Whereas an Act was passed in the Forty-third Year of the Reign of His Majesty George the Third, Chapter Fifty-four, intituled An Act for making letter Provision for

43 G. 3. c. 54.

the Parochial Schoolmasters, and for making further Regulations for the better Government of the Parish Schools in Scotland : And whereas it is expedient to amend the said Act, and to make further and other Provisions for the Maintenance and Government of the said Schoolmasters and Schools, and to abolish the Test imposed by Law on Schoolmasters in Scotland: Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the same, as follows :

I. Where not inconsistent with the Context, the following Expressions shall have the Meaning herein-after assigned them; that is to say,

The Expression "Parochial School" shall mean and include every School established or to be established or provided for under the said recited Act:

The Expression "Burgh School" shall mean and include every page 2 every Burgh, Grammar, or other public School, not being a Parochial School.

II. From and after the Term of Martinmas next after the passing of this Act the Salary of every Schoolmaster of any Parochial School shall not be less than the Sum of Thirty-five Pounds nor more than the Sum of Seventy Pounds per Annum: Provided always, that where Two or more Schools have been or shall be established in any Parish in Terms of the said Act the total Amount of the Salary payable to the Schoolmasters therein shall not be less than Fifty Pounds nor more than Eighty Pounds per Annum, to be apportioned among the said Schoolmasters as the Heritors shall determine, in the Manner provided by the said Act; and the Salaries herein provided shall be in lieu of the Salaries payable under the Provisions of the said Act: Provided also, that it shall be lawful for the Heritors, if they shall think fit, to make any Addition granted by them to the Salary of any Schoolmaster beyond the minimum Amount hereby fixed to be dependent upon the Number of Scholars receiving Instruction in his School, under such Regulations as they may deem expedient.

III. The Minister of every Parish in which there is a Parochial School shall, within Three Months from and after the passing of this Act, and on every Occasion of a Vacancy in the Office of Schoolmaster within Six Weeks after such Vacancy shall have taken place, call a Meeting of the Heritors together with the said Minister, in the Manner prescribed in the said recited Act, for the Purpose of fixing the Salary of the Schoolmaster under this Act, subject always to the Appeal provided in the said recited Act; and the Salary to be so fixed shall be payable in Sterling Money, at the same Terms and under the same Conditions, Provisions, and Regulations as are at present in use; and in case in regard to any Parish such Meeting shall not have been held or the Salary shall not have been fixed in manner and within the Period herein prescribed, the Salary shall, until such Meeting shall have been held and such Salary so fixed, be held as fixed at the Amount of Fifty Pounds per Annum, which Amount shall be payable to the Schoolmaster in manner herein-before prescribed; and where Two or more Schools have been established in any One Parish, the said Sum of Fifty Pounds shall be payable to the several Schoolmasters thereof, in the same Proportion according to which their several Salaries were payable before the passing of this Act: Provided always, that where any Parish shall be vacant at the Time of the passing of this Act, or become vacant before any such Meeting shall be called, or where any Minister shall decline or delay calling such Meeting, after having been required so to do by any Heritor or page 3 Heritors holding not less than One Third of the Valuation of the Parish, it shall be competent for such Heritor or Heritors to call, by Notice affixed to the Door of the Parish Church, and either a Circular sent to each Heritor, or an Advertisement published in a Newspaper of general Circulation in the District, a Meeting for the Purpose of fixing the Salary of the Schoolmaster under this Act, and the Salary fixed at such Meeting within the Limits specified in this Act shall be the Salary of the Schoolmaster or Schoolmasters.

IV. At the Meeting aforesaid it shall be lawful for the Heritors and Minister to resolve to discontinue, from and after a Date to be fixed by them, any subsisting Side School in the Parish : Provided always, that if such Side School is not vacant at the Date of such Meeting they shall provide to the School-master thereof during his Life, from and after its Discontinuance, an annual Payment equal in Amount to the full Salary to which at the Date of the passing of this Act he had Right by Law, under the Provisions of the said recited Act, together with the annual Value of any Dwelling House to which he may have been entitled as such Schoolmaster, as the same is or shall be valued by the Assessor for the County, which Amount shall be assessed, levied, and paid over and above the Salaries payable under this Act, and in like Manner as such Salaries are hereby directed to be assessed, levied, and paid.

