The new,Scotch Education Bill which the Secretary for Scot- land
introduced in the Commons on Monday night met with a chorus of approval from -both sides of the House. There is nothing startlingly novel in the Bill, which applies to Scotland, .mutatis mutandis, the principle of the English. Education Act by abolishing School Boards and putting the whole educational system into the hands of one authority. Since it is necessary to respect the independence of the numerous burghs, the new authority is not the County Council, but new Boards elected on the County Council and burgh fran- chise, with separate provision for the four great burghs, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee, and Aberdeen. Such Boards will be public authorities for all branches of education. Mr. Graham Murray explained that while the Government did not intend to remove the Education Department.to Scotland, they proposed to provide for local administration by consti- tuting four provincial Councils to meet in Aberdeen, Inver- ness, Edinburgh, and Glasgow. The scheme promises well, for, as the Secretary for Scotland pointed out, the Govern- ment have the best material to work upon,—a people anxious to be educated.
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