils of 

 Counties and County Boroughs in England and Wales, 

 and the County Councils, Toiun Councils, and Police 

 Commissioners of Police Boroughs in Scotland, are devoting 

 funds to the purposes of Science, Art, Technical, and 

 Manual Instruction, under the Loccd Taxation {Customs 

 and Excise) Act, 1890 ; Technical Instruction Acts, 1889 

 and 1891 ; and the Technical Instruction Amendment 

 (Scotland) Act, 1892. [C— 7463.] Price lO^d. 



The return shows that the total amount expended on technical 

 education during the year 1892-93, in England, Wales, and 

 Scotland, was 529,718?. 3s. 4d ; and that the estimated total 

 amount allocated to technical education for the year 1893-94 

 was 696,328?. 4s. 4d 



A summary is given showing that 41 out of the 49 county 

 councils in England (excepting the county of Monmouth) are 

 applying the whole of the residue received under the Local 

 Taxation (Customs and Excise) Act, 1890, to technical education, 

 while eight apply a part of it to the same purpose. Of the 

 councils of the 61 county boroughs, 53 are devoting the whole 

 of the residue to technical education, and seven a part of it ; 

 while in one case only (the county borough of Preston) the 



