IT is to be regretted that no satisfactory attempt was made to compensate teachers for the abolition of security of tenure by the Act of 1872, or to provide for them suitable retiring allowances. All teachers appointed thereafter held their offices at the pleasure of the school-board, from whom also they might, or might not, receive a provision for old age. Whilst many boards acted generously, it cannot be denied that there were cases of harsh treatment and of unjust dismissal, that teachers beyond three-score years and ten dragged on a weary existence in office, whilst others in broken health retired to live on the bounty of friends. In 1898 an Elementary School Teachers (Superannuation) Act was hastily passed. Its provisions are too complicated to be given in detail here. It may be enough to state that the benefits provided by it were of three kinds ; the Annuity, the Superannuation Allowance, and the Disablement Allowance. Towards a deferred annuity fund every teacher who came under the provisions of this act contributed £3 per annum if a man, and £2 if a woman, forty-five years' contributions purchasing an annuity of about £39 in the former case, and of £20 in the latter. To this a superannuation allowance of ten shillings for each year of recorded service was added by the state. Disablement Allowances were granted only to those in proved need of pecuniary assistance who had become permanently incapacitated owing to infirmity of body or mind.

As the Annuities that could be purchased by the teachers in office at the passing of the act varied according to the term of years they had to contribute before reaching the age of compulsory retirement (65), provision was made by a kind of sliding scale for an increased superannuation allowance being granted to them by the state, the total annuity plus superannuation allowance being, in the case of men, from £44 to £53, and, of women, from £36 to £38 a year.

The provisions of the act were obligatory upon every teacher certificated after 1st April, 1899, but optional to those in service before that date. School-boards retained the right of granting pensions to those who did not accept the act ; but were deprived of it in the case of those who did. It is almost sad to record that eighty per cent. of the men teachers, and sixty per cent. of the women, preferred the certainty of the Department's dole to the uncertain liberality of future boards.

It was admitted in every quarter that teachers were not receiving adequate compensation for being forced to retire at the age of sixty-five, and ten years later, with the approval of all sections in Parliament, ample provision was made for their superannuation on a satisfactory scale, by the Education (Scotland) Act of 1908.

The code of 1873 though enormously improved was not perfect. With a view to a more generous curriculum a wide field of specific subjects was offered for individual examination. It cannot be said that a profitable use was made of this. It certainly caused teachers to spend on smatterings of science and snippets of languages, easily crammed and quickly forgotten, an amount of time which would have been better devoted to more solid attainments in a less ambitious field. To describe in detail the many changes that have been made during the last thirty years would be tedious. It is sufficient to make a simple reference to the gradual modification of individual examination in 1886, and its abolition in 1890; to the relaxation in standard and class subjects, and payments graded according to merit ; to a relief of fees, partial in 1889 and complete in 1894; to an unlimited choice of specific subjects suitable for each locality subject only to approval by the Department; to a complete change in 1893 of the whole basis on which grants were made; to an important change in the method of inspection in 1898; to the transference of the Science and Art Department to the Scotch Education Department in 1899; to the abolition in 1901 of exemption by examination; to the establishment of Higher Grade Schools for pupils who remain up to 16, and whose aim is a commercial rather than a professional career; to the establishment in 1903 of supplementary courses for pupils between 12 and 14 who have finished a primary, and do not wish a secondary course, and who are to be employed in consolidating the knowledge ledge already acquired so as to make it available for practical use in whatever is to be the occupation of their lives; and to the institution of continuation classes at first in evening but subsequently also in day schools, partly with a view to supply defects in the elementary education of backward pupils, but with the higher aim of providing for those who had left school the means of getting a more mature and scientific acquaintance with the principles of the employment they had chosen for their lifework. For the most of these changes we are indebted to the wise administration of Lord Balfour of Burleigh and Sir Henry Craik.