V. It shall be lawful for the Heritors and Minister, at the Meeting aforesaid, or at any subsequent Meeting duly called for that Purpose, to resolve that a Female Teacher shall be established, to give Instruction in such Branches of Female Industrial and Household Training, as well as of Elementary Education, as they shall then or from Time to Time prescribe, and to provide, over and above the Salary herein-before mentioned, a yearly Sum not exceeding Thirty Pounds as a Salary for such Female Teacher, which yearly Sum shall be assessed, levied, and paid in like Manner as such herein-before mentioned Salary is hereby directed to be assessed, levied and paid; and it shall be lawful for the said Heritors and Minister to engage and appoint such Female Teacher for such Period of Time and on such Terms and Conditions as shall be agreed on.

VI. It shall be lawful for the Heritors and Minister, at such Meeting as aforesaid, to resolve to require the Teacher of any Side School in the Parish, on a Notice of not less than Three Months, to resign his Office, on their providing to him during his Life an annual Payment equal in Amount to the full Salary to which at the Date of the passing of this Act he had Right by Law, under the Provisions of the said recited Act, together with the annual Value of any Dwelling House to which he may have page 4 been entitled as such Schoolmaster, as the same is or shall be valued by the Assessor of the County, which Amount shall be assessed, levied, and paid over and above the Salaries payable under this Act, and in like Manner as such Salaries are hereby directed to be assessed, levied, and paid; and at the Expiry of Three Months from Notice as aforesaid, if such Teacher shall not previously have given in his Resignation, the Heritors and Minister having made Provision for such annual Payment as aforesaid, the Right of such Teacher to his Office shall cease and determine.

VII. If in any Parish the Salary shall have been fixed at a yearly Sum less than the maximum Amount herein-before specified, it shall be lawful to the Heritors and Minister, at any !Meeting to be called and held in the Manner before prescribed, from Time to Time to increase the Amount of such Salary, provided the same shall not exceed the said maximum Amount, and on any Vacancy in the Office of Schoolmaster from Time to Time to reduce the Salary, so that it shall not be less than the minimum Salary herein-before specified; provided that it shall be the Duty of the Minister to call such Meeting only on the Requisition of any Heritor or Heritors being Proprietors of not less than One Fourth Part of the whole Lands and Heritages situate within the Parish.

VIII. In case the Heritors shall, previously to the passing of this Act, have entered into any Agreement with the School-master of any Parish for his Retirement from the Performance of the Duties of his Office, on Payment to him of a retiring Allowance or otherwise, it shall be lawful to the Heritors, at any Meeting to be called and held as aforesaid, to declare the Office of Schoolmaster of such Parish vacant, and to proceed to elect another Schoolmaster, and to grant such retiring Allowance or other Terms to such retiring Schoolmaster as may have been agreed upon as aforesaid, payable during the Remainder of his Life, which retiring Allowance shall be payable in all respects in like Manner with the Salary of the Schoolmaster.

(2.) The Persons so appointed shall continue to be Examiners during Two Years from and after the Date of their respective Appointments, and until other Persons shall have been in like Manner appointed in their Room; provided that it shall be lawful to the University Court to re-appoint all or any of the same Persons to be such Examiners, and to fill up from Time to Time any Vacancy which may occur by the Death, Resignation, or Disqualification of any of the Examiners; and it shall be lawful to each of the Persons so appointed to nominate as his Deputy, with Power to act as his Substitute in case of his Absence at any Meeting of the Examiners, any Person who may have become a Graduate in Arts of the University not later than Three Years prior to such Nomination; provided that such Nomination shall be approved by the University Court, and also provided that the Persons nominated by such Examiners as are Professors in the Faculty of Divinity shall be Ministers or Licentiates of the Church of Scotland:

(3.) It shall be lawful to the Examiners to make, on or before the Eleventh Day of November One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, and thereafter from Time to Time, such Regulations as they shall see fit in regard to the Time and Manner of Examinations, and as to the Subjects to which the same shall extend, and to regulate the Notice to be given thereof, regard being always had in the framing of these Regulations to the Circumstances of each particular District; provided that such Regulations shall be approved of by the University Court; and the said Regulations, when so approved, shall be published by Advertisement in such Manner as the University Court shall direct and the Examiners may appoint One of their own Number, or any One of their Substitutes, to act as their Secretary; and such Examinations shall be held within the Buildings of the University, and at such Time and Place as shall be fixed by the University Court:

