APPENDIX D.-Extract from Report by Mr. Gibson, Govern- INTRODUCTION. PARTICULARS REGARDING MR. DICK-AMOUNT AND PURPOSE OF BEQUEST. THE Bequest, of which this Report is to describe the Management, consists of funds bequeathed by the late JAMES DICK, Esq., of Finsbury Square, London. Mr. Dick was born, of respectable parents, at Forres, in Morayshire, upon 14th November 1743. He is said to have received an excellent education, but no particulars of it have been obtained. At the age of nineteen, he went to the West Indies, and entered a mercantile house at Kingston, in Jamaica, where his industry and talents speedily obtained for him a share in his employer's busiAfter twenty years he returned to England, with a considerable fortune, to which, by persevering habits and judicious speculation, he subsequently made large additions. It is much to be regretted that of the character of one, whose beneficence has done so much to diffuse the blessings of an improved education over a large portion of ness. A his native land, nothing (in addition to the inference drawn from his munificent bequest,) has been gleaned, except that he was of a cheerful temper, and esteemed for the benevolence of his disposition. He died on the 24th May 1828, having bequeathed the chief part of his fortune for the benefit of the Parochial Schoolmasters in his native county of Moray or Elgin, and in the neighbouring counties of Banff and Aberdeen. The funds thus bequeathed amounted in 1833, to a capital sum of £113,147, 4s. 7d., which has since been increased to £118,787, 11s. This is now entirely invested in heritable securities in Scotland, and yields a revenue, which, after deduction of all expenses, has left for distribution an annual sum, varying, since 1835, from £3597, 13s. 3d. to £4430, 3s. Mr. Dick's design in thus disposing of his fortune was, that the revenue arising from the funds bequeathed should be distributed among the Parochial Schoolmasters in the three Counties, in such proportions and such manner as the administrators of the Bequest should deem " most likely to encourage active Schoolmasters, and gradually to elevate the literary character of the Parochial Schoolmasters and Schools ;" and in order to enable his Trustees the more effectually to accomplish the object, he conferred upon them full discretionary powers to increase, diminish, or altogether discontinue the allowance which might from time to time be made to any Schoolmaster. The Report, which was printed and distributed in 1835, contained, in its Introduction, an account of the circumstances, and proceedings in Chancery, by which the administration of the Bequest became vested in the following persons as Trustees: -viz., The Keeper and Deputy-Keeper of the Signet, the Treasurer of the Society of Writers to the Signet, and eight Commissioners, chosen by and from among the Commissioners of the Signet. Since the original nomination, two vacancies have occurred in the body of Trustees, by the resignation of Sir Francis Walker Drummond, and the death of Mr. Roger Aytoun; and the Trust is consequently now discharged by the following Trustees, viz. :— The Right Hon. WILLIAM DUNDAS, Keeper of Her Majesty's RICHARD MACKENZIE, Esq., Deputy-Keeper of the Signet. JAMES JOLLIE, Esq., Commissioner of the Signet. SIR JAMES GIBSON-CRAIG, Do. The other Office-Bearers are as formerly, ALEXANDER PEARSON, W.S., Treasurer; and ALLAN MENZIES, W.S., Clerk. The former Report contained an account of the Trustees' proceedings immediately after their en trance upon office, and a statement of the information collected by them respecting the condition of the Schools at that time-their constitution and endowments, and the system of teaching practised in them it announced also the plan of operations, and the principle for distribution of the fund, which had been adopted by the Trustees. It is the design of the present Report to review the procedure which has since taken place, and to show the principles upon which the Bequest has been administered. In performing this duty, it will be necessary occasionally to refer to, and resume the contents of the former Report; but this will be done with as much brevity as a complete and explicit view of the whole matter will permit. |