It would be rash to speak of any code as perfect; but few will hesitate to say, that the changes introduced and the additions made during the last thirty years are in the right direction, inasmuch as they make for freedom of action and elasticity. Neither teacher nor inspector now works in fetters. Discretionary power, which cannot be eliminated by the most rigid rule, is freely granted, with of course necessary safeguards, and therefore with a better chance of being thoughtfully exercised. The area of the educational field has been gradually, largely, and judiciously widened. Such an education as may fit every working-man's child to face the necessities of life is, in all ordinary circumstances, within his reach, and yet it is scarcely doubtful that, in certain circumstances, the poor man's son has not so good a chance of getting a university education as he had forty years ago. On the other hand, the poor man's daughter has a better chance of making a career for herself. Her time, except in the case of the very poor, is not so valuable as the son's, and if she has the ability, she goes to the university instead of to domestic or other comparatively menial service. Many fathers cannot or will not bear the expense of the three additional years which are now required to bring a son to the door of the university. The age of schoolboys entering the university has gone up from 16 to nearly 19 years. Hence in the Scottish universities the decrease of men students and the rapid increase of women students.

For children of more than average ability there is opened up, through skilful organisation of advanced subjects, a path by which they can climb to the higher position for which nature intended them. Whatever room there may be for difference of opinion as to details, it cannot be doubted that this is the aim of the Education Department, and that the above is an approximately correct account of the public schools, which have taken the place of the old parish schools. In outlying and sparsely populated districts university subjects are now less taught. For this there are several reasons; secondary schools and higher grade schools are more numerous; travelling facilities to educational centres are greater, and a preliminary examination for entrance into the university - higher than that for Oxford or Cambridge - makes attendance at a secondary school necessary, or at least desirable [The first examination in Oxford and Cambridge is not a real preliminary examination, because many colleges can and do take men who have not passed it.]. There are also now for clever boys many more outlets, for which university training is not absolutely required. Changed social conditions have necessitated the introduction of fresh subjects - higher English, Nature Study, Science, Shorthand, Drawing, French and German, &c. - in order to meet the wants of pupils who have no university aims, and to whom, as prospective skilled artisans, architects, clerks, business men, and chemists, Latin and Greek are less necessary. At the same time the lowered estimate of the value of university education for business men, architects, and chemists, and the falling off in the number of men students are somewhat disquieting features in Scottish education. In the last and previous generations, a considerable number of large farmers and merchants in Aberdeenshire had either graduated, or been at college for at least two sessions. If the new system should scare away such men, education and the men themselves will suffer, but the university still more. Hitherto, when the university has wanted money, it could always get it, for members of all classes had been through it, and in loyalty to their alma mater contributed handsomely. It is the general interest thus created that has enabled Aberdeen, with its small local clientele, to collect for its re-endowment a sum of £228,000, nearly twice as much as Cambridge has been able to do in approximately the same time. The women students will not, in this respect, take the place of men who have ceased to go, and the result will be a serious national loss.

While we cannot but admire the patience and fidelity, under discouraging conditions, shown by the typical old parish teacher, and are surprised that he accomplished so much, it is difficult to resist the impression, that the constant and unqualified praise which it has been customary to bestow on him has, if taken as descriptive of the whole of Scotland, been somewhat overdrawn, and is to a considerable extent a reflected glory from the Dick Bequest schools, of which a separate account is necessary. Though their history belongs to both third and fourth periods, it is more conveniently dealt with under the latter. It is beyond question that, till well towards the end of the 19th century, graduate parish schoolmasters, except in the Dick Bequest counties were comparatively rare.

Dick Bequest Schools.

A very striking proof of the superior school preparation which prevails in the Dick Bequest counties is to be found in the published results of the competition for the valuable Ferguson Scholarships. They were instituted in 1861, and were open to graduates in Arts of all the four universities. For the 48 years from 1861 to 1909 the results are the following.