(4.) For the Purposes of the Examination of Parochial Schoolmasters the Parochial Schools in Scotland shall be and are hereby distributed into Four Districts each in connexion with One of the Universities, a set forth in the Schedule (A.) hereto annexed:

(5.) Every Person elected to be a Parochial Schoolmaster under the Provisions of this and the said recited Act, and every Person elected to be a Schoolmaster under the Provisions of the Act of the First and Second Years of the Reign of Her Majesty, Chapter Eighty-seven, shall, before his Admission to the said Office, and as a Condition thereof, submit himself to the Trial and Examination of the Examiners for the District to which the Parish for which he has been elected appertains, as to his Fitness and Qualifications for the Duties of the said Office; and being found qualified, the said Examiners shall furnish to him a Certificate to that Effect subscribed by them or by a Majority of their Number, which Certificate shall be conclusive Evidence that he has passed the requisite Examination, and been found qualified for the said Office, and the Examiners shall have Power, with Consent of the Committee of the Privy Council on Education, to require the Attendance at any such Examination, for the Purpose of assisting therein, of One of Her Majesty's Inspectors of Schools.

X. It shall be lawful for the Persons entitled to elect any Burgh or Parochial Schoolmaster, if they shall see fit, instead of electing some One Person to the vacant Office, to choose and nominate Two Persons or Three Persons to be tried by the Examiners, whose Duty it shall be to make Trial of the comparative Fitness and Qualifications of the Persons so chosen and nominated, and to determine which of them is the best qualified and most fit for the School with reference to which they have been so chosen, and to give the Person so preferred by them a Certificate to that Effect, and such Certificate, along with the Minute of Nomination by the Persons entitled to elect, and also, in the Case of a Parochial Schoolmaster, the Certificate of his having emitted the Declaration herein-after set forth, shall complete the Right of the Person so preferred to the Office of Schoolmaster : Provided always, that if the Examiners shall not be satisfied of the Fitness and Qualifications of any of the Persons nominated as aforesaid, they may decline to grant a Certificate to any of them, of which Declinature they shall forthwith cause Intimation to be made to the Persons having the Right of Election; and provided further, that in the event of Two or more Candidates for the Office of Schoolmaster being remitted by the Heritors and Minister to the Examiners for competitive Examination, the Heritors shall pay to each of the Examiners a Fee of Ten Shillings for each additional Candidate page 7 so examined; and in the event of the Magistrates of any Burgh remitting any Candidate for Examination to the Examiners, they shall pay to each of the Examiners a Fee of One Pound One Shilling if there be only One, and a Fee of Ten Shillings for each additional Candidate.

XI. It shall be lawful to the Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury to pay out of any Monies which may be voted by Parliament for that Purpose the Sum of One Pound One Shilling to each of the said Examiners for and in respect of every Person examined by them under the Provisions of this Act, and also the Sum of Fifteen Shillings for each such Examination to the Secretary of the Examiners, out of which Sum he shall defray the Expense of the Advertisements required by this Act and other incidental Expenses.

XII. From and after the passing of this Act, it shall not be necessary for any Schoolmaster, or for any Person elected a Schoolmaster, of any Parochial School, or of any School under the Provisions of the Act of the First and Second Years of the Reign of Her Majesty, Chapter Eighty-seven, to profess or subscribe the Confession of Faith, or the Formula of the Church of Scotland, or to profess that he will submit himself to the Government and Discipline thereof: Provided always, that every Person elected a Schoolmaster of any such School shall as a Condition of the Office, and before Admission thereto, produce before the Principal, or, in case of his Absence or Inability to act, before One or other of the Professors in the Faculty of Divinity of the University in which he has been examined, an Extract or certified Copy of the Minutes of his Election, together with the said Certificate by the Examiners, and shall in the Presence of the Principal or Professor emit and subscribe a Declaration in the following Terms; that is to say,

'I A.B. do solemnly and sincerely, in the Presence of God profess, testify, and declare, That as Schoolmaster of the Parochial School at________in the Parish of___________, and in the Discharge of the said Office, I will never endeavour, directly or indirectly, to teach or inculcate any Opinions opposed to the Divine Authority of the Holy Scriptures, or to the Doctrines contained in the Shorter Catechism agreed upon by the Assembly of Divines at Westminster, and approved by the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, in the Year One thousand six hundred and forty-eight; and that I will faithfully conform thereto in my teaching of the said School, and that I will not exercise the Functions of the said Office to the Prejudice or Subversion of the Church of Scotland as by Law established, or the Doctrines and Privileges thereof.'

