EDUCATION (SCOTUAND). (Hansard, 12 July 1938)

§ Sir Murdoch MacDonald

I beg to move: That an humble Address be presented to His Majesty praying Him graciously to withhold 1289 His approval to such parts of the Perth and Kinross Educational Trust Scheme, 1938, made under the Educational Endowments (Scotland) Act, 1928, as may affect or refer to the McLaren Educational Trust, Callander, a copy of which scheme was presented to this House on the 20th day of May, 1938. At this early hour of the morning may I say that this is the case of a trust deed left by a merchant banker in Callandar for the benefit of certain educational purposes. It was left about 1850, and in 1882 this House passed the Educational Endowment Act under which, in 1890, these particular funds were transferred. The reasons for objecting to this scheme are very clear and definite in this case. The Endowment Commissioners have joined together 51 schemes in Perthshire, and it is perfectly true under the Statute they are entitled to join together two or more schemes.

In this case they have joined 51 together, and of all the schemes this particular scheme is the largest. The income of this trust is about £900 to £1,000 while that of the whole scheme is about £3,900. This particular scheme has been a very successful one right from its inception. It enabled practically what we call secondary education to come in at an early stage in the town of Callandar than otherwise would have been possible. It converted the parish school into a secondary school, and, as a consequence, the Callandar High School became noted throughout the county and throughout Scotland. It was a pioneer in many ways in regard to educational matters, and, in particular, it was one of the pioneers for providing hostel accommodation for boys who came to be educated at the school. The original donor, Mr. McLaren, whose grandson is now chairman of the trustees, left an original 1290 bequest which brought in £350 per annum, but by careful management, and by the aggregation of other bequests, the amount has increased to nearly £1,000.

Here, then, is a trust extremely well managed, and there seems to me no adequate reason why this scheme should be included with these minor schemes, seeing it was so well run throughout the years of its existence, and was bringing to itself other bequests. In these modern times it seems to me there is an aggregation of money in particular people's hands which is being devoted to various beneficial purposes throughout the country, but it does seem very desirable that, in addition to people with vast sums, other people should be encouraged to devote what they can for education and other purposes. It is very desirable that this trust should be exempted from the general aggregation of trusts which has been made in Perthshire.

There is one last thing I want to say, and that is that there has been in the minds of many legal authorities a distinct doubt, and even more than an expression of doubt, an expression of certainty in their minds, that this finding of the Commissioners was not valid for this reason. The Commission ended their duties on 31st December, 1936, and the same day they issued this scheme, but under the Act of Parliament regulating the matter it was necessary that two months should be allowed——