A comparison of the approximate number of Arts students and the Scholarships awarded places Aberdeen clearly in front. While in certain parishes in the South where the teacher was both a sound and enthusiastic scholar, boys were sent direct from the parish school to the university in sufficient numbers to make Scotland proud of doing what has been done nowhere else, the number of such parishes is comparatively small, except in the Dick Bequest counties-Aberdeen, Banff, and Moray [Though these counties are conspicuous in this respect, others elsewhere are creditably represented. Cases in point are James Beattie the poet and Thomas Reid the philosopher from parish schools in Kincardineshire in the latter half of the 18th century. They entered Marischal College, the former aged 14, the latter 12. Both became Professors of Moral Philosophy : Beattie in Aberdeen, Reid in Glasgow.]. Why these should be placed in a different category from the others requires a short explanation.

In university matters Aberdeen was conservative, and regulated its action on the lines of the foreign universities on which it was largely modelled. Latin was consequently of great importance as being then the usual medium of communication with other universities, and also the language of diplomacy. Another reason may be found in the fact that Boece, an excellent scholar though not a trustworthy historian, was its first Principal, and in the existence of the famous "Aberdeen Doctors [This was the name given to a coterie of men, poets, scholars and theologians, who, early in the 17th century, made Aberdeen famous both at home and abroad, wherever learning was held in honour. The most prominent were Bishop Patrick Forbes, his brother, and his son, David Wedderburn, Arthur Johnston, Principal William Leslie, Dr Scroggie, Dr Sibbald, and Principal Guild. In the ecclesiastical turmoil of the times some were deposed, others banished. Gordon in Scots Affairs speaks of them as "eminent divynes of Aberdeen in whom fell mor learning than wes left behynde in all Scotlande besydes at that tyme."]," all great Latinists. Further, Aberdeen has had for a long time a large number of bursaries open to competition in which Latin was the most important subject, and excellence in it the certain avenue to position and honour. In Aberdeen more than elsewhere the competition day is the great day of the year. Telegrams fly all over the Dick Bequest district as to the place of the competitors in the bursary list, and the teachers of the first and other high bursars wear figuratively a feather in their caps with a natural and very healthy pride [An accurate description of the bursary competition, the way in which it was conducted, and the keen interest with which the announcement of the successful competitors was waited for, is given by George Macdonald in his Robert Falconer, Part ii, chap. v, pp. 190-2.]. The northern boy who contemplates going to college has the gaining of a bursary before his eyes for several years. He knows he will not get it unless he wins it, and he knows that a good one will go far to clear his expenses. He is trained, pen in hand, with greater persistency than in the South, to put down the results of his study in black and white, and from this school training, followed up by plentiful written examinations at college, spring the accuracy, and the power of utilising time in examination, to which success is due. It is no disparagement of the Aberdeen University staff to say that there are as able men and as good teachers in the southern universities. The Aberdeen staff make an excellent use of the material they have to deal with, but the material is good, and the preliminary handling in school has been workmanlike.

When the writer's district as Inspector of Schools was Aberdeen and the North of Scotland, he was Classical examiner for degrees, first in Edinburgh and afterwards in Glasgow. Struck by the contrast between the lively interest felt in the Aberdeen bursary competition and the comparative apathy in Edinburgh and Glasgow, he made careful enquiry about the subsequent university record of the students who gained bursaries by competition and presentation respectively. The General Council of Glasgow University thought fit to publish in pamphlet form his remarks in support of a motion on the subject of bursaries, and he subjoins a few of the more striking facts.

"For three years the prizes in all the Art classes in Aberdeen fell to competition bursars, as follows:

In the last of these three years only one fell to a presentation bursar.

These figures, referring as they do to all the Arts classes, are valuable as showing that competition does not reward merely those who have been well grounded in classics at school, and whose claim to success might be supposed to be simply a fine instinct for avoiding serious errors and pitfalls in versions, and a correct habit developed into a kind of second nature, as to the proper use of qui, quod, and quia with the indicative or subjunctive. They prove more than this. They prove that competition brings to the front the best men-men who, as a body, carry off the honours in every class in the curriculum, and that mainly, if not entirely, because of the habits of perseverance and self-reliance springing from open competition, and from an assurance which the schoolboy who looks forward to college carries constantly about with him, even in his schoolboy days, that he has before him a fair field and no favour.