XIII. It shall be competent for the Presbytery of the Bounds, or for the Heritors, whensoever they shall see Cause for instituting Proceedings against the Schoolmaster of any Parish, for Contravention of the said Declaration, to present a Complaint to One of Her Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State against such Schoolmaster; and it shall be lawful to the Secretary of State thereupon to appoint a Commission to inquire into the said Charge, and to censure, suspend, or deprive such Schoolmaster, as they shall find to be just; provided that no such Sentence shall take effect until it has been confirmed and approved of by the Secretary of State.

XIV. So much of the Twenty-first Section of the said recited Act as provides that the Presbytery shall take cognizance of, and, if they see Cause, proceed by Libel against any Schoolmaster in respect of any Complaint charging him with immoral Conduct, or cruel and improper Treatment of the Scholars under his Charge, is hereby repealed; and in lieu thereof it is hereby enacted, That it shall be lawful to the Heritors and Ministers, or the Clerk of the Presbytery of the Bounds, by the Authority of the said Presbytery, given on the Application of the Heritors and Minister, or of any Six Heads of Families in the Parish whose Children are attending the School, to make a Complaint in Writing to the Sheriff of the County in which the School is situate, charging the Schoolmaster with immoral Conduct, or cruel and improper Treatment of the Scholars under his Charge, and specifying in such Complaint the particular Acts in respect of which the Complaint is made; and a Copy of such Complaint shall be served upon the Schoolmaster, who shall be required, on an Induciæ of Fourteen Days, to appear before the Sheriff, by himself or his Agent, to answer to the said Complaint; and the Schoolmaster accused shall, if he deny the Charge, if he think fit, answer the Particulars of the Complaint, such Answer to be in Writing, and to be lodged within the said Fourteen Days, or may, when the Cause comes to be tried, state his Plea to be Not Guilty; and the Sheriff shall thereafter proceed to the Trial of the Complaint, and take the Evidence in the same Way as and under the same Rules as those which are in force in the Sheriff Court in regard to Process in Civil Causes; and in the event that he shall find such Complaint or any material and relevant Part thereof to be proved, the Sheriff shall give Judgment accordingly, and shall pass such Sentence of page 9 Censure, Suspension, or Deprivation, as in his Opinion the Case requires, which Sentence shall be final and not subject to Review, and shall have all the Effects consequent before the passing of this Act on any similar Sentence of any Presbytery under the Provisions of the last recited Section of the said Act, and no Sentence of Censure, Suspension, or Deprivation otherwise pronounced on such Charges shall be valid or effectual: Provided always, that where Sentence of Suspension shall be pronounced the Salary of the Schoolmaster in respect of his Office shall cease and determine from the Date of such Sentence until the next Term of Whitsunday or Martinmas following the Expiration of the Term of Suspension specified in such Sentence, and the Salary accruing during the said Period shall be applied by the Heritors and Minister towards providing a Substitute for such Schoolmaster during the Period of the Suspension.

XV. The Sheriff shall by his Decerniture ascertain and specify the Amount of the Expenses properly incurred by the Complainers in the Proceedings connected with any Complaint against the Schoolmaster of any Parochial School; and the Complainers shall be entitled to recover the Amount so ascertained from the Collector, and out of the readiest Proceeds of the Assessments commonly called the Rogue Money levied for the County within which the School is situate, under the Provisions of an Act passed in the Eleventh Year of the Reign of His Majesty George the First, Chapter Twenty-six; and the Receipt of the Agent of the Complainers shall be a sufficient Discharge to the said Collector for any Payments so made by him out of the said Rogue Money or Assessments.

