The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1885-08-18 00:00:00

748 18 0 6694 757 1 4

• -
As will be seen by the subjoined statement, the
balance againat the schools on the 30th of April last
amenats to no less than 11193 is. The committee
trust that an earnest consideration.' these figures will
stimulate she inhabitants to increased efforts to sup-
port the schools financially, and they are encouraged
in this hope by the fact that in 1884 there were 30
new donors and subscribers who contributed in the
Wegate lk., he whom the committee now tender
o..saar lirsbdul limbs. During the put year all tbe

Isehools have been examined b the
religious knowledine, and a reYport rebeehialn tel.! toin
the committee. at report on the whole was otitis-
factorY. The tittle set apart for religious instruction
is carefully oleverved in every school. The c.ommittee,
iri conclusion, beg again to offer their thanks to the
masters, mistresses, and pupil teachers of the several
schools for the zealous manner in which they have
carried out their duties. -Heger EVERETT, Cluoir.
man; JOHN F. Hormits, Hon. Treasure'; Enwpi
BURNETT, Hon. Secretary."
The Rev. If. Evetterr, in moving the adoption of
the report, said he would have the important question
a their prest•nt financial position and prospects for
the 0 omittg year to let dealt with entirely by their
excellent treasurer. It was rather his province, as
chairman .4 the managing committee, to speak upon
the condition of the 5ch...1.. As the Mayor had
rightly said, he thought they ....gild look upon thus
report. of H. NI. Inspectors with a good deal of sat's.
faction. During Llt,. last few wars they had had
some rather hard knocks from H.NI. Inspector., lett
three, he thought, they must expect, and he believed
they had leel the effect if showing them their weak
points. This year ntany of theism weak points had been
, remelii.l, awl taking the reports as a whole they
were very satisfoutery, especially with regard to the
' infant owlesols, v. they knew, there were three
infant .eliools in the tan, and W. thought he was
perfectly justified in saying - and lie gathered it from
her NlajesitY's Inspectors - three better infant sch.sols
did not .•xist in this e..unty -(applausel-anol that
was a thing they might Is. prowl of. He had often
' asked the inspectors who came there if there was
anything they neilot suggest to render the infant
' selestls iii. is' efficient, and thev assured him they
I were as good as they saw anywbere else. That, he
' thought, was very sotisfactory. In a town like this
, they iambi not, .4 noire% unite expect the boys' and
; girls' .eho .1. always to get as good reports as thus
I infant.: lett still he th•mglit they hail ii. in.' fairly %veil
. this y...it. lii the infant owlesols they hod olitainosl
I this year the very highest sum which could posoilolV
f be obtained in in s infant schtols-wittiely, 17.. akead.
r Th.. If...eminent, tinder the new rode. "ff"rt.l ."
' extra MI. adoelol fir teaching infants music by wore.,
' and they Wel soteceediel in 'their three infant schools
iii ..litoming that 14., the infants has infr 1...".1 .
satisfiwtory ex: ' iii ii in singing loy note. They
had, therefore, ohtaitesl the highest mark they
r could. 11,• must tronlole them with Inn. word about
that very vital question the attend:Met% This was
now very important to them lieeatis.• the tiooern
ment grants were apportione I il i ;tr.. et it, i.lll • ..11
' Os AS er.tle Mitten-1 it. •'. II I‘ .1• 31W •t s A Its .1
• thjaht ii I, aide I I c lap Ir. their .elio .1. it ith
• others throughout the i••• 1111 l ry, snit . lowkily
' the 1 ~• rep..rt of tl.e Co 1111111 l on Islneatl,,ll for
.. . a a
usss gIIIA • juts( been issited. and he had no olmila many
' Inenlhers .4 the 0 'ttee had read and studitsl that
• report as he hoot Ita,le, with very con.kleratole interest
' and :it t ention. Wit-it It.' not i.• • I Was t Ilk -an,' it might
' p•rhap. interest smile of tie 111 la Is. or it that the •t-
-' tend:tn., threw:West diet...testy csold not be called in
I
altY wa,y 5at...1.1..3.y. Ile .olosersed that out .4 every
! lon cliikiren .4 the sole.' age in the Lind there were
o „03. no ~,, t.),.• registers, awl out of every 100 this
' were only tin in doily attendance: and it was ...tint:ins!
' in this repirt that at the present moment there were
li something like a million children who ought to Ire in
r elementary schools, wives. nallle• dill not appear on
, the naci,ter at all. Sow, in this g0..1 lad town ,of mint
' they had, at the present monwnt, 1,230 names upon
' th.• Is. lks and only fe4.l in av 'wag.. attendance and he
could not help thinking, he was sure there wen. sow.
' beeline. he happened to know them -- thews
' most I.• some, he w*. not prepared to say how
1 many, whose HAM, Ilia Hat appear lat their Issiks at
all. One natnrolly said "What in the world is the
' ' remedy for this state .4 things ';" It vv.,. a • Ty
...riot's state 14 things ler the school managers. and it
, was more serious now than I'Ver before because the
I lovernment grants were assigned to them in a great
immure in acoirdance with the attendance. What
was the remedy? Well, as far as he could see, really
and truly the only I PIMA), for this, as for a great
many ottiter evils which wert• existing in the land in
: the present day, was that they should arrive at a
; more healthy public opinion. It was a very difficult
o thing, as he had no doubt their worthy Mayor, the
• members .4 the Attendance Committee, and the
. magistrates would tell them-it was very diffic It to
. enforce the nompuleory clauses of the Act. It WWI
very unpopular in a great tneasure, and in certain
cases it came loard on the ping:its ; le• did not doubt
. it seas a difficult thing to iii, lint what they t hope
. and trust was that parent. -especially tarents -and
1,,. \V, Sad class with them their employers of labour, local ,
. authorities, and he would venture to add magistrates, ,
would fully realise the enormous importanee .4 giving
' to every single child its the oinntry a good stand '
. elementary edtwatieti. L‘pplaii...l He was afraid
that pulolir opinion did fed yet exist, lout still he 1
Ibelieved they were growing mon. and more toward. it, I
niei pisnile .4 all classes were waking ttio to the effect ,
i. 4 it. He was exceedingly pleased to read the other
day, and it was exceedingly entsetratring to him and :
others who devoted a certain amount .4 their time to
lii. management of these schools. that one of the
judges in charging the crawl jury in York said then,
w.p. not the slighteSt doubt crime was rapidly
diminishing all over the comintry, and he had no doubt
in his ~,,,, ' LI that among other causes for that moot
satisfactory state of things first and foremost \Vas
educatem. When he read that he felt very •h ,
encouraged, and h.• trustagl they were doing ...Healing
towards not only diminishing the crime .4 th ir i
land, lint also towards snaking the childn•n in this 1
tsiwii better men, and better citizens, and also, he
might hope, better Christians. (Appian...) .ts they I
knew, the schools obtained under thus New C .I.• cer- ,
tain merit marks. Now, during the last year their ,
this'.' infant schosols tobtained the highest writ mark
of "exeellent," and their ho't's' and girls' scli.ols I
obtained merit mark "good.- In this respect, too,
they might eempare their schools with ethers without
wilterits: from the comparison. 11.• t00th...1 in the
report of the em 1111 l ittee of the Privy Council that
only 11 p., cont, .4th,.' schools in the conntry .olotained
that high st merit mark " excellent- during the post
year, in per emit. obtained "good,- 311 isw (amt.
obtained " fair,- and six awl a half ts.r cent, were
ri4used the Lite. 'sit grant altoret het. Therefore,
i„. th„,,ght, c.apid,,rinq ties.« figtares awl retnenili wing
that tett of their live schools three "lit ' I tlit• high
merit mark lif "ose..lllent." they WO every Iteasall for
being Plea..l. sual they might look forward to having,
. a higher one' better retswt still for their I. iv.' alli
girl.' 5e1e..11.. He tel not think theit mch.s.l* wert•
e'er in a hotter or • efficient state than at ;Meson'.
, Ile e 4011141 assure them from what he knew I ' 'lf
land from what he had lexinl (roan others who wen,
itin•rested in the sehools :it'd visitssl them. that they
. were in a,IT y 4•Melent 4t.ite, and, hut for the terrible
difficulty they had to contend with in the very
, imindar etendatire, they w.eild li •in :111 eSeeiSlingly
, floarishilltt and prosiewees totalities. II.• hoped awl
trusted %I 1111.. Means might he olevise I
I.y which that
might lat renestie I ; lett at the present tine. le• 410
not
......!ntreiu.sly. . . . .