The statistics of the Greek class for the past session (1870-1) were, if possible, still more striking. The students were ranked in the following five classes:- (1) Prizemen; (2) Order of Merit; (3) Creditable Appearance; (4) Respectable Appearance; (5) Simple or Bare Pass.

The number of bursars in the first Greek class during the past year was 63. Of these 39 were competition, and 24 presentation bursars. The whole of the prizes, 11 in number, were gained by the former; 12 stood in the order of merit; 12 made a creditable appearance; 4 made a respectable appearance; and not one stood under the heading of 'passed simply.'

Looking next to the presentation bursars, we find that 11 passed simply; only 6 made a respectable appearance; only 3 made a creditable appearance; only 4 stood in the order of merit; and not one stood in the prize list.

These figures, taken as measures of the two classes of bursars, are curiously the reverse of each other. The competition bursars have all the prizes and no scratch pass. The presentation bursars have no prizes and 11 scratch passes. Arranging the figures in columns they taper off in reverse directions :

The presentation column has its broad end (nearly half the whole number) in the less than respectable quarter, tapering off to nothing at the prize end. The competition column has its broad end among the prizes, and fines off to nothing at the simple pass." It is highly probable that an examination of the records of the two classes of bursars in the other three universities would give a similar result.

Whatever the explanation, it is certain that Latinity struck root deeper in the northern university than in the others, and it is not surprising that the teachers of the schools which were feeders of the university regarded the teaching of Latin as their first duty. In 1833 Professor Menzies, the first visitor of the Dick Bequest schools, found elementary Latin taught to a few pupils in two-thirds of the wretched school-houses described at p. 204. Arithmetic, grammar, and geography were classed as higher subjects, and separate fees were charged for them as in other parish schools all over Scotland. Considerable advance was made between 1833 and 1841, but of the 54 Dick Bequest schools visited in the latter year only 24 presented Latin pupils, few of whom went beyond the translation of Caesar. Not farther back than fifty years ago, in many of the Dick Bequest schools, those learning Latin were required to ask and answer questions and converse in Latin, as soon as they had acquired a moderate vocabulary. Another circumstance pointing in the same direction is that a large proportion of the Aberdeen students, being sons of small farmers, or other persons of narrow means, entered college with a view to becoming teachers, and so earning a living earlier than in any other profession. It is at any rate beyond doubt that Aberdeen became largely a university for teachers, f to whom a degree would be useful as a means of preferment.'' Hence probably the remarkable fact that here, from very early times, graduation was practically the universal crown of a completed course of study.

Forty years ago no discredit attached to a student at the other universities who did not proceed to graduation, but in Aberdeen, though prior to 1826 the degree was conferred in what would now be considered a very loose way, it was, and still is, almost a disgrace not to graduate. Within the last forty years graduation has become much more common in the other universities, and in them all is conferred on the result of an examination of considerably higher pitch than is requisite for the ordinary pass degree in Oxford or Cambridge. This is still the case, but not to the same extent as it was. The `soft option' or wider choice of easy subjects now allowed is steadily reducing the value of the Scottish degree.

In the original scheme and till 1890, the teacher to be qualified for participation in the Bequest required to be not only a graduate, but to pass a severe examination, on the character of which, and his subsequent success as a teacher of advanced branches, his share in it largely depended. On the result of these two tests payments ranged from about £25 to £50 a year.

The graduates were usually of high mark, and their pupils often went direct to the university. It was not uncommon, and is now, owing to an examination of higher pitch, more common than formerly, for lads in rural schools to go to a grammar school for a few months, to have point and direction given to their work, as a preparation for the bursary competition, but the solid work had been done at the parish school.

Of James Dick's early years there is no authentic information. He was born in Forres in 1743, got an excellent education, and when nineteen years of age went to Kingston in Jamaica, where he entered a mercantile house, in which his ability before long gained for him a partnership. After twenty years he returned to Scotland with a large fortune. He died in 1828 bequeathing over £100,000 for the maintenance and benefit of the country parish schoolmasters in the counties of Aberdeen, Banff and Moray. The Bequest came into operation in 1833.