XVI. So much of the Second Section of the said recited Act as provides that where the Salaries of Parochial Schoolmasters had been before the passing thereof payable in Grain or Meal such Salary in Grain or Meal should continue to be paid, and also the Third, Fourth, and Sixth Sections of the said recited Act, shall be and are hereby repealed; and it is hereby declared and provided, that the Right of electing a Parochial Schoolmaster, juro devoluto, conferred by the Fifteenth Section of the said recited Act on the Commissioners of Supply of the County, after the Expiration of Four Months from the Time when the Vacancy in any Parochial School shall have taken place, shall not arise or accrue to the Commissioners of Supply until the Expiration of Six Months from the Time of such Vacancy.

XVII. Where in any Parish it shall be necessary to provide a House for the Parochial Schoolmaster, in Terms of the recited Act, and of an Act passed in the First and Second Years of the Reign of Her present Majesty, intituled An Act to facilitate the Foundation and Endowment of additional Schools in Scot- page 10 land, or either of them, such House shall consist of at least Three Apartments besides the Kitchen.

XVIII. Nothing in this Act shall be held to interfere with any Arrangement which may have been concluded between the Heritors and Schoolmaster of any Parish for the Retirement of such Schoolmaster, except as regards the House and Garden, and Premises attached thereto, which shall in every Case be made over at the Term of Whitsunday next after the passing of this Act to the Person actually discharging the Duties of Schoolmaster, and where the Use of such Premises may have formed Part of a retiring Allowance the Heritors shall make reasonable Compensation to the Ex-Schoolmaster.

XIX. In case it shall be found, on a Report by One of Her Majesty's Inspectors of Schools, made on the Application of the Heritors of the Parish, and concurred in by the Presbytery of the Bounds, that the Schoolmaster of any Parish is disqualified because of Infirmity or Old Age for the due Performance of the Duties of his Office, or that from Negligence or Inattention he has failed efficiently to discharge such Duties, it shall be lawful to the Heritors and Minister, at any Meeting called and held as aforesaid, to permit or require such Schoolmaster to resign his said Office, and in case of his refusal so to do to dismiss or suspend such Schoolmaster, and when necessary to declare the School vacant; and in every Case of such Resignation the Heritors and Minister may grant to such Schoolmaster a retiring Allowance payable during the Remainder of his Life; provided that where such Resignation shall not be occasioned by any Fault on the Part of the Schoolmaster the Heritors shall grant a retiring Allowance the Amount whereof shall not be less than Two Third Parts of the Amount of the Salary pertaining to said Office at the Date of such Resignation thereof, and shall not exceed the gross Amount of such Salary, which retiring Allowance shall be payable in all respects in like Manner with the Salary of the Schoolmaster; provided also, that no Schoolmaster shall be suspended for a longer Period than Three Months, or be dismissed for Neglect of Duty, excepting under the above Provisions.

XX. In all Cases in which the Minister and Heritors are by this Act empowered to provide a retiring Allowance for a Schoolmaster who shall resign or shall be removed from his Office, it shall be lawful for them, if they see fit, to provide for such Schoolmaster, in addition to such Allowance, and in like Manner, a further yearly Sum, equal in Amount to the annual Value of any Dwelling House and Garden to which he may be entitled as such Schoolmaster, as the same shall be valued by the Assessor for the County.

XXI. The whole Provisions of an Act passed in the Twentieth and Twenty-first Years of the Reign of Her present Majesty, Chapter Fifty-nine, intituled An Act concerning the Parochial Schoolmasters in Scotland, shall be and are hereby repealed.

XXII. From and after the passing of this Act, it shall not be necessary for any Person elected to be a Schoolmaster of any Burgh School to profess or subscribe the Confession of Faith, or the Formula of the Church of Scotland, or to profess that he will submit himself to the Government and Discipline thereof, nor shall any such Schoolmaster be subject to the Trial, Judgment, or Censure of the Presbytery of the Bounds for his Sufficiency, Qualifications, or Deportment in his Office, any Statute to the contrary notwithstanding; and this Enactment shall be a sufficient Defence in answer to any Proceedings against any Schoolmaster of any Burgh School in respect that he has not made such Profession or Subscription.

XXIII. Nothing herein contained shall repeal, alter, or affect the Provisions of the recited Act, or of any other Act relating to Parochial Schools or Schoolmasters in Scotland, excepting in so far only as shall be necessary to give Effect to the Provisions of this Act.