-Mr. F. it:licstiitu. seconded the proposition.
Mr. .1. F. Hamm referred to the probable cost of
the sans as in the year to moue, which, he must ',ay.
he looked upon with a grid ilea of apprelwn.ion.
['hey started the year very Imdly. with a balance
against them of £123 •itid ; then they would sou they
had a lance cam paid into their credit, beim; the grant
earned previous to 3rd April, 18•6. It was true they
had that in hand. but they must remember they had
to keep these schools going for another 12 months.
He anticipated at the end of next year they would
still be in debt to their limiters, which
treasurer, would be very sorry to see. He trusted
liollae means would be taken with regard to the attend-
ance, Malle grand stirring up .4 tho town between this
time and April, by which the result he apprehended
night bn avoided. Unless something of that kind
was done, they would find themselves in the same
pemition next year as now—with a deficit azainst
them. He had slways pleaded they ought to look ••11
these .C. 111.14 certainly not ia a party spirit. He
could nit understand how any ratepayer or inhabitant
of the town could look upon ov-se schools and sty
he would not give anything simply 6,1114. he wanted
a school board. It seem to him a very extraordinary
thing that anyone living in a community such as Dir-
ahrntec withhold altogether any pecuniary
support from the schools simply because he desired
another system. Suprvting they had A heard in I) •r-
-chester. it would not be competent for anyone to say
be would not subscribe because he did wit like a
hoard. He himself should object very much, but he
would not b • able to get off hi. contribution to the
board because he did not like it. He maintained if
they had a school board the class of education would
not he more satisfactory than now, and certainly the
cost would not be less; therefore, a. lan said before,
he could not understand how anyone C./11111 object to
pay his proper quota in the way if voluntary contri•
',ldiotic Mr. Hodges expressed the hope the school
would earn a gond grant next year. and that they
might in time sight themselves. He hoped some
zealous effort might be made in the t,twn, acne
decided stirring up .4 the ploplu, in order that those
who never subscribed to the schools might be induced
to do so, and so put them in such a position as the
voluntary schools of Dorchester ought to be. (Ap•
plause.)