He gave to his Trustees full power to distribute the income of the fund in such manner as should "seem most likely to encourage active schoolmasters, and generally elevate the literary character of the parish schoolmasters and schools." The Bequest was not to be employed to relieve, in any way, the heritors or others of their legal obligations. It was not to be in any sense eleemosynary, but stimulative of effort. This instruction in his will has received the strictest attention of the Trustees, both before and after the passing of the Act of 1872. The Trustees had a delicate task in attempting to carry out the aims of the testator in schools where the heritors, the Presbytery, the parish minister and teacher, had all a statutory position and keen interest, and where there was, on the part of those legally charged with the superintendence of the schools, a probability of friction and impatience with the interference of an alien element. Changes in the code, which followed the Act of 1872, were met by changes in the administration of the Trust, in dealing with school-boards and the Education Department, of such a kind as to safeguard the stimulative effect intended. To enter into these changes in detail would be tedious. Suffice it to say that the Bequest came unscathed through the danger to higher education from the much larger government grants earnable by elementary subjects, and that the judicious action of the Trustees under the eminently skilful guidance of Professor Laurie, the Visitor and Examiner, has given a singularly healthy impulse to all the schools. Fortunately, the utmost harmony and cooperation characterised the action of all concerned. The Presbytery reported annually, the Visitor for some time triennially, and later biennially on each school. On these reports and the character of the teacher's scholarship depended the amount of the annual award.

These were the conditions that obtained till 1890, when important changes were introduced and are still in force. These are the discontinuance of personal examination of the school by the Visitor, and of the examination of the qualifications of teachers before being placed on the list. For the former, a written examination on the higher subjects, and for the latter, a selection by the Governors have been substituted, essential conditions being that the teacher must be a graduate; must have a sufficient staff; a house and a salary of not less than £135, exclusive of the grant, which must be paid to the teacher in addition to his salary. Rural schools at a great distance from educational centres have been the objects of special attention. The distribution of the grants depends on various considerations-the locality and population of the district, the number and quality of the papers in higher subjects sent up by pupils, and the annual reports by H.M. Inspectors. Each school receives a fixed grant of £15, and a capitation grant at such rate as the Governors may from time to time determine, in view of the number of pupils and efficient instruction in the higher subjects. This grant may not exceed £35. The amount of the fund has made it necessary to limit the number of schools on the Bequest list to 130.

The Governors have power to make special grants to schoolboards of not less than £60, and not more than £200 annually, at selected centres for the development of the higher departments of their schools on certain conditions, among which is the extent to "which the grant is met by local rates, subscriptions or donations." The number of pupils in higher subjects, including mechanical drawing and science, and adequacy of staff, are taken into consideration in fixing the amount.

For several years after 1872 there was, all over Scotland, a distinct falling off in the extent to which advanced subjects were taught in parish schools, largely due to mistaken action on the part of school-boards, many of whom believed that their duties ended with providing elementary education. In 1878 the Endowed Institutions (Scotland) Commission was appointed, to submit to the Scotch Education Department the conditions according to which the parliamentary grant might be most advantageously distributed for the promotion of higher education in public and state-aided schools. The result of their enquiries shows very clearly the superiority of the schools in the three north-eastern counties.

In answer to a circular issued by the Commissioners to all Scotland, three-fourths of the teachers who replied gave it as their experience, that the higher subjects of instruction were disappearing from parochial and other state-aided schools. The returns which were sent up showed the following remarkable result. The total number of those who had in 1878 passed in the three stages of the higher subjects in parochial or public schools was given as follows.

In all Scotland.

Mathematics 1595    Greek 196
Latin 3230             French 1589

Of these totals the following had passed in the three northeastern counties within which the Dick Bequest is operative, viz. Aberdeen, Banff, and Moray.

