§ DR. MACNAMARAI beg to ask the Lord-Advocate whether he can state, for the year 1903–4, the amount of money per head of the children in the public elementary schools of Scotland contributed from the Imperial Exchequer and. from local rates respectively on account of educational maintenance; the amount per child in average attendance spent on teachers' salaries; and the amount per child in average attendance spent on books and apparatus.
THE LORD-ADVOCATE (Mr. SCOTT DICKSON,) Glasgow, BridgtonIt is difficult to answer the Question as put by the hon. Member as the term "public elementary school" is, so far as Scotland is 601 concerned, only defined in the Elementary School Teachers Superannuation Act, 1898, as being "a public or other school in receipt of annual Parliamentary grant." The term, therefore, includes all schools which receive grants under the Code, whether school board schools or voluntary schools, and irrespective of whether they give elementary or higher grade education. On this footing I am informed the figures are as follows:—For the year 1903–4, the income per scholar in average attendance in all schools receiving grants under the Code from the Imperial Exchequer was £1 15s. 7d. In such schools under school boards the income per scholar from rates was 19s. 11¾d., but a sum amounting to Is. 7d. per scholar was also received from local sources, other than rates; while in voluntary schools receiving grants a sum amounting to 13s. 10d. per scholar was received from local sources. The expenditure per scholar on teachers' salaries was £2 5s, 8¾d., and on books and apparatus, 2s. 5¼.