The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1881-01-15 00:00:00

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SCHOOL OF ART.
A meeting for the distribution of prizes took
place at the School of Art on Mouday last, H. J.
W. H. Foley, Esq„ presiding. there were also
IN the days of the ancient Roman Empire, one present Mr. G. Perry (Hon. Sec.) the Rev. D.
of the ornaments of the capital was a temple Maginni-, &c.
dedicated to 'Toms, the gates whereof were Mr, G. Perry read the report of the committee
:
closed when the peoPle were at peace with other which was as follows
nations, and open when they were at war. Of a ' The committee be to present their report for
truth hey were more often open than shut; for
the year ending 31st July last. During that year
t
the Rumens were an aggressive people; and the number of pupils who have attended the school
when they had no one to fight in Europe they i.so,radt tHhoespniifahlt claanssdB9o,7incaltudtithieg 40mforronniin00.1doewlasins-,
went into Asia and Africa; and it was in 'Africa I
Besides these, about 250 pupils of the St", James'
that they encountered the bitterest of their Wollaston, and the Wollaston Read Schaols have
antagonists—proud Carthage, whose fate it was I received instruction from the mas era. In April
ultimately to be destroyed. Thus it came to ' last 53 pupils attended the examination and sent
pass between the Gauls, the Parthians, and the in 65 works in second grade drawing. namely :
(Jarthagians, to say nothing of a host of minor 19 in model drawing, 36 in freehrld drawing, 7 in
nationalities, the Romans were almost perpetu- geometry, and 3 in perspective; which have been
ally at war. Year after year, and generation adjudicas ed upon by the Science and Art Depart-
after generation, the gates of the Temple of 'ne lan Of these works four were in the results
Jenus remained open. Perchance they mignt marked as " excellent "and obtained prizes; 21 as
be closed for a very brief period, but another " peseed " and forty as having failed to pass. In
war sould speedily break out, and once more addition to these, four pupils obtained third grade
prizes. At the same examination ten other candi•
there was free access to the structure for all who
dates, not pupils at the School of Art, sent in 13
chose to worship at its shrine. works, namely :—five in model drawing, six in free-
It seems to be the misfortune of Great hand drawing, and two in geometry, which have
Britain, as it was that of Rome in the olden been adjudicated upon by the Department and in
time, to be frequently engaged in petty wars, the results have been marked. one "excellent,"
insignificant it is true, but costly wit.hal. 1f ' bur "passed" and eight as having failed to pass.
we had a Temple of Janus it would not be often The results, theugh leaving room for improvement
closed. Such a state of things may be in- as well in proportion of the pupils who attend the
separable from the possession of - colonies examination as of thoe who pass, compare favour-
scattered in every querter of the globe. It is ably with the numbers mentioned in last year's
customary to look upon our colonial empire with report.
pride, and to regard it as contributing materially As to the financial position of the school your
to the national strength ; but the question is committee regret to say that there has been, as
not nelikely to arise whether, considering the compared with last year, a decrease of £7 lOs 2d in
constant drain which it entails on the mother
pupils fees. Last year's amouat was a decrease as
compared
ci
inemust,
with
therefore,
hperreevfioorues yoear tte fear,
omTmhitecoititnru•bal
country, it can longer be regarded limo favour- de
able a fight. Whatever may he said of our accepted as evidence that some suome adverse influence
possessions in other quarters, there can be little retards the attendance at the school. Subscripions
doubt that, our South African colonies have have decreased since last year to the extent of £7
0 )st us very dear. From fighting Kars, 12s Od4 and other sources of income to the extent of
Zdius, and Basutos, we have now to draw the £5 12s 2d; this decrease of the subscriptions is
sword against the descendants of the original especially a matter of regret to the committee as it
setts—men not belonging to any of the savage materially cripples them in their efforts to maintain
tribes of that great continent, but of like passiooe and extend the nsefulne-s of the school, and they
with ourselves, venture, now that there are signs of improvemeet
The Boers are the original colonists of South in commercial and agricultural affairs, to appeal to
Africa. On the cession of Cape Colony by the present subscribers and other friends of the
institution to increase tho amount of annual sub-
iiolland they refused to submit to British rule,
and, as that authority extended, they migrated sueripr ttioom- which
this As to expenditure,
pxprenditure, during the finanial
report extends
and east until they finally reached the ahave not had to make a large an expenditure in
Transvaal, weere their further retreat was cut repairs as was made in the previous year, but since
oil by the barren country beyond. But they the expiration of the financial year a cons derable
were not thus to escape. Three years ago their outlay has had to be incurred in colouring iho inside
c ,untry was annexed to the British dominions. of the school, in providing a new stove, and in
During that time they have endeavoured, by making alterations with a view to sop the nuisance
alternate petitions and threats, to reverse the arising from a smoky chimney. All to the inert-
decieien which was then arrived at, but without gage debt , f ..£6lO, the committee have still, we ,
ssiccess. It was tinder these circumstances that regret to report, its continued existence ana the
a month ago, they formally declared their res-riction it imposes on the capabilities of the
independence. In the attack on the 94th school. The sinking fund formed for its gradual
Regiment, a convoy of 250 men in charge of a liquidation now amounts, with interest, to £l2l
14. s 11d._ In connection with this debt your corn-
long line of waggons was on its march from
Le3denburg when it received a sudden summons nmelit,t e, eb
o huar
ivweo
41 oh raesp oorifte
rtehdattoamgaeknetl ea donation
iu
o t hef
to surrender. The colonel in charge refusing £ICo or £5O towards its discharge, provided the
to accede to the peremptory demand, fire was balance be raised by a sufficient number of other
immediately opened from tne bills on all sides, donors of at le,a,t equal amounts. Your committee
and before any effective resistance could be in announcing this liberal offer, express the very
offered, 112 men were either killed or mortaliy greit satisfaction they would feel if in their next
wounded, an the remainder made prisoners. anneal rep nt they could say that the incubus no
The Boers hayed followed up their success. A longer existed,"
detachment has crossed the Natal frontier and - The Chairman said that it would be absurd for
t ,ken up a strong defensive position with the him to enlarge upon the subj-ct of art as perhaps
object of opposing Sir George Colley's passage no one knew less than he did about art, but few
of the formidable Drakensburg range of people knew more about that school than he did.