Mathematics 240     Greek 103
Latin 793          French 224

As the counties in question contain only about a tenth of the population of Scotland, the total number of passes in Scotland (if the proportion who passed in the Dick Bequest district had been attained elsewhere), would have been:

Again, the number of pupils studying the higher subjects beyond the third stage in Scotland was 1507. Of these, 408 were in the schools of the Dick Bequest district. An equal proportion in the rest of Scotland would have shown 4000 beyond the third stage, instead of 1507 as returned. The total number of scholars returned, as preparing for the university, was 574, of whom 198 were in the Dick Bequest district. Had the rest of Scotland shown the same proportion, the total number would have been 1980 instead of 574. These results seem quite conclusive as to the superiority of the parish schools in the north-east of Scotland, and bear testimony to the success with which the Dick Bequest Trust had contended with the depressing influences of the code.

But this was not all. A return of the number of elementary schoolmasters in Scotland who were graduates was also called for. The total number given in the Report [Report of Endowed Institutions Commission, p. 201, 1881] was 205, and of these 134 were in the Dick Bequest district. "Had the rest of Scotland been able to show a similar proportion, the total number of graduate teachers in elementary schools in Scotland would have been 1340 instead of 205 [Professor Laurie's Dick Bequest Report, 1890, pp. 37-8]."

We find that within the ten years previous to 1888 "209 boys went direct from the parish schools to the universities, and 156 went to the universities after a brief stay of from three to nine months at a secondary school - in all 365; in other words, an average of more than thirty-six per annum from 122 schools scattered over the three counties, including however seven or eight central or secondary schools, such as Keith, Peterhead, &c. [Professor Laurie's Report for 1904, p. 10.]" To these may be added 546 passes or 505 per annum in various examinations, Pharmaceutical, Law Agents, University, Local, Training College, and L.L.A. St Andrews. The Trustees, without relaxing their efforts for the encouragement of university subjects, think it right, in view of changed social and commercial conditions, to regard all advanced instruction beyond the compulsory standard as entitled to recognition in their estimate of school-work.

Professor Laurie in his Report for 1890 states that one-fourth of the teachers have more than £150 a year exclusive of the Bequest, and that of 123 teachers 112 are graduates and have passed the Dick Bequest examination. There is no such record elsewhere. Hence the growth of a high educational standard. In many cases school-boards have caught the prevailing spirit, and given encouragement by the appointment of pupil-teachers and assistants beyond code requirements.

We find the same influence operative in connection with autumn classes in agriculture opened by the Professor of Agriculture in the University of Edinburgh for teachers during the school vacations. A large number attended from the northeastern counties. And on the formation in 1888 of an "Institute of Scottish Teachers of Agriculture," 93 out of 143 were from the same counties. It may therefore be claimed that, both directly and indirectly, there is no fund every shilling of which has more fully earned a shilling's worth than the Dick Bequest.

Professor Laurie summarises his estimate of the work of the Bequest up to 1889 as follows.

"The `university' subjects have ceased to be taught in a few of the smaller rural schools, and they are either gone or going in schools within easy reach of important educational centres. But in all other parishes the results are better than ever, especially in Banffshire. The qualifications for success at the university competition, however, are now higher than they used to be, and poor country boys who, twenty-five or thirty years ago, would have succeeded easily, have now increasing difficulty in doing so; and, consequently, the proportion of country boys entering the university direct from the parochial schools will be found probably (but of this I am doubtful) to be smaller than formerly. There are now, however, many outlets other than the university for clever, well-educated boys of which ample advantage is taken. The teaching of modern subjects has extended in a very remarkable way, and the number staying beyond the sixth standard has also increased. The general conclusion is that the state of the higher parochial education in the three counties, taken in the aggregate, is at present much more satisfactory than ever it was in the history of the Bequest, especially if we take into consideration the greatly improved education of girls, in which there has been a change amounting to a revolution [Professor Laurie's Report for 1890, p. 56.]."