Mr. EDWIN EMMETT, alriaklltg from hie nen
practical experience dorm the pa.t three month.,
gave an in.tance .4th.' efficiency the achool and the
good it wao doing, the ciw in pant 'ming tat of a
boy, the .on of a tmleanan, in who.. behalf h. ( •11,
Burnett) had level hi., influence with the railway
omnpaey to get him an appointment ai a clerk in a
railway office. The remit"( the preliminary...cal...na-
tion chow.) that tke boy who wee. educated at their
school. o(,tain.l 31 mark. tat of a pemble 4L tip
;dense.) He believed this fact teatifjed they were
doing hing. He believed if their treseumr w.m1,1
only go round collecting a. he had 4... during the la.t
twelve months he would find that the excuses were
perfectly fallecieu. ; but if they only came forward
and helped them the Dorchester Nationai Scheol.
would be e. good a. any in the county. (Hear, hear.)
Mr. S. D. ALLCN pn.pmed "That the electe,l
committee for the emoting year he -Het. A. A.
Leonard, Mawr.. S. D. Allen, T. S. T.
Dem, B. A. Hogg, H. Hill, W. How, .1. John.on, .1.
F. B. Fi.her, Rev. H. P. Rail..., Mr. .1. F.
Young, !ay) Mr. A. H. Lock._

_
ReV. seconded. and i.giressed hi*
belief the committee. it melected, would do their beiit
to carry out the object* they had in view. i Hear,
hey.) _
••• •-

Rev. T. W. Estee proposed a vote .4 thanks to
he Nfayor. His official duties were not at all light,
but this was something external to those that dev,4eed
upon him as a consequence .4 the office he held; still
the interest which it showed ..n his Woixhip's part in
chess 'chools was very cheering to them. With
regard to hoard schools, as far as he knew from appeals
to public feeling in the papers and otherwise, he did
not think the party in favour of them was large or
strong. Still they might keep it a. a rod in pickle ;
for he found there was a whole...nue dread of board
schools, and if they wanted to stir up the sort of
latent zeal that e‘hibits itself in the matter of contri-
butions to the funds of their society, it was not, he
thought, a bad thing ; awl he thought they might
honestly do it. if they could not get their money by
other means. Voluntary}id woes far nobler and more
generous thing, and wore thoroughly English
than board schools, but if they could nit get their
money simply by the kiudnese arid sympathy of their
neighbours, be was afraid they must have it. Their
late worthy bishop, who had reoedtly passed away,
told him be know of one case whery there was one

gentleman of a certain parish, possessed of
great influence, who was determined to have a 'surd
school. Being a man large property.
he had been persuaded to subscribe £lO a
year to the voluntary schools: still there was a deter-
mination to have a hoar), and the bi..hop t ad him
lir. Knipe) that gentleman was let in for Li; a ye ir
for the next X/ year.. to come, and he had his
(Laughter.) A few wholesome Car" ..f that kind
would make their good neighbours feel it was a very
disagreeable thing to have a board school, and might
possibly lead them to support the school funds a
little twin. generously, so that then. might be Addisl
t., the list of those who did siiiiisirt them sun •
excellent neighlssirs whose names were DOW V'
spicuous by their absence. (Laughter.
Mr. H. K. iivaystit S.'e. 40.'1 the resolution

The NIAVON. in r•ply, assup.l that h• : • •t
great inten—t in the seles.l., awl he tripd.• i
waa far distant when they would have a Lanni •sitool
estahlished in Dorclo,iter. He was quite sure they
would have to pay very much for it. He hoped those
people who at preaent refuael to aubseribe might be
induced vi enter th••ir mune. in the hat of aubacrihent.
(Hear, hear.l He was pleased vi find, although look•
ing at it at firAt there appeared a great falling .off in
attendance, their acli.••l compared very favourably
with •there in thia matter. With regard v • the
difficult matter of romptilmory attendance, he
meowed them the magiatrat..l wolthl do their beat to
endeavmir to enforce frmal attendance in the future.
(Hear, hear.(
This concluded the buainess of the meeting.