§ MR. J. C. BOLTON (Stirling)asked the Lord Advocate, Whether, in view of the dissatisfaction reported to exist with the method and severity of the examination in specific subjects in the elementary schools of Stirlingshire, he will inform the House the number of presentations in specific subjects in Stirlingshire in Standards V., VI., and ex-VI. in the year last completed, before the present Inspector was appointed; and the number of presentations in the same subjects and standards in the last completed year under the present Inspector?
§ THE LORD ADVOCATE (Mr. J. H. A. MACDONALD) (Edinburgh and St. Andrew's Universities)In 1883–4 the number of presentations in specific subjects in Standards IV. to ex-VI.—the 1232 numbers in each Standard not being recorded separately—was 5,688. Of these, 2,594 were in English literature, a subject which is now a class, not a specific subject. In 1886–7 the number presented in Standards V. to ex-VI., to which specific subjects are now confined, was 2,832. In making a comparison, it must be remembered that the figures for the later period include no presentations in Standard IV. nor in English literature. These have recently been excluded by an alteration in the Code.