The regulations and schedules drawn up in connection with the new departure in 1890 kept three objects in view: "(a) To avoid relieving the parish rates; (b) to ensure such an application of the fund as would encourage the teaching of the 'higher subjects' in purely rural parishes as heretofore ; (c) to encourage the attendance at school beyond the sixth standard of the government code [Professor Laurie's Report for 1904, p. 143]." The number of schools on the Bequest is 130. That the new departure has not been accompanied by less satisfactory results we learn from the report already referred to. It bears that in 1903 the average attendance at the schools on the Bequest was 21,359, of whom 2609 were in advanced classes, and, though a number of the younger pupils had not reached the age for presentation at the government leaving certificate examination, 1358 had been successful.

Junior 935
Higher 417
Honours 6

A most satisfactory account of efficient secondary works [Professor Laurie's Report for 1904, p. 16,].

We find also that in 1903 the number of pupils learning secondary subjects was: Latin 2139, Greek 145, French 2139, German 311, Mathematics 1933. In Greek only is the number smaller than in 1889. In all the others it is largely increased.

We find further that during the three years (1901-4) in addition to 600 passes in non-university examinations, 91 have gone direct to the university, of whom 36 went from schools strictly rural.

The fact that more than one-third of those who have gone direct to the university went from strictly rural schools shows how necessary it is, in the case of selected pupils, and under conditions sanctioned by the inspector, to permit the substitution of one or more languages for the subjects in the supplementary courses for rural schools. In justice to the pupils of schools inconveniently distant from central schools it is desirable that the conditions of permission should be fairly elastic. Neither teacher nor pupil will be tempted to substitute languages, from any idea that they are more easily taught than the subjects outlined in the supplementary courses.

There is yet another northern Trust worthy of recognition in a history of education. Dr Mime of Bombay bequeathed to the parish schoolmasters of his native county Aberdeenshire a sum of about £50,000. The Trust was established in 1846, and had for its object the benefit of the teachers and the education of poor children. The Trustees had the selection of the teachers thought to be most deserving, and the kirk session in each parish had the nomination of the twenty-five children who were to receive free education in all the branches taught in the school and for as many years as they pleased. The teacher was to receive twenty pounds a year as an addition to his salary. This bequest, though differing from that made by Mr Dick in being mainly alimentary and charitable, was indirectly stimulative, inasmuch as the increased emoluments made the Aberdeen parish schools prizes in the profession, and were objects of ambition to many distinguished graduates. The number of schools participating in the Bequest varied, but it was often as high as eighty and ninety. High Wranglers and eminent classical scholars in Oxford and Cambridge, and officials of great distinction in the Indian Civil Service have been the outcome of education obtained through the Dick and Milne Bequests.

The original Trust Deed of Dr Milne was superseded in 1888 by a scheme of administration prepared by Commissioners appointed under the provisions of the Educational Endowments (Scotland) Act of 1882. By this scheme the whole rights, funds, and estates belonging to the endowment were vested in a governing body of eleven persons who, when education became free in 1889, confined themselves to fulfilling the obligation to pay off the life-interests of teachers, of whom only ten now (1906) survive to claim their £20 a year. From the accumulation of the Trust funds arising from this source the Governors have now a total income of nearly £1000 a year, which they are entitled to spend on the establishment of school bursaries of from £5 to £10 to be awarded by competition among pupils attending state-aided schools in the Milne area, viz. Aberdeenshire and the parish of Banchory-Devenick, for the encouragement of higher education. Of this permission no use has yet been made. The Governors however, in view of encroachments on the capital from unremunerative outlays, thought it better, on both financial and educational grounds, to save up the balances for use after paying off life-interests. They also, in view of the provision made by the Education Bill of 1900 for higher education, and the necessity of encouraging religious instruction for which no government grants can be received, are anxious to devote a part of their free income to the promotion of that "religious and moral instruction" which Dr Milne had "much at heart," and which he placed in the very forefront of his Trust Deed.

The Philip Bequest, confined to certain towns and parishes in Fife, had at first for its aim not so much advanced instruction, as charity for the education of poor children, but as the funds increased beyond expectation, additional schools were built and teachers' salaries increased. It seems unnecessary to refer to other parish school bequests, as few of them have any important bearing on secondary education in connection with the Act of 1872.