The Express.
London, England, 1861-04-03 00:00:00

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LONDON, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 3.

Inc the Ittport of the Education Commissioners
there is no subject which deserves more immediate
attention than that which concerns charitable endow-
ments. Tho subject is not only discussed at great
length in the Report itself, but it appears that
there is a separate Report on the Charities, which
will shortly be published. It might perhaps have
been expected that any such special inquiry would
have been superfluous, for a Charity Commission
has been in operation for several years, with a
separate establishment and a host of clerks and

inspectors. If they have no great power to reform
abuses, they still have ample power of inquiry,
and indeed it appears that such inquiries
have been made, and their results have
been laid before the Charity Commissioners.
These Reports of the Charity Inspectors, however,
are never permitted to see the light. They are
carefully excluded from the annual Reports which
the Charity Commissioners lay before Parliament ;
though it cannot be doubted that if these memo-
rials, instead of being buried in the lumber
rooms in St. James's-square, had been made public,
some vigorous effort would ere this have been
made to render these splendid foundations more
useful. If Parliament is still to be called upon to
contribute a sum little short of a million sterling
towards public, education it is not very
unreasonable to insist that the money
already devoted to education, shall pro-
duce all the results of which it is capable.
The public taxpayer, when he is called upon to
supply further aid to education out of the public
;Me, P entitled to require that the educational
charities shall be turned to good account. "We
" believe," said the Commissioners of Inquiry into
the operation of the Poor Laws more than thirty
years ago, " that if funds now destined to the
" purposes of education, manyof which are applied
" in a manner unsuited to the present wants of
" society, were wisely and economically employed,
" they would be sufficient to give all the assist-
" ante which can be prudently afforded by the
" State." But as yet they have escaped all attempts
to render them more efficient for public purposes.
Opinions may differ as to some of the proposals
of the Commissioners contained in the Education
Report which has just been published, but it is
impossible not to concur in the statement, that
"in recommending the continued expenditure of
" public money for the assistance of popular
" education, they feel it their duty to consider
" all the existing sources from which aid may be
" derived." And for this purpose they recom-
mend in the very strongest terms a better employ-
ment of the existing charities. There are two
sorts of charities to which the Commission direct
attention. There are, first, those which,
by the terms of the foundation, are devoted
to education, and, secondly, those which, though
intended for the poor, are not at present
applied, but which, according to the opinions of the
Commissioners, ought to be applied to education.
There seems to be considerable difficulty in ascer-
taining the annual amount of these two sets of
charities. According to the estimate made by suc-
cessive Commissions from 1818 to 1837, the former
amounted to 312,544 f. According to the lam
authority the income of the latter amounted to
167,9081. It is admitted that these estimates are
very considerably under the present value. But
unfortunately the Charity Commissioners are
able neither to state the increase which
has taken place in their value, nor the
precise number of children for whose
instruction they provide. Confining ourselves at
present to the educational charities, it is abun-
dantly clear that they do not produce results pro-
portionate to the pecuniary means employed. It
would be difficult to select a more glaring owe of
this waste of endowment than that Oi Christ's
HospitaL It seems that the governing body of
the institution had some doubts as to whether it
came within the scope of an inquiry into popular
education. They probably had never read the
charter, which declares that they owe their exist-
ence to "the pity and compassion" of King
Zowaan VI., when he looked "on the miserable
" estate of the poor fatherless and mother-
" lees children, and sick, sore, and impotent
" people." It is certain that at the beginning the
children in the Hospital really belonged to the
poorer classes. But this, with many other in-
junctions of the royal founder, is to a great extent
ignored. According to the evidence of Mr. GlL-
pis, the Treasurer, the amount of a parent's income
which disqualifies a child for admission is not and
never hes been defined. Within the last 20 or 26
years the number of children whose parents have
an income exceeding 3001. a year has considerably
increased, and in some few instances the income of
the parents has exceeded 6001. It can hardly be
supposed that even the Almoners of Christ's Hospi-
tal can seriously believe that these are the children
for whom the foundation was originally intended.
The real objects of the royal benevolence are not
the present children of Christ's Hospital. A few
of them sent from the parochial schools which
have rights of appointment attached to them, may
fulfil the original intentions of the founder. But
the rights of the poor whom King Euween
proposed to benefit have been confiscated. in-
stead of obtaining those benefits to which they are
entitled, their children are educated at their own
expense, or out of the public funds. The history
of the usurpation is instructive—its magnitude le
startling. It shwild be observed that the re-

venues of the Hovital in the year 1859 amounted
to the enormous rum of 53,9301., of which
6,0007. was derived from the " benevolences." or
donations of 500!. each, paid by twelve gentlemen
on being appointed (;overnora. This vast revenue
is absorbed Ly the expense of educating