It was his father who succeeded in raising a very
mountains. Potchefstroom and Pretoria are
large
Art
wsouumd of
not m money
,aenxdi
sitfe
dh e had e ncoo tta
dt h the
remember.Sc :i oof
practically beseiged and in very considerable A
danger; and the small forces occuping the the time when that building was used for a theatre
military out-stations which lie near the frontier, The building was in the market and it was pro-
must remain in a critical position until the arrival posed to buy it and establish a School of Art in the
of reinforcements. neighbourhood; thus subscriptions were raised and
Of the ultimate result of this struggle there it was establ;shed but had always been under a
can of coarse be no doubt. The Boers must cloud; always in debt. • Th, schoal was establiahed
and wit: be reduced to submission before this some thirty years ago, and,the first year or two
country can listen to the story of their that it began the room was crowded with the beauty
grievances. Fortunately, England is now con- and rank of the neighbourhood, and great efforts
,rected by tOlegraphwitu Capetown ;so that we were made to encourage art. After that, he was
nee a not to wait, as we had two years ago, while for many years a humble member of the counsel
a steamer was making her way over eight thou- and he could say there was always a difficulty in
sand miles of ocean with startling intelligence, carrying on the School of Art. He looked back
and found it in precisely thkeiesame difficulties now
Reinforcements are on their way from England.
Gibraltar, and India; and although the Boers importance.'gsreiattwas
0 Yea
loaf a ago.
school of tthheant descriptionsP 'k e 9 f
t hin
e
are reported to have 10,000 men ready to take a neighbourhood like that, where art ette:ed so
the field, they will assuredly want the whole of largely into the manufacture of glass, &c., and said
them if they intend to cope with the might and he hoped that when trade revived, as it was- re-
power of Great Britain. With the barbarian viving, the manufacturers would be more liberal to
to ibes upon every border of our South African the school. The chairman then distributed the
possessions, it is essential that we should main- prizes to the successful candidates.
win oqr authority unimpaired in that distant Mr. Boldero, in proposing a vote of thanks to the
depeudency. The Boers and the Basutos, en° chairman, said that the name of Foley had been for
less than the Zulus and the Kaffirs, must be re- a great many generations well-known in that town
duced to peace and obedience. The policy of and neighbourhood—almost a household word.
the annexation of the Transvaal is scarcely a lie supp,sed that there was hardly any important
practical qudstion for discussion now. It was undertaking for the general welfare of the people
that had
.not been supported by a member of that
approved at the time by Parliament and the
.ai h family—(applause). y— app ). Mr. Foley had told teem
people—who, when the Boers have submitted to iif t had been for
au
not een or the exertions of his father the
our authority, will no doubt readily listen to a school would not have been in existence and it was,
statement of their grievances with a view to re- therefore, a very great satisfaction to have his son
dress, for the British Empire rests nowhere presiding on that occasion—(applause). He hoped
leieurely upon a foundation of injustice, that the cnildren and the childrens children of this
eres,,nt generation would have the pl-asure of
welcoming a mernl:er of that family, presiding at
some of the institutions of that town. He hoped
the time would never come when the connection of
the family of the Foley's would cease. He was
inclined to believe that the efforts which were now
being made to wipe off the debt would be successful.
The Rev. D. Maginnis said as chairman of the
committee, he begged on beh If of the committee,
as well as on behalf of the meeting to support the
res I ation that had been moved by Mr. Boldeio.
Reference had been made to the fact of the deep
interest the Foley family had taken in institutions
of that kind. The school would not have existe iif
it had not been for the efforts of the father of their
chairman and other gentlemen—(applause). The
debt upon tne school still remains a burden upon
the resources of the school, and if they collie], only
get out of it a much better work could be done:
He then stated that ihe gentleman who offered to
give £lOO upon the condition mentioned in the
report was Mr. W J. Turney. He also stated teat
he had received a cheque from another gentleman
for .250 towards tete liquilition of the debt, which
had been added ;0 t e sinking fund, and that
gentleman was Mr. Charles Evers Swindell, of the
Quarry—(applaese)—and he had ph asure, on
behaii of the Committee, to say that it was not the
first c ntrinution of that kind he had. made. It was
really the third since he had had the honour of be-
ing chairman of that commite+-3—(applaus,.).
There was a reason to believe that th-re waP5 a
marked improv went in the 'rade ot the lizeriet,
ant they only hoped the prosperity woull be such
before the c:ose of the year that the balance in the
report would be realized, and the mortgage paid off.
Thy had to pay about £3O for the interest on
that amount, and it had to be taken from the
subscriptions and it was a great deduction. They
trusted that those who were employers of labour
would give handsome subscriptions tower Is clear-
ing off the debt. If they had nine or ten to give
£5O so as to obtain Mr. Turney's, he could sae the
way to clear off the debt against another year—
( a pplause).
The chairman s iitebly respond. 1, and the meet-
ing terminateu.